Bastia

A beautiful sunny day and a deep blue sky greeted us as we stepped out of the hotel to start our walking tour of Bastia. The Square St Nicholas is only a short hop from where we are staying. The guide books say that it is one of the largest squares in France. One of the two longest sides is completely devoid of buildings and adjoins the harbour where the ferries from the mainland dock; the other is flanked by tall pastel coloured 18th century buildings. The square has two statues one at each end: a mother giving her son to the motherland (war memorial) and Napoleon dressed as a Roman Emperor and surrounded by palm trees. There's also the conning tower of a submarine – Le Casabianca., which took part in a number of missions to support the Corsican resistance in the year before liberation, 1943. For anyone interested in history the sub was named after the 12 year old Giocante de Casabianca at Aboukir in 1798 when he refused to leave his father's ship after it had been attacked by Nelson (”the boy stood on the burning deck....”.)

Vieux Port, now a marina

We made our way through the town towards the old port, now a marina, and walked along the sea wall before climbing up through the Jardin Romiu to the citadel. There wasn't very much actually left of the citadel to see so we made our way back in the direction of the hotel, stopping off to look inside the very ornate churches that appear in nearly every street. The doors of these were all open and candles laid out in front of the alters in the shape of a cross (it being Good Friday).

Oratory of the Immaculate Conception, Good Friday

Beside one of the churches we spotted a nice restaurant-pizzeria 'Il Pulcinella' where we were able to share a lovely pizza with mushrooms, ham and emmental. This was followed by a complimentary limoncella, yum, and off we set again making sure we called in at a chocolaterie to buy some little easter eggs for Sunday! In the evening we went back to the old port for our meal at a restaurant recommended to us by the guy on reception – A Scaletta. We had a typical Corsican menu, starting with an aperitif called Cap Corse Mattei and finishing with a myrtle liqueur. Back to the hotel then to plan our next day, the east coast of Cap Corse.

Bastia, France