Deb was up for the sunrise today and rhapsodized about it! We'd both been enjoying the fabulous sunsets here - the sun descends quickly into the Mediterranean and then (just as in Hamburg over the lake) the light show really begins! She took a stroll out along our 'street' (a rough dirt road/path, really!) and enjoyed the early morning exercise.
We spent a fair amount of time this morning booking a Tokyo bus tour for our second day in that city. Munroe got a call around 10am from the Residhome Nice Aeroport hotel to let him know that they had received his CPAP machine and that it would be available at the reception desk when we arrived on Monday! What tremendous service from that hotel. And what a relief!
We did some work on the blog before Deb got a lovely picnic lunch ready - sandwiches inspired by the Salade Nicoise - tuna, olives, eggs, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce. She wrapped these nicely, threw in some lovely plums, and we poured some wine from Medoc - an appellation we haven't tried - into Munroe's water bottle to have with lunch.
Before leaving we had a visit from "our" cat - she has stopped by every day we've been here to spend a bit of time with us! She is right at home in our apartment and Deb gave her some water in a bowl. She had a sip but was obviously hoping for or expecting something a bit more enticing! She is quite vocal when food is an issue - otherwise, she just glides around and sits/lays down wherever she likes!
It was about 1pm by the time we got going. We drove south along the coast to nearby Tenutella beach. There is quite a beach community there - a big campsite (still showing some guests), and a line of beach houses and what looks like a hotel or condo. Apart from some repairs going on to handle some storm damage, there didn't seem to be much sign of life in the condo building - or for that matter, in any of the shorefront homes. We had a nice walk - probably 1/2 out and back - along the beach. The beach continued for at least another mile but the soft, pebbly sand and the steep slope of the beach down to the water made walking a challenge. It was quite windy and the surf was definitely up. We'd read that this beach has a steep dropoff and some rip currents so it wasn't an option for swimming even if the weather conditions and water temperature were more conducive. We did, however, get our feet wet walking in the surf!!
We decided to continue exploring south along the coast and pulled off the main road to see one of the defensive towers that dot the coastline. This one was privately owned and was flying the Corsican flag so we couldn't picnic on those grounds as we'd done the other day. We continued on the road south and in a couple of miles (about a mile as the crow flies!) we entered the gorgeous coastal city of Propriano.
We hadn't gotten far into the city when we came
across a public parking area and a beach. By this time (around 2:30pm) we were both pretty hungry so we found a spot next to the beach wall and enjoyed our feast! There were probably 8-10 others sunbathing so there was no problem finding a spot. A couple of people went swimming but we weren't tempted.
After our lunch, we headed further into the city. As we pulled out of the parking lot we fell into line behind three rally cars - heavily modified and not displaying regular French license plates. We were puzzled by this and followed them into the city center, where they pulled off into a seaside parking area displaying lots of banners and with plenty of spectators - it was the "Tour de Corse 2024"!! People were snapping pictures of our line of cars - probably wondering what the hell we were doing in the caravan! As we explored around the city center in the car, we ended up once again in a line of three rally cars - we followed them for about a mile, and - as Deb said - despite their high-performance modifications, we were "holding our own"!! We noticed driving out of town back home that many people were lining the streets and waving to the drivers as they passed. It was quite a spectacle and Munroe immediately looked the event up online when we got back home.
We had a nice, simple dinner of sauteed courgettes (grown in Corse) cooked in olive oil and garlic, fish picked up the day before at the poisonnarie in Porticcio - Dourad Rose - and fileted by Munroe - and left-over rice. Dessert was the now-standard vanilla ice cream topped with limoncello.
Despite not being that physically active today (about 5,500 steps) we were both tired and ready for an early night. Probably the sun and salt spray from the surf!!
