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| Paris In Sites Newsletter Direct From France Edited by Linda Thalman Travel & Leisure Articles |
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France Italy Sandinia Sardegna Corsica Corse 2010
By Linda Thalman
At a leisurely pace we drove south towards Italy... the first leg
of a two-week trip.
We're talking all day on the autoroute with a couple of breaks for coffee,
gas, lunch and stretching our legs.
Getting off the freeway we took some winding and beautiful roads on our way to Sisteron.
Our first night was in Sisteron, still in France. A town with a very small
old town and we only found three possible restaurants for the evening meal
of any interest. The one with 'traditional cuisine' caught our eye and
that turned out just fine.
Enjoying a coffee break the next morning we crossed the road and walked about the lovely old village of Entrevaux
with three main streets, the cathedral and a stunning citadelle high on the hill.
It is worth taking a short or even longer break to enjoy this cute village.
Aiming to be in Genoa by mid afternoon to have time to visit and
catch our boat to Sardinia was not as easy as expected. We got
lost, stuck in traffic and were tired out from driving. Plus it was raining.
The old town of Genoa merited more time than we had. Stressed out
from all the confusion of finding our boat and the rain meant we didn't
really enjoy the city as much as one might.
Dinner was near the old port with friendly service but nothing to write
home about in terms of a special Italian meal.
We drove onto the big ship heading for Olbia around 21:30... when
actually we should have boarded at 21:00. Thankfully 30 minutes prior
to departure is not a big problem in Italy.
Straight to our cabin and a good night's sleep from which we were
awakened by loud knocking on the door at 6 o'clock in the morning.
We had all day to get to our self-catering apartment.
We visited a local wine museum at 10 in the morning including a wine tasting
and had lunch in Sassari.
We worked our way south to the apartment I'd booked
just two days before... a great last minute decision after scouring the web for
a nice place to stay.
And nice it was: just 6 kilometers south of Bosa on the central west coast
of Sardinia we had a flat with a living/kitchen space, bathroom with shower,
bedroom and a large patio equipped with a BBQ. The patio was perfect as it
caught all the morning and mid-afternoon sun.
It was, as very accurately described on the web site, just 10 meters down the steps to a
really lovely beach and the apartment even had 2 sun umbrellas.
Our six days passed quickly with a visit to Bosa to meet friends of a friend who
plied us with local wine and stories in Spanish and Italian and introduced us to another friend
who spoke French as she was from Normandy. What a tower of Babel and
ever so fun. Thank you Erwin, Luchiana and Anna.... and Bea for the introduction.
The guided tour was from noon to one with commentary in Italian, French, English and German. And
this grotto was pretty cool. You can also walk down the many, something like 654 steps, and
then back up if you drive to the nearest point to the grotto. We gave that option a miss.
Back to Alghero where we plunked ourselves down at practically the first restaurant
we saw... and it was just fine.
Another day we did a trip south of Bosa to the west and then the central east coast of Sardinia
through the mountains and just enjoyed nature as well as going to Tharros.
Sardinia has some of the most beautiful beaches and they are accessible by car
in the sense that you can often park very close to the beaches and not have to
walk down steep cliffs to get to them... which is sometimes the case in Corsica or
on the Amalfi coast on mainland Italy.
Our stay in Sardinia was over and we headed for Santa Teresa Gallura to catch a
ferry to Bonifacio in Corsica.
The waves were 7 meters high and the ferry was swaying left and right, but we
sailed into the Bonifacio harbor safely. What a beautiful narrow gap in the rocks of a harbor it is.
Simply magnificent.
We found a lovely hotel on the port with a sitting area on one level and the bedroom and
bathroom upstairs in a kind of loft which was really cute. WiFi and parking included. Yes.
We visited Bonifacio a few years ago, so we felt 'at home' and didn't feel pressed to
re-do the sights. The next morning we headed off further north to see parts unknown.
Lunch was in Porto Vecchia and the restaurant with a lovely view shall remain
unnamed as the lunch was 'dégulase' -- excuse Pierre's French. Disgustingly awful. Unheard of
for us to have such a lousy meal in such a pretty town.
Never mind... we headed along the east coast of Corsica to Bastia and got a room by the
old port with a view on the ferry port. Ferries were coming and going and it
was fun to see them arrive, turn around and back into their docking area.
The best meal of the whole trip was in Bastia.
"Lady Luck" was with us as we
had dinner on Sunday night at super good restaurant full of ambiance
and locals.. On Monday night we considered eating there again as it was
so good, but the Scaletta was closed.
Tuesday morning we had to kill time before our ferry back to mainland Italy.
That was easy: get cash, buy some bread, salami, wine and cheese for lunch on
the boat in our cabin.
We also picked up newspapers and visited the art gallery of Jose Lorenzi
because....
there were stunning prints all along the corridor of our hotel and when
I asked who was the painter, the woman at the desk immediately
said it was perhaps the most famous painter of Corsica... oh my, I do have good taste.
And his art gallery was only 2 streets away. Well, I came away with
three prints and if we'd had room in our tiny trunk in our tiny car I would
have bought more!
What a good idea! A picnic lunch in the cabin with a view on the port and then
the sea as we left... a siesta, a shower before landing and we were ready to go
for another few hours of driving towards the UNESCO site called Cinque Terre.
But oh my did Linda make a mistake in thinking we could find a B&B or a hotel
just like that. Nope, no, nada, forget it.
Travel Tip: Stay in La Spezia and take the train. It's 9 minutes to the first of
the five villages and then a couple of minutes between the other four.
I had read the guide books, looked at the map and simply just did NOT get it.
Believe me, please! I suggest 100% - unless you've booked way ahead of time for
accommodation in one of the 5 towns in this area -
to stay in La Spezia and do the train to this UNESCO site.
We finally found a hotel right by the train station and our room with 2 double beds which
they said, of course, "is the last one we have." set us back
160 euros. Parking 8 euros; WiFi 4 euros for 30 minutes. Geezee
Louise.... the more stars a hotel has - this one was three, the more they charge for
other stuff!
Breakfast was pathetic but the folks at the reception desk were very nice and
multilingual. And, we were exactly two minutes on foot from the train station.
Sometimes you do have the luck of the Irish.
But the villages themselves are so boringly touristic... postcard shop here,
"producti tipico" there, ice cream here and poor quality art there... very little that was
original, unique or special as far as the village centers.
The setting is stunning, yes indeed, but don't visit here in the high season as
even the mid-season is too busy.
So we went, we saw, we visited and hastily left for France and home.
Looking at the map we thought we might make it all the way to Annecy.
Not a chance. Too far to drive in one day.
We crossed the pass of Tende and stopped in the town of Tende to visit the Musée des
Merveilles. A modest museum that is
free for all and has a very nice presentation of the rock engravings from the Mount
Bego region.
If you pass through Tendre, don't miss the museum.
We then drove and drove some more and went over the highest mountain pass in Europe:
Col de la Bonette.
Folks we were at 2,802 meters in the southeast corner of France at dusk.
La plue haute d'Europe. and so says the sign!
No buses, few cars, no trucks and only a few motorcycles.
The drive offered spectacular views, including snow on the north face of the mountain peaks and a lunar
landscape at times.
Then there were also the one thousand - YES 1,000 sheep being hearded
down the mountain that zoomed past our car... what a sight!
Over the top of the mountain and finally driving down, we were
exhausted. So we stopped at 19:45 at a Lodgis de France hotel.
Dinner was 30 minutes later and it was perfect. Local wine, local cheese
and a delightful reception and service.
Our room was just fine, a bathroom with a shower,
WiFi, free parking and peace and quite - even on a main road for 52 euros,
who is complaining? Not me.
Dinner was home cooked and the wine and cheese were local.
The service was with a big smile and, hey, we were happy.
The last gasp drive home was mostly on the 'autoroute'. It was a long day, and we hit rain
100 kilometers south of Paris.
Then we hit the evening rush hour traffic
near Evry and on the outer ring road going west towards Versailles.
Made it home to Boullay at 19:30 and we collapsed thinking of
another trip somewhere warm in 2011.
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It was a long drive from Boullay where I live 'down' to the southeast of France.
Shower, change and watch the scenery from the top deck seeing
La Costa Smeralda at dawn was so pretty. It's known for being the
playground of the rich and when we drove through there later on in our
the trip it really didn't seem all that exciting.
Seeing that the skies were clear, we drove north to Alghero, just 45 minutes away on a most
beautiful coast road and hopped on the eleven o'clock boat to the Grotta di Nettuno.
Tharros was founded by the Phoencians... remember those folks?
It goes back to about 8 B.C. and hit its hey day during the Punic age.
In any case, it was worth the drive down to the end of the peninsula for a visit in
brilliant sunshine.
Dinner in the old town, after a 15-minute climb UP with beautiful lighting was delightful.
The ferry taking us to Livorno left at 13:30 and we boarded an hour before from
pier 2. A lovely, clean, sleek, top-notch ferry for a 4-hour trip. We booked a
cabin for 25 euros.
The 5 Terre is, in my opinion, quite overrated. The villages hanging off the cliffs
are extremely quaint. The sea is beautiful, the walks all around are fabulous.
The engravings are in the mountain region of Le Mercantour, 80 kilometers from Nice.
"Featured on 3,700 rocks, these 40,000 figurative engravings from the Copper and
early Bronze Ages (2900-1800 B.C.) which compose Mount Bego’s fantastic heritage."
The Lodgis de France hotels are good value for money and, in my experience, always
have excellent food and service.
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Paris
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Linda Thalman
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Email – Linda@wfi.fr
Web Address – http://www.parisinsites.com/
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