Of beaches and snowstorms

Propriano

Porto-Vecchio (week 34)

Our route around Corsica took us along the south end of Corsica across the mountain roads from Ajaccio to Bonifacio, where we stayed overnight.  The trip back to Ajaccio took us up the east coast through Porto-Vecchio, stopping for a traditional Corsican lunch at Ghisonaccia (featuring the largest beans we've ever seen), then along a frightening but picturesque mountain road to Vivario where we joined the Corte-Ajaccio highway and thence back to Ajaccio.

Porto-Vecchio

As we went along we stopped at various beaches.  At Propriano there is a neat little pebble beach - your feet sink into the tiny pebbles and unlike the larger pebbles of the Riviera, it was not at all painful on the feet.  Craig dipped his feet in the water and declared it to be about the same temperature as Summerville water in August; the waves are perhaps not as large, but there were no jellyfish either, so it balances out.  Porto-Vecchio is one of the main resort areas on the east coast, and the next beach we checked out.  It has very soft sand and is sheltered (very small waves).  The beach stretches out around the bay and includes various rocky formations to play on, which the kids enjoyed.  It's a little hard to find, as the turnoff is only signposted if you are coming from the south (it is just before you reach Porto-Vecchio town).  Finally, we walked along the beach that runs in front of the seawall and Citadel in Ajaccio.  It also features some very nice and soft sand, although it is quite narrow and we suspect it is a zoo in the warm months.

Into the clouds near Vivario

As you go across the mountains, there is a very distinct drop in temperature, warming up just as distinctly as you go back down.  Unfortunately, it was an overcast and drizzly day on our trip across the waist of Corsica.  We passed a signpost for 920 m in elevation, and everything was fine.  We passed the old Napoleonic prison of Fortin de Pasciloa, now a ruin, and stretched our legs.  Shortly thereafter, we climbed into the clouds, and a little while after that, at the Col de Vizzavona (the high point of the Corte-Ajaccio road), it started to snow.  Unfortunately for us, French drivers are not smart winter drivers, often stopping on the uphills (in the middle of the lane!) to ponder the situation.  Sometimes they got out to put on snow chains, blocking both lanes in places.  At its worst there was about 2 cm of frozen slush on the road, but a few kilometres further on we started coming back down and the snow quickly disappeared.