25 April 2025
Not really the way I wanted to start our trip in Corsica, but some things are out of our control.
As the ship docked, throngs of people wiggled their way through closely parked cars. There is a method to parking on these ferries. Motorcycles are all parked together, then passenger vehicles, RV's and bigger trucks. All very orderly.
We found our car ....AND....it started once and then died!!! OH NO!! What the "expletive"!!! Followed by a few other "expletives". Fortunately, there are a number of crew there trying to move the disembarkation along. I called one crew member over. Showed him all the "error" messages on the dash and tried my best to explain my situation. He was actually very kind. (FYI - the crew of this ship is Italian so my little French was of no use). I'm sure this isn't the only time this type of thing has happened as they quickly got some jumper cables and stopped the vehicle on my left who agreed to jump the battery. To add to the confusion, the owner of the vehicle to our right was no where to be found which made a bad situation worse. Traffic was at a standstill.
With a quick jump, the car did start and we were off the ship still showing a number of error messages.
Next adventure was finding our Airbnb. We found the road easily but our Nav system kept sending us to the wrong place. Ultimately, we did find it with our host waiting for us.
Taking a few minutes to get settled, we called the "assistance" line for DS/Citroen. After a few transfers, I got to speak to someone who spoke English (kind of). She said that they would send someone to look at the car, but then I got a text that said we had an appointment at the dealership.
So off we went. Turns out that was not the case and I got a call from a man who was at our condo who didn't speak English. That didn't go well.
The dealership (where we were directed) wasn't difficult to find and with the help of a young man who they pulled out of one of the back offices, it was quickly determined that they knew nothing about us or the vehicle. Back on the phone to the "assistance" line. I passed the phone to the guy at the service desk and they chatted. Well, it was a Friday and we're told that they can't get to the car until next week. OK!!! The assistance guy proceeds to make arrangement for us to get a taxi to the Hertz dealership at the airport. And when we're just about ready to go - a guy comes from the back. They DID look at the car and it was the battery. This vehicle is a hybrid - which we have no experience with at all. He said it was fixed and we could go. He talked with the assistance person, the taxi got cancelled and we were on our way. Fingers crossed that nothing else happens.
I have to give kuddos to all the people we worked with to solve our "car" issue. They were professional and very kind.
The rest of the day is a bit of blur. We found a really nice Carrefore (grocery store) and did some shopping and headed back to our apartment. Crazy day but the view was lovely.
26 April 2025
Time for us to see Ajaccio. There is a bus stop in front of the apartment with a printed schedule from 2022 and a QR code. The times were not the same. We waited for a bit and then decided to walk into town. Pretty much downhill. A man pulled on a motorcycle and I asked "Ou est le centre ville" (where is the center of town?) He pointed to the right and mentioned the white gate which we easily found. We had heard there was a free bus but had no idea where it was. As we walked down the hill, we saw a couple who looked like tourists, park their car. Hmm - we'll follow them. Good choice - they led us right to the free bus (Navatte bus).
A friendly couple on the bus with their two small children got us going in the right direction. Again - don't believe anyone if they tell you the French are not friendly. Over and over we've experienced only helpful kindness and we JUST got here.
Our first stop - food!! We found a small cafe just off Napoleon's Square (he was born in Ajaccio). La Casa Leca proved to be a great choice. It's a small cafe with a small but yummy menu. The owner/server had a great sense of humor. Jim had the Traditional Corsican Soup and me - a Tart with eggplant and mozzarella and of course a glass of wine.
After our leisurely lunch, we were off to the Tourist Office. A lovely young woman named Aria was a great help. We walked around, ate gelato and decided to take a tour again on the Petit Train. It was supposed to be ninety minutes but ended up being two hours. This was one of the best so far. We made a stop at Place Foch where there is a large statue commemorating Napoleon and then we traveled out to Les Sanguinaires, an archipelago of four rocky islands. It was actually a pretty pleasant ride and our driver was a funny guy.
With a little help, we found the bus back to our apartment and settled in for the evening.
As to what we do during a trip this long, beside some tourist "stuff". We do like to find out about the history of the area and maybe a museum or two. But mostly, we also pretend it's "home". Sometimes it lunch out and sometimes dinner but generally not both. We try and get fresh food from the marche, if there is one, and we'll make dinner. I catch up on my journal and maybe we'll watch a little TV. The function of foreign TVs has not been kind to us so we've opted to bring our ROKU. It works great for Netflix and Prime.
26 April 2025
Sundays in Ajaccio (and France in general) are pretty quiet, even with a cruise ship in town. The Navatte does not run on Sundays and parking downtown is a nightmare so our plan was to take the bus. I "thought" I had us out at the stop at the right time. Nope, the new bus schedule on line was wrong - we were also ready to walk down when the bus arrived.
The Marche (Farmer's Market) near the waterfront was small but still had some yummy offerings. We picked up sausage, cheese and honey (miel). It was raining a bit and we pushed through the crowds from the TUI cruise ship. There are not cruise ships in port every day this time of year but come May the number picks up. The other thing about Sundays in France - many shops and restaurants are closed. We tried to get away from the cruise crowd but were not successful. We did find a place for lunch that was quite good. Jim had a pasta with truffles and I had a lobster roll - both very tasty.
Trying to get home was another adventure. We missed one bus and it was over an hour for the next. A woman at the stop explained that because it was still off season (until next week) AND Sunday there were far less busses.
Tomorrow - off to Bonifacio which is supposed to be the jewel of Corsica. We shall see!!!
This featured blog entry was written by pjburke from the blog It's the Journey....not the Destination.
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