Where Time Stands Still

Day 21 - August 19

The first thing after packing my stuff was to pump up the wheel to the fullest, I knew I had work coming up with it.

This day turned out to be one of the most beautiful ones on the entire trip. I was up in the mountains, riding through the small villages, with each of this villages having an impressive church. There was hardly any traffic, apparently just local cars. The weather was perfect, crisp, sunny, but not too hot. To my left were wild mountains, to my right, I could spot the blue of the sea far away.

In the village of Feliceto, I had breakfast at a small local store called "Chez Margot", with the old lady Margot serving me the pain au chocolat herself. She gave me a bucket, with the help of which I was finally able to locate the tiny puncture and flick it - problem solved!

I met a Belgian lady, who was commuting between Corsica and her native country - she told me her parents had a vacation home on the island and she fell in love with this little town as hardly anything has changed in the last century or so. She was completely right.

The next town, Murato, was even more adventurous, with small alleys, wonderful squares and an impressive church. Here I had a close encounter of the third kind: an older guy looked at my bike and started talking to me in French. I do speak a little and he ended up inviting me to his home. We sat on a small terrasse, he served me a beer (it was quite early in the morning, but I did not say no) and some cookies. We talked about the politics in Corsica, that he was a fierce advocate of the independence of the island - and presented me a black baseball cap with the letters "CL" - Corsica Liberate. I wore this cap for the rest of the journey.

One interesting fact: next to the church was a supermodern toilette, one which disinfects itself after each use - so far, I have only seen such a thing in large cities. Somehow it did not fit the setting of this village, where, as we agreed, time seems to stand still...

For the large part of the day, one could see a village built at the very top of the hill - and I kept taking photos of it. I did think it would be interesting to visit, but it seemed very far. Well, up came an intersection and I got the information from two bikers that the town, called San'Antonio, is only 3 kilometers away, 2 of them straight uphill and that it is absolutely worth a visit. Talking of bikers, this morning I met a lot of them - it is a perfect place for this sport, though only one person was carrying luggage, all others were exercising on their shiny race bikes. Reaching town, yes, it was beautiful, but in contrast to the others I had visited earlier, it was rather touristy.

Fewer tourists were in Montegrosso, but I liked the place a lot more.

From this town, there was a direct road to the coast, but I've not had enough of these mountain villages, so I took a considerable detour. I rode to Zilia, where two young kids held bottles of water and when they saw me, they splashed the water all over me and then ran away. It was actually really refreshing. I followed them into the narrow street, found them, a sculptor could have formed the Statue of the Innocents, the way they were sitting there...

The next place was Calenzana, was more of a town, with a large main square flanked by palm trees. From the city hall I could hear a woman singing. Another woman was looking out of the window and when she saw me taking a picture, she called to me in French: "it's me who is singing!" (it was evident it was not her, just a sign of Corsican humor!). I yelled back "yes, I know, and you are also the mayor!" (Hungarian humor). There was an artisan bakery, making all kinds of cookies, I bought a handful, they were quite delicious. I filled up my supplies at a local shop.

The town also had a giant dome, I was quite impressed. Talking about churches: there was another church outside town, where a recital for a classical concert was taking place, I sat down in the pleasant cool of the building and listened to the music for a while.

Now it was downhill to the city of Calvi - the drop was nice, but then the road continued close to an airport, after the wonderful mountain scenery I had enjoyed earlier that day, it felt rather dull. I did 13 kilometers in like half an hour (glad it went by fast...), and now I found myself in a very pretty sea promenade, being guarded by a massive citadelle above it.

The promenade had hardly any tourists on it, the countless restaurants were waiting for the people to return from the blue beaches (it was not even 5 pm yet). The citadelle was a bit more lively, but I was able to ride my bike through the narrow streets. There were some interesting frescoes in one of the churches. Napoleon had stayed in this town and there is a rumor that Columbus was born in this town.

I did the Calvi-Express-Tour, was done with the town in just over an hour - it was only just after 5:30 pm - plenty of time for more biking that afternoon.

Now I was on the "real" western shore of Corsica and it was absolutely fascinating. I was surprised to see hardly any traffic, perhaps, by that time, the restaurants had filled, or people take other roads (there was a major road running inland), I was truly enjoying an amazing coastal road.

I ran across one of the very few hotels alongside the road, it appeared first they could accommodate me, but then it turned out that even the last room was taken. No luck that day, but there would be vacancy for the next evening. I told them a day later I was hoping to be in Ajaccio - they told me that was impossible on a bike, as it was some 130 kilometers and countless roller-coasters away. Anyhow, I was offered two bottles of cooled water for free - which was a welcome gift, I was running low on liquid supplies.

At an intersection, I turned towards a cul-de-sac, a 6 km detour to a town called Galeria, where I found a camping, close to the sea. The guy at the camping was strict, but not unfriendly, he showed me a nice spot to stay. The amount of Eur 11 for the camping was the cheapest I had paid on this trip (well, except the wild campings, where I stayed for free…) - and got a warm shower and a good sleep in return.

It was pitch dark by the time I had set up my tent - but I thought it would be nice to go in for a dip. I took my flashlight and found a way to the water - it turned out to be a boat-launch pad, but I did not care, I was in the sea for a few minutes with the my lamp on my head, careful not to bump into the rocks around me.

Here is the map for the day. I did over 90 kilometers and rose over 1,900 meters and dropped about 2,300m. What a wonderful day!!! I have to say, even if I had fully planned that day in advance, I would not have enjoyed myself as much.