CORSICA

as you can see here, corsica island has greeted its many many visitors friendly for a long time.

<> OVERVIEW

the island corsica is located in the mediterranian sea, west and south of italy, south-east of france. it has 325000 residents, and the capital city is ajazzio..

corsica was ruled by the republic of genoa from 1284 to 1755. in 1768, france took it over and owns it since then. thus corsica's culture merges italian and french features.

there are many ship connections from/to france and italy, mostly ferries.

the visit of corsica (described below) took place in 1982. most photographies taken were diapositives ("slides") and have not been converted into digital images.
thus the pictures shown here are the few 'normal' photos made in corsica, this attractive and often stunning island.

>> ajazzio

>> bastia

>> landscapes

and by the way - a very famous (and later infamous) man was born and grew up in corsica's ajazzio: napoleon bonaparte!

no wonder how many statues of him are there, until today...

to end this gallery - there are also many paintings of this island, here is one.

<> EXPLORING BICYCLE TOUR

well, contrary to any other voyage presented on this website, corsica was explored with - hard to believe - with a bicycle tour!

here is a brief/condenced report: (there are almost no surving photos).

/// date
friday july 16 to friday july 30 = 15 days

/// together with
my partner, i.e., we were team of two

/// going there
by car from mannheim to livorno, storing car there,
then by ship from livorno to bastia, including the two bicycles.
same on way back home.

/// tour details
the route can be seen on the map below:
east-coast, reaching bonifacio, west-coast via ajazzio to piana, then eastwards over mountainous regions to lucciana, finally north to bastia.

here are a nice easy untypical road, and a track-like way. and the cyclists below are not us - yet somehow quite appearing like us.......

/// equipment
clothes, tent, sleeping bags, some food, large water bottles.

/// accomodation
sleeping in our tent, usually in a remote area. if pleasant weather, no tent.

/// cycling strain
stress for bicycles: over-demanded breaks. stress for cyclists: uphill over-demanded knees.

after the daily cycling strain, sitting down somewhere in a pub and relaxing was always indicated.

/// eating
mainly local cafes or bistros.

/// done km
altogether 558. the amount of daily km's depended on the landscape, and the time spent with sightseeing.

/// resumee
this was obviously a long, and hard, bicycle trip - reasons: corsica is very mountainos, good roads were rare in 1982, and my then bicycle had no gears, urghh.

neverthheless - - the multiple experiences gained, harsh ones and, much more often, delightful ones, make clear how worthwhile it was, this corsica exploring bicycle tour!