The Old Capital of Corsica, Bastia & Beyond
Despite the forecast predicting some nice winds to take us across the Tyrrhenian Sea on the 28th July, they just never materialised so we found ourselves motoring the 45NM’s across until we dropped our anchor just outside of Bastia, on the east coast of Corsica, just at the beginning of the finger as we call it!
Our anchorage was lovely, crystal clear waters, with just a handful of yachts, and very calm, not surprisingly as there hadn’t been any wind all day! We ate on board, knowing we planned to take Seaclusion into the Old Port the next day so we could go exploring.
So quite early in the morning, we picked up our anchor and motored around the corner, grabbing one of the new visitors places, which we had pre-booked. It wasn’t the easiest of moorings as there was a nasty shelf off the quay we had to stay off, and the bow line was a little on the short side, suffice to say had there been any winds they would have blown us back to the quay, we wouldn’t have stayed. But all was fine, there was no wind on the forecast and it remained true all day and night!
Our approaches to Bastia Itself
Bastia
Bastia was the capital of Corsica until 1791 and still is the military headquarters of the island. The old town (Terra Vecchia) is built in and around the central part of the Old Port, lined with bars and restaurants, dominated by the twin-towered Church of St. Jean-Baptiste rising behind it. It is full of faded charm with narrow streets and alleys, where washing still hangs drying from ancient shuttered windows in the tall, often almost crumbling buildings, dating largely from the 18th century.
Our wanderings of course had to be broken up by a wonderful french ice-cream with all the trimmings including Chantilly, well at least we went for the fruit version, not chocolate!!!
Suitably energised, we set off climbing the steps up to the centuries-old Genose citadel with its ramparts, the grand 14th century Governor’s Palace and a couple of churches, plus of course some bars and restaurants with spectacular views out to sea and across the whole of Bastia. The palace of the Governors was attacked and destroyed by Nelson in 1794 and rebuilt by the French when it was used as a prison. The Nazi’s used the dungeons to imprison and torture Resistance fighters during the Second World War. It has now been renovated and is now a museum.
A glass of vino or 2 taking in the view made coming down a lot easier, if perhaps a tad more hazardous!
We then headed back to Seaclusion and for once we had shore power, and it was hot enough to warrant aircon, what a pleasure it was to shower and change in the cool! We then headed out for dinner, and opted for our first French Vietnamese dinner of the holiday, it was wonderful, washed down with some local vino, also delicious!
The following morning, we were on our way again, for all of 5 NM’s to visit a tiny very quiet old village called Erbalunga! We anchored off, waited until the heat of the day had passed before jumping in the dinghy to have a walk around and a beer ashore.
Erbalunga
Erbalunga is an ancient fishing village on Cap Corse, and really centres arounds its tiny port, with some fabulously expensive restaurants, namely one called Le Pirate which was highly recommended but was over €100 per head before wine, dotted around such a tiny off the beaten track place, so full of life with people out and about, catching up with the friends. We just sat and had a couple of glasses of vino in the square and people watched, it was just so chilled.
We then returned to Seaclusion to watch the sunset behind the ancient 16th century Genoese tower, now partly in ruins but very photogenic to have our supper on board.
After another peaceful calm night, we set sail northwards for 22 miles to a place called Macinaggio to be able to pick up some favourable winds to sail back to the island of Capraia the following day for a proper look-see of the island. We anchored off, intending to go ashore in the morning… when will we learn!!! 🤪.
31st July 2024.
