Corsica : “The Beauty Island”

This is the 4th summer that I spent in Bonifacio in Corsica and I can’t get enough of it. I had amazing holidays again this year but to be fair, it’s impossible not to on the island that truly deserves this nickname : Beauty Island.

Here is a small tour of my holiday pictures to keep this blazing summer simmering.

Let’s begin with the view from our balcony. We don’t see the sea but this wild landscape is even more magical, I love it ! We really have the impression of being on the other side of the world.

And this garden almost left abandoned doesn’t fail to charm. There is an old truck inhabited today by bees, a boat and so many fruits and vegetables are growing there.

We were only at a 5 min walk from the center of Bonifacio which is a very lovely city. It is divided in 2 parts : the marina where the harbor is and the upper city with the citadel. In the lower city I love the rustic stone houses, colorful facades and the port where there are ton of restaurants, bars and shops. Like you see on the pictures, the main color here is the blue whether we are talking about the sky, the sea or the shutters. Corsica sees life in blue.

Of course the part of the city I like the most is the upper town : a multitude of narrow and sinuous little streets overhung by aqueducts, infinite tall white façade houses, regional artisan shops…

Furthermore, the upper city presents one picture perfect scene after another on calcareous cliffs, the Straits of Bonifacio and Sardinia right across the sea.

You can access it by car from the port or by foot through the Rastello and the Saint Roch climbs (by the Genoa door drawbridge) or even by this hidden stairway.

We also strolled in Porto-Vechio which is the main city in the south of Corsica. You can find everything here, it’s a very lively town especially during the evening.

However if I want to give you an accurate idea of what my holidays were, I have to talk you of course about the sea, this blue as far as your eyes can see. I almost just tanned on the boat, practiced some stand up paddle and swam for 10 days. Life is so hard !

Finally, the boyfriend started to use IG more seriously by creating the hashtag #rulesoftheseaman. Here are 2 pictures we took for it. Go have a look at his precious seaman rules. ;)

My beautiful sister-in-law (this is her on most of the pictures, she also started an IG account but on shoes this time) and I had fun looking for these shells called “L’oeil de Lucie” on the beach. They were so difficult to find that we were proud of finding so many.

Let me show you my summer accessories :  the Dcer ephemeral tattoos , my beloved Sézane shoes and my Hipanema bracelet that you can buy on shopnextdoor.fr. My Daniel Wellington, is always on my wrist no matter the season.

If you go to South Corsica there’s a place that you don’t want to miss because it’s paradise on earth : the Lavezzi island. It’s a natural reserve, an archipelago of granite small islands. Warning : it’s forbidden to land on the islands or to go too close, don’t even try, the cost guards keep an eye on them !

It was the perfect place to inaugurate this T-shirt that I customized with a La Pièce sticker in the My Little Paris offices that I’ve talked to you about here. And if you can’t get enough of spectacular landscapes, go to Ospedale, a village perched at an altitude of 900 meters (the higher village in South Corsica). It’s the starting point of several hiking trails through maquis, forests and rivers. A few years ago we roamed across this artificial dried up lake by quad in the middle of wild cows, it was fantastic !

It’s amazing how Corsica managed to stay that green and wild despite its touristic success which leaves the traveler spell-bound by such an out-of-this-world experience.

Corsica doesn’t just feed you with beautiful landscape, the food here is also amazing and especially fruits and vegetables like aubergines, tomatoes, flat peaches and the best of the best : figs !

And if you want to have some mussels with French fries or a pizza  in front of a spectacular sunset like this one, you just have to go to the restaurant Goéland on Tonnara beach (and the prices are very reasonable).

Finally, we got up at dawn (with a new spectacular sight) to take the ferry to go back to Milan to the family-in-law’s for a few days.

Corsica is so unique, you cannot find anywhere else a place with such a variety of relief on such a small area. Here the sea, the mountains and the lakes are side by side. It presents a beautiful mosaic of landscapes, a true Beauty Island.  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry even said    « The sun made love to the sea so often that they finally gave birth to Corsica. ”

Next on the blog : a wedding in Lago d’Orta and some nice spots in Milan. In the meantime I leave you with this video I made in Corsica.

A dopo !