Ajaccio September 29 & 30, 2008

When we woke up this morning, we didn’t know we were in for a religious experience, as we headed off for the archeological site of Filitosa, not too far from where we were staying in Olmeto. This is a 1946 discovery of a settlement that existed 8000 years ago. The prominent features of this site are the well-preserved stone statue carvings of Mehnhir warriors.

As we began our self-guided tour we were totally on our own and there was very mystical music playing from speakers nestled throughout. At first we thought it was just a great mood setter. Then we encountered a group of people at one of the first settlement areas. Everyone was totally silent, as one by one they took turns standing in the centre of some of the habitation areas. They would move slowly and then stand in some sort of meditative state. When finished, each person left the area totally emotionally drained and in fact in some cases down right distraught. They were clearly involved in some level of mysticism we couldn’t appreciate and to be quite honest, we found the entire spectre, slightly creepy.

We quickly bypassed this group and moved on to the rest of the tour, which brought us past numerous stone carvings of Mehnhir warriors dating back at least 4000 years. Along

with many other amazing groupings of rocks, like the dinosaur above, we found the entire site fascinating. We did, however, get a little cosmic ourselves by the end of the tour.

Following our awakening at Filitosa, we drove to Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica and began our search for a hotel. We didn’t have to look far, since the first place on our list, The Imperial, had a room for 3 nights. The Imperial was right on the Mediterranean and about ¾ kilometre from the centre of town.

After settling in, we set off to explore the town and find an internet café. We stopped for lunch along the water for moules frites for Dawn and entrecote frites pour moi. We haven’t experienced much English in Corsica, so we found it a little humourous as we were lunching, when we heard a Brit pass by saying, “I’m not eating any more flamin’ squid.”
The architecture in Ajaccio is very striking and the views from town to the mountains beyond is equally awesome. There are also some not so shabby cars in this town like the Austin Martin below.

We succeeded in our internet café quest and posted the previous edition of this blog, then walked the streets and I bought a new pair of jeans. Dawn can’t shop this quickly.
Before dinner, we walked the other way down the beach from the hotel. Several sections of beautiful sandy beach run along the edges of town.
For dinner tonight we chose the pizza truck that was parked just down from the hotel. It had a wood burning stove and produced an amazing pizza with crème fraiche, ham, mushrooms, cheese and olives.

Tuesday, we arose to more startlingly azure skies and promises of more summer like temps. Today’s goal was to travel back to the interior, this time the central interior, to the town of Corte. This is probably the only town of any size in the whole interior of Corsica and probably for good reason. It is only 80 kilometres from Ajaccio, but that trip took us close to 2 hours. It was, however, an amazing drive and the peaks in this area exceed 2 kilometres.

Corte is quite picturesque and we found numerous tour buses parked at the base of town. The Petit Train was carting them all up to the Citadel at the top of town. This was not a tour we were interested in so instead we started driving up the Restonica Gorge road.

This was definitely another one of those “Is this really a two way road?” roads that wound up into the gorge, with steep precipices on the edge of the road. Dawn wasn’t really happy, especially when she found herself on the gorge side of the road and her brake foot was working over time. Even she will admit, however, that it was a spectacular drive. Along the way we stopped for a picnic at one of the few pull offs along the way.

On the way back down the gorge road we encountered more domesticated animals roaming the roads – this time cows. Clearly, the cows needed to travel large distances to find enough chow and the easiest route was – of course – the road.
There was no choice but to return to Ajaccio on the same road – not a lot of alternative routes possible on this island. We took a slightly different route through town, however, to get to our hotel and discovered the suburbs. I think I’ve already said it, but this is a very beautiful city.

Before dinner we took another walk along the water and around the citadel, which as it turns out is still an operating fort – no tours here. We continued into the heart of the city and thought we’d check out the location of the Fesch Gallery, which apparently has the best collection of impressionist art aside from the Louvre in Paris. This is because Cardinal Fesch from a couple hundred years ago was famous for having looted all these art works from elsewhere. Classic! It’s temporarily closed due to renovations.

We also had a nice walk around the marina which had a large percentage of operating fishing boats – not sure what their catch might be.
For dinner this evening we chose a restaurant on the beach that had a wood burning stove and specialized in items that might do nicely on that stove. Dawn had gambas done in papilotte and I had a lamb shank from the rotisserie. We loved our meal.
As it turns out, our hotel does indeed have wi-fi, but the older lady at the desk we asked didn't have a hot clue - too much new technology.

Last day in the Luberon and on to Corsica

Time sure flies when you’re having fun! It’s hard to believe that we’re almost at the end of our stay in the Luberon and that tomorrow we depart for Corsica. We’ve been very pleased with our accommodations here and our location in general and would readily return.

The morning was spent with neighbours Sheila and Cole. We started off at Chez Christine for breakfast and then drove on to the market in Lourmarin. This was another sprawling market through most of the town. The weather was very agreeable for a leisurely stroll.
On the way back to Saignon, we stopped for a photo at the borie that we found back in 2004 with Dennis & Jackie.

The afternoon was spent at the mas. Dawn did some ironing and the bags got packed up again.
We spent the later afternoon playing cards again with Sheila & Cole and then went upstairs to the Parker’s for drinks. They were very friendly, helpful people and we feel very fortunate to have found such a nice spot to visit. I’m fairly certain we will return.
For dinner tonight we went up to Le Baladin in Saignon. There are actually several choices for good dining in the village, but as this one was recommended by the Parkers, the decision about where to eat was made easy. This restaurant is very small and offers simply two entrees, two main dishes and three desserts. Fortunately, there was something for everybody this evening- foie gras and smoked salmon moelleux for starters; tournados of duck and a red fish for main course and chocolate cake, frommage blanc with honey and stewed seasonal fruit for dessert. It was a nice way to finish our time here.

At 4:00 Saturday morning, we were on the road to Toulon to catch our ferry to Ajaccio in Corsica. Not much traffic at this hour of the morning! In fact we only encountered 2 trucks in the first half hour of travel. We made Aix en Provence by 4:45 and got to Toulon just a little before 6:00. If it hadn’t been pitch black all the way, I’m imagining the scenery would have been remarkable, but the lack of traffic was a bonus.

After entering the port, we had a 1½hour wait to board the ship. This is easily the largest ship we’ve been on, with 4 decks for cars and 4 decks for people. There were even cabins, although we didn’t have one. The boat was not very crowded so we weren’t crammed in.

As we left Toulon, it became apparent that Toulon is a huge naval port as we sailed by all manner of naval vessels – battleship, aircraft carrier, submarine – you name it.


The trip started off smoothly, but very quickly we ran into 3 metre swells, at which time the barf bags started coming out all over the ship. Despite the fact that this was a large ship, it was really being thrown around and warnings about staying away from open railings and “sorry the elevators aren’t working”, became frequent.
In the course of the trip we were treated to two movies, The Queen and Transporter 2, en francais and with those and our books and of course a snore or two, the six hours went relatively fast. As we continued along the coast of Corsica to the southerly port of Ajaccio, I got hungry – Dawn was working on not flipping her biscuits - so we went up to the Gourmet Express and I had some lunch. I was thinking, “How civilized!” to eat well on a ferry when a man with a little dog stopped next to me and the dog began an extensive pee against a chrome post and onto the carpet. Vive la France! There were many dogs on the ship, by the way, and they actually had a little “relieving field” of gravel on the fly deck just for the pooches. We just take the dogs for granted now because they are everywhere, but I kind of chuckled when Dawn was trying on clothes in a store in Apt the other day and a dog poked his head out from under the changing room curtain.
Upon disembarking in Ajaccio, we made our way further south on the wide but windy Corsican roads to the village of Olmeto, where we’d booked a hotel. This country is one serious bump! There is hardly a flat section to be had and the peaks here aren’t plebian by any means, most topping out at two kilometers. We quickly realized we wouldn’t be seeing much of northern Corsica on this trip.

We found our hotel in Olmeto – Hotel Santa Maria - and although it’s quaint, we may not stay the entire five nights in Corsica here that we intended. It was a Michelin recommendation and they’ve been pretty reliable, but we’ll see how we feel after a couple of nights here. The village itself is yet another perched village and the Santa Maria is near the bottom of the perching. We’re thinking that we won’t see much of the rest of Corsica if we stay in this location for 5 nights.

Before dinner, which by the way in Corsica doesn’t start until 8:00, we drove down the coast to Propriano, which is the commerce city of the area. There are great sandy beaches here and a myriad of tourist shops. So far, we have noticed that Corsica is indeed significantly different from mainland France. The dialect they speak is harder to understand. The architecture is based more on stone than stucco and tonight’s meal was served family style. We had soup served in a terrine and took as much as we wanted. The charcuterie plate came the same way, as did the main course of lamb for Dawn and wild boar for me. The cheese course was served as 3 huge hunks of cheese that we just helped ourselves to. Dessert – Iles Flottante – was served a la carte, but for 23 Euros plus wine per person, we had an outstanding meal in the restaurant of our hotel. Bonus!

Sunday morning, the plan was to head to the south from Olmeto, so off we went. The first town of significance that we came upon was Sartene, which is one of the few wine towns in Corsica. Almost every town or village in Corsica is perched due the county’s topography, but because the light was just right, I got a great shot of this town’s profile.

Next, we drove down the coast. The roads in Corsica are actually very good – good surfaces and lots wide – however, not much in the way of straight, so once again this point A to point B thing is not quick. On the way to Bonafacio, we encountered an interesting rock formation resembling a lion. Dawn still hasn’t made out the lion in this shot.

Bonafacio was a destination worth driving to. It has a beautiful harbour below a town built on an amazing chunk of rock. Therefore, it is very touristy! But heh, we’re tourists and we loved it. There were way too many photo ops in this town and not just buildings!

We took the Petit Train from our car park and although the tour was en francais, we got a good overview of the town. We jumped of mid-way through the tour, walked the narrow streets and wound up finding a restaurant at the top of town for lunch.


We walked back down from the upper town to our car park after a great lunch and continued our journey, this time up the east coast of Corsica. The land was a little flatter along the coast, which made for easier driving, but at Porto Vecchio, we headed across the interior back to where we were staying on the west coast. From earlier appraisals of the maps, Dawn thought I was nuts to take this totally convoluted drive, but then, heh, what’s new? As we climbed, the skies darkened and the rain began, which was too bad because this was an amazing drive. At one of the summits, some 1500 metres above the coast, we came upon a fairly large village. Go figure! Our average speed for this island crossing was about 40 kph, which gives you some idea of the roads.
When we successfully made it to the west coast, the skies turned blue and we stopped for a walk through Propriano. We stopped for a drink here at the Napoleon Café before heading back to our hotel. While here, we got our regular Sunday phone call from Jessie. At this point in our journey it’s great to hear from Canada. They may not have any internet in the area, but the cell phone coverage is outstanding! Did I mention that Napoleon was born in Corsica and therefore there are lots of Napoleonic references?

By the time we made it back to Olmeto, the last of the sun was gracing the side of our hotel. We killed a couple of hours before the mandatory 8:00 dinner time, which means I worked on pics & today’s blog entry – not sure when this will get posted – and Dawn read and played cards. We dined again at our hotel for a second night, deciding now that we would head back to Ajaccio tomorrow for our remaining nights.

Fort Buoux Thursday September 25

Last year when we traveled to Cathar country in the foothills of the Pyrenees, we trekked up to many a castle, built to protect the Cathars from religious persecution from the Catholic Church. These walks were almost religious experiences and quite arduous at times. Today we had a similar experience when we hiked up to Fort Buoux, an ancient site about 10 kilometres away from our mas.


We are getting really good at starting our days at a leisurely pace and didn’t get away until 10:30. We did a little shopping in Apt before tackling the very narrow and windy drive up to Fort Buoux.
Like most of these sites, you can drive only so far and then you must walk the remaining mostly vertical distance. Fortunately the day was sunny but coolish and the path was reasonable. We had no idea what to expect and after finding the first remnants of ruins, thought mistakenly that there wasn’t much to this fort.


We very quickly discovered that the site, which was inhabited since the earliest antiquity and then became a refuge about a thousand years ago for Protestant Waldensians and then a fort from the 1400’s to the 1800’s, went on and on and eventually stretched over ½ kilometre.

We passed cave houses, walled homes, many cisterns, a church and grain storage silos carved in the rock. There were of course also many fortified ramparts and towers and the castle keep was at the very top of the fort, able to overlook the entire habitation.
The views from the top were staggering and unfortunately very difficult to capture on film. As I take these pictures now, I first stand and soak up the view first hand, knowing full well that the photos just won’t do it justice. Dawn did really well with the heights, but did finally reach a drawbridge path, at which point her journey upward was finished.


We actually only saw one other couple in our whole exploration of Fort Buoux, which is a bonus for traveling at this time of year. On the way back to the mas we picked up another already seasoned and ready for the oven duck breast, similar to the one we had last night for dinner. It seems we can’t get too much duck. The French do a wonderful job of making it easy to eat interesting and delicious food. Our day concluded like yesterday with more cards and popcorn with Sheila and Cole. We’ve now branched out to euchre and so far the boys are getting the cards.

Mid-week in the Luberon – September 23-25

Tuesday was company day again for us. After a morning picking up of lunch provisions in Apt, we had Peter & Margaret for lunch. This is not an area they know well, so they were quite happy to do a bit of exploring.
So, after lunch, we headed up to Saignon past the Abbaye d’Eusebe, which is now a reception hall.

Saignon – pronounced sang-known – still wins for perched villages in this area. Both interior and exterior views of the village are remarkable. We took the walk up the Rocher again and the light was totally different from the evening we were last here.



From Saignon, we took the canyon drive to Lourmarin. Talk about switch-backs! This is another Plus Beaux Villages site and although it is very different from Gordes and Roussillon, it does have a unique charm. Shirley Plasky would call this place shi-shi. It


is loaded with shops and artists that cater to the very wealthy. Most of the works of art I actually found a little bizarre, but I guess they wouldn’t be in business if there wasn’t a market for it.


When we returned from Lourmarin, we had the dessert we’d skipped at lunch with a nice 2001 red Chateauneuf – interesting combo. Peter and Margaret then headed back to Cairanne for their hour and a half drive, most impressed with this area of the Luberon. This is the end of our company.

New things to discover today (Wednesday)! Since we’ve now been to all the places that we’ve seen before this trip, it was time to branch out. So, we headed to other side of the Luberon valley and into the Vaucluse hills and the town of St. Saturnin-les-Apt. We knew nothing about this town, but it ended up being a real treat.

We drove up through its narrow streets and at one point passed through a stone arched gate that was almost pull-in-the-mirrors narrow. We then took a walk up to the chapel at the top of town above extensive castle ruins. The views here were once again quite

remarkable. Of course, in most parts of France, here included, everything looks very ancient, but in fact, there has been serious restoration work done everywhere so that most ruins are actually fairly newly restored ruins. Are you losing me here? This definitely makes it a lot safer for everybody – tourists and locals alike– but most importantly, it’s really good for tourism. For the camera bug, this is heaven!

We headed back to the mas for lunch and after some wine, a slow afternoon. In fact the rest of the day was pretty slow. We are really trying to suck up the local ambience. After dinner, we did get together with Sheila & Cole for more cards and popcorn, but that was about it for the day.

First Day of Autumn, September 22, 2008

Well it had to happen! Summer has come to a close. We’re just hoping that our summer-like weather will not abandon us immediately.
The Mas de Genets has two separate rental accommodations, both on the bottom level of the mas with walkouts to a gravel terrace and views of the valley. Ours is two levels, but the one next door is on one level. The couple staying there right now is a younger couple, Sheila and Cole, from South Carolina. Sheila works with the daughter of Stephen Parker, the owner of the mas. We had drinks with them last night while Betty and Gary were still here and gave them a few touring tips.

We started the day with a trip to Chez Christine for petit dejeuner – croissants & raison buns with hot chocolate and coffee- magnifique! – while I posted the last edition of my blog. Then, we took a tour of the environs, which are as it turns out are all perched villages – Saignon being the premier one, with many others to follow.


We followed our great small scale map to the various perched villages in the area and ended up back at the mas, at which point I took a walk in the vineyard and tried to capture the uniqueness of this site.


Following a slow down at lunch, we drove to Menerbes, the famous Peter Mayle town and had a walk about. It is an outstanding walking village, with, once again, a photo op at each corner.



We drove back to Saignon via Lacoste, with its Marquis de Sade castle and then the Roman bridge, Pont Julien. This bridge, although not one-two with Pont du Gard is an interesting example of Roman building in the area.


Back at the mas, we had drinks with the patrons of the mas and then dinner, followed by another rousing game of Bite Me, this time with our American neighbours, Sheila and Cole. Sorry! They lost! C’est domage! Tomorrow, we’re expecting a visit from Peter & Margaret. And perhaps more Bite Me!