Corsica, France
Posted on July 14, 2023 • 7 minutes • 1282 words
Getting to Corsica from Genoa was a trek! We had a 7:45am train to catch, so at 7am we were walking to an area we had seen taxis the day before. (No cars were allowed where our Airbnb was, so we had to get past the square area. No taxis. We started walking in the direction of the train station and for 20 minutes a taxi never passed us. Oh well. Got food for the kids and by 7:30am we were on the platform with fed kids and sweaty parents.
We had a direct train to Livorno and arrived about an hour before Erin, Avery and Hayden. Quick walk to a coffee shop to get some food (and coffee) and back to be on the platform to meet them. Hugs and excitement all around. Finally, we started heading outside to figure out how to get to the ferry terminal. There had been taxis, but now there were none to be found and it was too far to walk and the bus would have taken too long. So, we waited…ferry leaving in 45 minutes. It took about 10 minutes and a nice big taxi van pulled up. Loaded kids and suitcases up.
We got there with plenty of time to sit around and wait for what seems like hundreds of cars to be unloaded from late arriving ferry. Except for the lack of shade and the kids enjoyed trying to figure out the codes on all the EU license plates.
We opted for a room, more or less to just keep our stuff, as it was only 20 euros. We then beat all the people with cars to the café area and got a prime stop. We sent Dan for coffee and then 20 minutes later sent him back for champagne, because my Uncle Mark says you always need a glass of bubbly when embarking. There was a confusion as I meant just any bubble (aka prosecco in this case) and he came back with a half bottle of champagne. Why does he listen literally when I needed him to just read my mind. Some lunch and then sent the kids off to play in the play area.
Disembarked 4hrs later and took a taxi to the airport, picked up rental cars and drove 2hrs through windy beautiful roads to Calvi.
Checked into the Airbnb, pizza take out for dinner and put the kids to bed so the adults could decompress from the day with wine.
We stayed in Calvi for 5 nights and it was just what we needed with the heat…beach every day and the kids could have stayed forever. Beaches had gradual sloping sand so the kids really could play out there with us just within eye site. Even able to get drinks at a beach bar and still see the kids in less than waist deep water.
The beach by our house had views of the fort in the background.
We swam out a bit and saw lots of fish and some sea stars. Perfect temperature water.
Dan stayed back to work 2 days and we came back to our pretty typicaly lunch.
One night we took a suggestion from a friend and went to a restaurant down the coast a bit. It was so windy (and beautiful) that Erin knew she couldn’t continue the drive down to Piana that we had planned the next day. The drive would have been 1.5hrs of winding and she was done after 20 minutes.
The restaurant experience started off pretty rough, but such a beautiful setting you could almost forget about it as you stared off to the sea with an aperal spritz in your hand…almost.
It was still quite warm, kids were cranky and when we got our food we were surrounded by bees. It was pretty bad, even I was a bit agitated, but the kids were in tears or on the verge. We said something to the waiter and he came over with some smoking thing that helped. Clearly this was an issue they delt with. Things took a turn for the better after they ate and we let them run around in the open area below the restaurant.
Things got even better after dessert. Happy kids and not annoyed adults anymore and we all walked down to the water for sunset.
Looking back, had we know the niceness of this restaurant, Dan and I should have gone here alone for dinner on our night out. Oh well. It did turn around by the end, but the heat, bees, hungry kids, and tired kids was not ideal.
Since we weren’t doing the drive to Piana anymore we thought we would explore some beaches you had to hike to. They were on a peninsula and we were unsure of the trail. Instead of getting all ready to do the hike and finding out it wasn’t a good kid hike, I volunteered to go for a run and check it out. Poor me. :) It was a beautiful run, but it was either straight up or straight down. No shade and while the views were amazing and the beaches waters were every color of blue and green, there was seaweed all over the beach and would not have been worth the almost 2 mile trek to the second beach. So not worth it and we decided to go to the fort instead. Not before I stopped and had a very peaceful solo cappuccino and bought 8 croissants to bring home.
Dan and the 3 older kids walked the 30 minutes to the fort and Erin and I drove with the 2 younger ones. Playground at the base where we let the kids play for a bit,
then started hiking up.
Zigzagging old cobblestone streets and we just wandered around. Amazing views, cool architecture. I love looking at the brick patterns of old buildings to see how they were originally constructed and then added onto. I keep saying it, and I’ll say it again, amazing views!
Dan offered to take the kids to gelato so Erin and I could have a coffee. Amazing what just 15 minutes of chill time from the kids can do for your soul.
Meanwhile…
Max insisted on wearing my watch, and sure…I’ll take credit for 3yo steps running all around.
The next day before going back to our favorite beach, we (minus Dan and Sam due to a Sam meltdown) checked out 2 wineries. The first was very nice and personal. We were the only people there and the kids could run around outside where we could see them. I’m no expert, but I enjoyed a few of them. The girl serving us was interactive with the kids when they came in and served them water in a wine glass.
Free tastings, beautiful location, nice people and cheap wine. Not sure what else we could have asked for. Maybe Sam not being a you know what that morning so Dan could have joined?
Dan and Sam took the local train to meet us at the beach where we had lunch at a very highly reviewed restaurant. Everything was so good. We learned from past mistakes and ordered 2 burrata salads, not one. Dan loved his octopus and black risotto. Yummy fish and pasta. We barely kept the kids in their seats with the temptation of the beach just below us. Oh and they served 1 liter mojitos. Yes please! The burrata, watermelon, balsamic, pesto thing was my favorite!
Another dinner at home and some packing up and preparing for the next day…a long travel day! Sometimes dinners at home are so much easier and much more preferred.
