Final days on Corsica.

During the final days in Corsica we stayed in Bastia, waiting for my bike to get a new Voltage Regulator. During our last trip from the mountains to Bastia, I nearly boiled the battery, which was overcharged big time. But luckily I noticed it just in time and was able to make it to another BMW garage. So we had some days to enjoy Bastia and the surrounding area, including the old village of my great-grandmother.

Bastia is a real city, people still live in the centre of town around the old harbour. Although the city tries to live on tourism, the old town still looks and feels like it must have been the last few hundred years. Here and there you can see apartment buildings being done up, but most still look old and very very "used".


The last day we went into the mountains again to try and find the birthplace of my great-grandmother in the tiny village of Penta. Half an hour from a regional road, up into the chestnut forest, again lots of pigs, cows and gravel. We arrived in a village of about 10 houses. Over a cobblestone street we passed under a house that I could vaguely remember from when I was about 10 years old. Via a resident we met walking his dog, we ended up 10 minutes later at the desk of the major, who took out all the old birth records from around 1890 to 1920. Since I didn't know my great-grandmother I tried to call my father. After walking just out of town and climbing on a rock I just managed to get some kind of signal and got through to my dad. Ghiponi was here last name, the major looked at me and said, my grandmother was a Ghiponi from this village. In the end it turned out that his grandmother and my great-grandmother were sisters. So I have got a major in my family !!! We could not find the correct birth records, but we will stay in contact to try and find some more information. The house turned out to be the correct house, so after taking some pictures we left my "roots" for Bastia and Europe again.

Corsica Part II

After a week touring around the Cap Corse (the far north of Corsica) we set off to visit the rest of Corsica in several stages.
Via the mountains around Corte, and the fabulous canyon of Scala the Santa Regina. (Of which I will publish a 'road movie' in a later. ) We went back to the West Coast, to follow the coastal road past Porto/Piana and Ajaccio.







The south of Corsica is quite different than the North, one off the main differences were the more archeological sites, with the famous prehistoric menhirs (standing stones) From which it is not yet sure who they represent or were made by who.
Here to the right the statue number 9 from the site at Filitosa.
One of the theories is that they represent invading "sea people" who ended up in Corsica after a failed invasion of Egypt.
The stones where later used for building material so many where broken in the process.

In Ajaccio we found a small hotel in the centre of town, but after a afternoon and evening walking around, there was nothig really interesting, so we left the next morning towards Sartene, the Vendetta Capital of Corsica. This city still has his old charm, with narrow streets and corridors, inbetween the houses. Some streets are so narrow that you can only pass through them one at a time. And a lively atmoshpere on the central square.




After two nights which we set of north again through mountains.
Going over a couple off mountain passes,avoidig collisions ith pigs and cows and after a flying descend we suddenly where at sealevel in the eastern plains south of Bastia. Like falling out of the sky and landing in flatland Holland.

Family Buissiness, St-Florent

After Calvi we were off direction Cap Corse. Along some spectacular cliffs and good tarmac through the mountains of Northern Corsica we arrived in St-Florent. The village of my father.









Walking around the harbor that afternoon, the quest was finding my uncle Paul. Since it was around apperetif time, the best guess was one of the local bars.
Not long after we found him, and he pleasantly surprised.









After a while my nephew Ulrick showed up, and both started calling around for a studio for us to rent. So within 10 minutes we had a house in the middle of town for the week.
The day after as is a Corsican tradition, dinner with the family.








Did I mention how great a motor country Corsica is ?
Two trips so far around the Cap Corse, some parts wide open roads along the cliffs were you can really fly through the curves, other more challenging with lots of holes and gravel, narrow blind corners, but always beautifully views of the sea, the mountains and the villages.



Anne getting up close and personnel with a 1 horsepower.








Jippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee