On the Road Again

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move"

-Robert Louis Stevenson

On the road again: Part I-Corsica – Part II-Sardinia – Part III-Isola di San Pietro….

Part I-Corsica

We’ve enjoyed our time on the Ligurian coast of Italy, but unfortunately we haven’t found the town we think we’re searching for. We’ve found pretty towns too expensive for us and affordable towns too uninspiring for us. And we’ve found some towns (even in Italy) that are just plain stupid. The raw adventure of exploring new places drives us, but the drone of travel can be tiring and expensive. We long for a kitchen to cook in, a market town to shop in and a thriving local culture. Plus, we’re nesters, this family, and we all want the chance to settle into a town and put down some temporary (5 month) roots and really LIVE in Italy rather than sightsee. Sightseeing feels like we’re skipping along the surface of things, never really delving deep enough. Living, on the other hand, takes time and commitment, it means adapting to our environment, developing relationships, making friends, finding work, giving back, learning and really melting into the experience.
With that in mind, our wish list for the perfect town:
1) a town connected to the sea
2) a thriving, affordable town
3) a town of medium size (5,000 pop) a not-too-fast, not-too-slow kind of place; big enough to keep us interested and small enough to run into people we know
4) a town that is well-maintained and respects its heritage
5) a town with an evident soul
6) a town where the people proudly speak Italian and expect the same from us

Of course there are other things we’d like, such as perfect weather, a vibrant piazza, nice friendly neighbors with kids Jenna’s age, delicious gelato, a bookstore, an attractive seafront, a weekly open market, and of course proximity to good cycling roads--but we know we may not get everything we want.
So the plan is to head south, away from Liguria and on to Corsica, Sardinia, and possibly even Sicily. If we STILL don’t find a town to nest in, we’ll explore the “heel”,”arch” and “toe” of mainland southern Italy and come back up the western coastline.
We returned our rental car and picked up our new (unfortunately smaller) leased car, a Renault Clio ‘Campus’. En route to Savona to catch a ferry the following day, we stopped in Imperia to check our P.O. Box, but discovered the Posta was closed. Since we were expecting packages, this was disappointing since we probably won’t be coming back to Imperia any time soon.
As usual, once we reached Savona we were tired and hungry after a day of driving, hauling, packing and re-packing our increasingly irritating luggage. We found a hotel, and then walked along the wide, pedestrian-only Via Roma, looking for a ristorante. Finding nothing but shops and an occasional bar, we then strolled along the seafront boardwalk, lined with snack shacks and private chair/umbrella-for-rent beaches. Still no ristorante. We finally found what we were looking for, packed with noisy locals, about a half-block from our hotel. Jenna ate an entire order of freshly made gnocchi with pesto while Jeff and I savored “risotto del frutta de mare” (risotto with fruit of the sea--seafood) which was the most delicious meal we’ve had so far in Italy, and the least expensive.
Early the next morning we took a long, 6-hour ferry to Corsica on the unexpectedly nice “Corsica-Sardinia Ferries”. More like a cruise ship than a ferry, the boat had cabins for overnight trips, a saltwater pool, lounge/bar with dance floor, cozy upholstered couches, bookstore/gift shop, kids play area with bouncy house, video game room and a restaurant/dining area with tables and actual fresh food. Jenna had fun bouncing, playing video games, reading and swimming in the pool with her Barbies, Jeff read and dozed on and off, and I mostly concentrated on not getting seasick by staring at the horizon. Jenna and I were lucky enough to see a huge black whale breeching and spouting along the side of the boat, while Jeff was, of course, napping. Planes, trains, automobiles, ferry boats--my husband has the amazing ability to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, which I admire and envy a little.
We arrived in Bastia, an uninteresting port town on the northeastern tip of Corsica. We were excited to explore this brand new island, however, the near-perfect weather we’d enjoyed in Liguria had suddenly turned cool, cloudy and rainy. Honestly, this was the worst weather of our trip so far—which I hesitate to mention, considering the weather in Portland, OR for the last month. Our plan was to drive south, along the eastern border of Corsica. If we found an interesting town, we’d stop, but otherwise we’d drive straight through to the southern ferry port. Here’s my impression of Corsica that day: green, remote, low scratchy shrubs, mostly inaccessible coastline, and an occasional glimpse of a tiny hilltown nested high amongst the dark green blanket of trees. Where was all the Corsican mint? The beautiful beaches? The sun? I did see lots of “camping” signs. “Camping”, we’ve discovered, is a term meant to describe not only a tent/trailer area, but often a place with “bungalows, “villinis” (small, stand-alone villas) and a restaurant/grocery all on site. We were keeping our options open, but as long as it kept raining, we kept driving.
When you’re travelling quickly through an area, not spending a lot of time there, it’s hard to know if your current experience (whether it be rain, wind, traffic, noise, disgruntled people, etc.) is common or if it’s UNUSUAL. You almost can’t help but judge a place based on a short personal experience. For instance, when we were in Antibes, France last week, it was incredibly windy--wind that took Jeff’s hat off his head and sent us laughing and running around for 5 minutes trying to catch it; wind that whipped my hair blindingly across my face and lifted my skirt, a la Marilyn Monroe, and displayed my panties—causing me to walk around clutching a wad of my skirt in one hand and a hunk of my hair in the other. If we hadn’t already been to Antibes before, we might come away proclaiming, “Boy, Antibes is WINDY!”.
So here we are in Corsica, in the cold drizzly rain, and of course we proclaim, “Boy, Corsica has terrible weather!” So we kept driving. The weather finally cleared as we were approaching the surprisingly beautiful southern port town of Bonifacio. Bonifacio is like a tiny Portofino, with a lovely arched bayfront of tall pastel-colored buildings. We considered staying, but deciding to leave our decision up to fate: we would drive first to the ferry terminal and if a ferry was still leaving for Sardinia, we’d take it; if not, we’d stay the night. Fate decided, and we boarded another ferry that left just minutes later, for a quick crossing from the southern tip of Corsica to Santa Teresa di Gallura, a touristy little port town on the northeastern tip of Sardinia, ready for our next island adventure.

NEXT UP: Part II – Sardinia