Sardinia and Corsica

Day 4 - Sat 15 September 2007

Up early and checked out of the hotel, there's not many people in the old town this early, dump all our stuff in the car, and head back into town to buy a couple of croissants and keep going out the main gate of the citadel, towards the Lighthouse.

The ground is rough and is either covered in rock or sand, we make it a long way along the coastal path before we hit a big dip with no clear path going across to the other side (and the lighthouse), so we decide that the views from here are just as good and head back into town.

Bonifacio

The walk back is more tiring than the walk out, as the sun has got up and is making it's presence felt! After making it back into the city, the next stop is the Bastion de l'Etendard just inside the gates which houses a small museum about the history of the town. For some reason entry today is free!

After poking around there we headed through the old town, past our hotel and up to the Escalier du Roy d'Aragon. 187 steep steps cut into the cliff face that take you down to sea level and a little cave cut by the waves into the cliff. The climb up was far more effort than the climb down!

Catholic procession, Bonifacio, Corsica

Onwards to the next sight which was Gouvernail de la Corse which is a rock the shape of a ships rudder at the bitter end of Bonifacio. There is a tunnel hacked out by hand during WWII that takes to there, and with a great view of the harbour entrance you can see why they dug it out.

A visit to a little supermarket got us provisions for lunch, and we drove out of town to the lighthouse(!) to eat and take in the view. After that it was back into town to park up near the harbour and take a stroll before we had to get back on the ferry to Sardinia.

The crossing was the usual 60 minute affair, and we arrive back on Sardinia at 16:30, a hour or so's drive through the cork tree growing region brought us to Tempio Pausania where we found a little hotel, and waited for a thunderstorm to pass before heading out to find something to eat.

This was the first time we had problems locating somewhere to eat, all the places we tried were either shut, or had no one in them. Eventually we found a place in the back streets, went upstairs and had a very good pizza!