2024 - Viva Italia

Rest day in Ajaccio, capital of Corsica, The citadel, no longer a military facility but only partly utilized now for tourism,... ...sits between beaches on one side and a busy harbour on the other. ...and within a few minutes walk, the 16th Cathedral Santa Maria Assunta where Napoleon Bonaparte was baptized. Another couple of minutes walk is the Bonaparte family home, now a museum focused not on Napoleon's battles but rather on the family history and Napoleon's life there. In he lower level in a olive mill and press, part of family businesses, Don't even try to get dinner at a restaurant before 7 pm here so it was dark when we had dinner near the bright lights near the centre of this photo. The starter course was these little fishes that looked very much like one's we ate in Nepal a few years back. Of course they couldn't be the same as these come from salt water while Nepal was local stuff a long way from the sea. Nevertheless, Ursula has made a supreme effort to p...

September 23-25 - First three days of cycling in Corsica from Bastia around the north and west coasts to Ajaccio. Amazing scenery, lots of hills to climb, a few pushing the 18-20% gradient that is about max for us before walking is easier and quicker. Leaving Bastia - an immediate steady climb to 500 metres by 10 km - gere looking down in the coastline just south of Bastia...  ...before getting into the clouds at the top - good way to warm up and get very sweaty as we head into a 500 metre descent in the next 9 km - a lot of judicious braking with damp roads, no shoulder, and lots of bends. Weather cleared progressively on the other side - interesting rock formations and a mix of agriculture and vineyards. Then along the sea... ... a few hills to climb - hot and humid in the sunshine... ...more rapid changes in landscape... ...until getting in to Calvi for the night, the photo below being the citadel from near the hotel. Nice swim in those waters but the surface is stones making it...