Saturday morning markets in France - if only we had a little place to stay we could have shopped and cooked. What a treat it is to see the local produce. It is definitely spring here too! We strolled around admiring the olives, vegetables, baguettes, cheeses, local chacuterie (meats), oils and honey. There was one particularly beautiful booth of fresh small rounds of goat cheese decorated with beautiful flowers in the middle. Recipe: put in an olive oiled pan, drizzle with olive oil, garlic, thyme, in very hot oven for a few minutes. Serve with baguette.
Four of us wandered the small streets where everything is named after the most famous son, Napoleon Bonaparte. We just poked in and out of little boutiques, and vintage stores selling used Chanel bags for 700 euros ($900+). After being in Asia and India, it was interesting to see European things - orange is the new colour as it was in every window: bags, sweaters, pants, shoes - for women and men. Jane, my mom and I had a little lunch before our afternoon tour: local baguette which was the size of a dinner plate, about an inch thick, crusty with olive oil, and topped with emmanthal cheese, tomatoes, and corsican ham. We ate in an outdoor cafe with an awning covered patio. The service was achingly slow in typical French style.
We went back to the ship, and got Barry and Karen and Jonathan and went on a Corsica highlights tour for 3 hours. On the way out of the port there was a huge line of police cars waiting for the ferries. Sarkozy had been here the day before as the election is in a few weeks. Out we went along a beautiful sea side boardwalk with lovely homes overlooking it, palm trees lining it and people out walking and along the windswept coast to a barren spot where the locals like to walk, that overlooks three small islands with Roman lookout points still on the top.
On the way we passed the typical Corsican cemetery, which takes up valuable waterfront real estate and consists of little family houses with red tile roofs.
Then we went into the town again to walk around and see the various Napoleon monuments. In one square there is an imposing statue built high on a hill with stairs up to it, beside the rocks he played on as a child. In another one on another square he is portrayed as a Roman conqueror with a laurel headdress, and his four brothers as Roman aristocrats. His mother had 17 children, of whom 5 died, and the other siblings were used by Napoleon to govern territories and make alliances.
The Corsicans set themselves apart from the French, with a different language and different customs, with a decidedly Roman flavour. Our guide was very informative and as we walked around the city, she really tried to tell us not only the history, but the thinking of the people. We mostly stayed in the old town, and went to the house where Napoleon was born, which is a museum, which we did not pay to enter.
Then around the corner to a little walk up where a Corsican philosopher had commented on the special quality of the light in Ajaccio, as had Henri Matisse, before him, who honeymooned here for 6 months. There are also Corsican knives for sale everywhere, as the "vendetta" is an old custom here too: no trial, just a swift stab to end the squabble. Our guide said her uncle met his fate this way over a disagreement about a garden. The architecture in the old town is charming, and all in all this town is inviting and must be marvellous in the summer season.
We were ravenous for a French pastry, which we had forgone for lunch, so we all ran to a boulangerie, and gobbled down a flaky one filled with lemon creme, and another pain au chocolate. We did split these gorgeous confections among three of us.
More sights of France!
Back to the ship to head for two days in Barcelona, Spain.
