Bastia Corsica – A Journey Through Bastia Corsica
An island in the med Corsica is one of the French regions. Having been ruled by Italy for centuries and then conquered by the French in 1769 I found it to be a little bit French, and little bit Italian and very much Corsican.
Guarded by a huge marble statue of Napoleon Bastia has a lovely main square – place St-Nicolas – facing the sea with grand houses along one side. Many bars, cafes and restaurants spill out on the square which to me seemed a little touristy however a nice place to have an evening aperitif.
Terra Vecchia, the old town is a labyrinth of cobbled lane ways and old buildings which are pleasant to wander around. The old port Vieux Port, is overlooked by colourful houses that are stacked up the hill all in all a nice environment to visit. Only downside I felt was the huge amount of cars in the old centre scooting down tiny lanes, it would have been a far nicer experience if the area was pedestrian only.
Our flight out of Toulouse had been delayed over an hour while Easyjet tried to re-distribute hand luggage to the hold on a packed to the gunnels flight hence we missed the “bus that meets the plane”. Turns out the bus doesn’t actually meet the plane it runs to a schedule regardless of delayed flights, probably left the airport empty while ½ an hour later hoards of people were milling around looking for transport.
We stayed in a hotel with the biggest bathroom I have ever seen a short walk to place St-Nicolas, the first night having arrived late we ate locally, OK food and a decent bottle of local red. The next day we explored the old town and port and ate at a little Laos place we discovered on Place Marche in Terra Vecchia. Now before everyone jumps up and down about eating Laos food in France…lets not forget Laos was once a French protectorate and there are Laotian people living in France, a few of those are running a tiny restaurant in Bastia France serving pretty authentic Laos food.
Our vague plan in Corsica was to spend a couple of days in Bastia and then head north to the Cap Corse, find a cute village to base ourselves in hang out for a week. It was not to be…..the numerous establishments we contacted for accommodation either didn’t reply or were not available and while we were told there is a bus that runs up the coast no one could actually tell us when it left. Apparently the tourist office knew but they were closed for the long week-end, the mystery of the Cap Corse but never did reveal itself to us so we decided it was not meant to be and jumped on a ferry to Italy.
PS For those SIFI fans – new town is Bastia is called Terra Nova which amused me no end…
