Corsica 2002
For years we have always dreamt of visiting Corsica, that wild mountainous
island south of the French mainland, but had always been put off by the
very expensive cost of flights from the UK, but while we were on our trip
to Sardinia we discovered that the ferry crossing from Sardinia to Corsica
was only £7 each way. This sounded more like our budget, and so we decided
to visit Corsica via Sardinia. It seemed we had found a cheap and easy way
to get to our destination. In practise it wasn’t as easy as we thought it
would be. The flight from Stanstead London to Algehero with Ryanair went
without a hitch. The cost for the two of us the princely amount of £72 return.
We caught a bus from the Airport to Alghero town. You purchase a ticket
at the café in the airport, and when getting on the bus don’t forget to
validate the ticket by punching it in the onboard machine. The bus stops
at the square in Alghero, and if you manage to look suitably lost, several
men will appear from nowhere and ask if you would like to rent an apartment.
Don’t be afraid! We found them to be very polite and helpful, and the apartments
although basic were clean and adequate.We rented one of these apartments
in the old town, for about £28 for the night.
The next morning we set off at 8.30 am to travel from Alghero to the ferry terminal at St Tereasa Di Gallura on the north coast, a distance of about 75 miles. We caught a bus to Sassari and then planned to get a connection to St Tereasa Di Gallura. The bus arrived on time and after an uneventful journey dropped us off at the bus station on the outskirts of Sasarri. It was from now on that the journey started to go wrong. First the 11.30am bus never arrived until 1.25pm (local people in the queue assured us it would be coming but the times were approximado), and then the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere. We finally arrived at our destination, St Teresa Di Gallura at 4.55. Our ferry was due to leave at 5.00. So with large rucksacks on our backs we had to run the final half a mile leg from the bus stop to the ferry terminal. We made it just as the crew were lifting the gangplank to leave. My wife begged the ships steward to let us on board and luckily as with most Italian men they can’t resist a pretty woman. So the gangplank was replaced down to the quay and we exhaustedly climbed on board. We were absolutely starving as we had nothing to eat all day (we were unable to leave the bus station at Sassari to get food, as we were afraid to miss the bus), but never mind, now we could get something to eat on board. This was our second mistake, they had one stale cheese roll, and six people were queuing up for it. We were the unlucky ones!
The crossing
to Corsica took about one hour. It is a pleasant trip, with the approach
into Bonifacio being one of the most spectacular sea approaches anywhere
in the world. You enter into a deep cleft between dazzling white limestone
cliffs that tower above you. Just as you think the ship will never make
it through, you suddenly appear into a wonderful natural harbour with the
Genoese town and castle high on the hill. We rented a car from Hertz situated
at a small garage on the quay. According to Hertz UK they have no car rental
in Bonifacio but there certainly is. The Hertz code is 20169 Hertz Bonifacio,
Quai du Commerce Telephone 04 9573 0641. We phoned direct and rented a Renault
Kangoo, which was the ideal car to use on the mountain roads of Corsica,
and we even got a better deal than they were offering in the UK. Trying
to find any reasonable cost accommodation in Bonifacio is nearly impossible.
Most of the hotels are either full to bursting or they cost an arm and a
leg.
For our first night in Corsica we headed up the N196 west coast road and found a rooms to let in the village of Monacia St Aullien. This village is not the most friendly (there was a vendetta killing the previous month at the bar where we asked for accommodation) but we did have a nice clean and large room with ensuite bathroom for the reasonable charge of £30 for the two of us. More..............