Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Ajaccio, Corsica — France
Temps: 79F (26C) / 60F (16C)
First let’s clear up how to pronounce the name of Corsica’s capital — Ajaccio. We had to ask the locals to pronounce it for us as we had no idea ourselves. Turns out that depending on the nationality you claim — Corsican [aˈjattʃu], French [aʒaksjo], or Italian [aˈjattʃo] — the pronunciation changes. Needing further help, I took the phonetic spelling from Wikipedia … so you can take your pick.
With today’s visit, we tucked another new port under our belt. I liked Ajaccio — the Corsican city where Napoléon Bonaparte was born. Mui has mixed feelings — he says the day did not feel satisfying to him. He can’t put his finger on why he feels thus, but I have a feeling his mind is once again on estate matters and he’s starting to get anxious about returning home to deal with pending details.
We are back on the ship now … but still in port. Mui’s catching some zzzz’s … I am enjoying the veranda and the view of Ajaccio across the bay from where Silhouette is docked. Time to write about our day.
a favorite son of Ajaccio, Napoléon’s image can be seen everywhere around the city.
We’re being really lazy on this cruise. Again, we slept in — Mui said he didn’t get a good night’s rest … which may partially explain his mood today. In any event, it was 7:30a when we stepped out onto the veranda to watch Ajaccio come into view on the port side of the ship. We didn’t dally, heading up to have breakfast on the open deck aft of the Oceanview Café even as Captain Kafetzis was backing Silhouette into its berth.
Ahoy Ajaccio, Corsica!
Ajaccio greets us with sunshine and blue skies.
Disembarking the ship two hours later, our first stop was the information kiosk at the end of the pier. The woman at the desk marked up a map showing the primary attractions and sent us off to explore her city.
We’re told to follow the waterfront to the palm-tree shaded Place Foch between the buildings.
Our first stop was the local market in Place Foch where Ajaccians were shopping for foodstuff and other goods. We enjoyed the atmosphere of the market — ‘fragrant’ wild-pig sausages notwithstanding.
Dried fruits and nuts catch Mui’s eye.
charcuterie products tease taste buds and olfactory senses.
At the top of the square, we found the first of several statues of Napoléon that we were to come across during our meanderings today. This marble statue sits atop a fountain decorated with lions on all four sides. It was inaugurated on 5 May 1850, the 29th anniversary of Napoléon’s death.
Monument dedicated to Napoléon as First Consul.
Following the map, we next headed off to find the cathedral, but en route we made a detour to visit Maison Bonaparte where Napoléon was born in 1769. He lived in this house with his family until he left at the age of nine to go to school in France. As we’ve found with other museums in France, all the exhibit information was in French. Apparently there was an audio guide, but we didn’t see the sign when we paid the €7pp admission, nor did the cashier ask us if we wanted one. I enjoyed the visit anyway … especially the wall-paper-look-alike painting technique on the walls, and the painted decorative medallions on the ceilings.
The walls are painted to mimic wallpaper.
Every room has painted medallions on the ceiling. This is one of the more elaborate ones.
Left: The sign reads “l’Alcove.” What isn’t clear is if this was Napoléon’s room or not.
Right: The gallery was used for grand receptions.
One of several beautiful chests of drawers with intricate inlay work.
Beautiful ceiling detail … love the painted lace.
Centennial crown of the First Consul.
By the time we arrived at La Cathédrale Santa Maria Assunta [aka the Ajaccio Cathedral], it was past 11:30a and the tourists who were already inside were being shooed out so the doors could be locked for a three-hour siesta. We took advantage of the departing crowds to take a few photos of the exterior and returned later in the day to see the inside of the church where Bonaparte was baptized.
Napoléon was baptized in this church, but despite his desire to be buried here with
his ancestors, his request was not granted. He is buried at Les Invalides in Paris.
One of the murals painted on either side of the altar.
Ceiling detail from the Chapel of the Madonna of Pianto.
From the cathedral, we walked across the road to the beach. Though it was narrower than the beach in Villefranche yesterday, the sand here looked finer and the water seemed nicer. Locals and tourists were frolicking in the sea and catching some rays. This would have been a good day for Mui to join them, but he didn’t have his swim trunks or a towel with him … next time. If the postcards are anything to go by, Corsica has beautiful beaches that would be well worth visiting on a land-based trip.
Lovely weather for a day at the beach … but we came prepared to sightsee, not to swim.
With lunch time at hand, we started checking out places to get a bite to eat. As we did yesterday, we looked for a place frequented by the locals. We found Bocadillo — a sandwich shop — not far from Place de Gaulle. There were crew members from the ship mixed in with the locals occupying the tables inside and out … usually a sign of free-wifi for the cost of a meal, reasonable prices, and most likely good food. We were right on all counts. Since I wasn’t very hungry, we ordered a hot sandwich and a salad to split. We skipped dessert in lieu of finding a pâtisserie or gelateria later.
Left: Beautiful stained glass window in one of the churches we step into on the way to lunch.
Right: Silhouette pops into view as we meander around town.
Mui likes wandering through shopping districts. So, after checking out the Napoléon statue that stands prominently in the middle of Place de Gaulle, we headed over to Cours Napoléon. The street is lined with shops on either side — I got the sense that this is where the locals shop. Then we crossed over to the “tourist shopping street” … Rue Fesch. Our goal was to visit Chapelle Impériale, adjacent to Palais Fesch, where the Musée des Beaux Arts is housed. The chapel was locked up tight, with a sign directing visitors to the museum to purchase tickets. When we inquired about doing so, however, we were told the chapel was closed — permanently or just today … that wasn’t clear.
This monument to Napoléon features his four brothers standing on the corners of the pedestal while he is shown astride a horse … the gull on his head is not part of the original design.
Next we tried our luck at La Citadelle … no can do. Look as we might, we couldn’t find an unlocked entrance. So, we wandered around the marina instead, took a couple of ‘post’cards, and headed to the cathedral I mentioned earlier to check out the interior.
The Citadel was built in 1492.
Hard to miss Silhouette as she towers above all the other vessels.
Glimpse of Ajaccio across the Tino Rossi Marina and Fishing Port.
Finally … it was time for the dessert we had postponed. We looked and we looked, and nowhere could we find a pâtisserie. Back to Cours Napoléon we went to find the one small shop where we’d seen éclairs and Napoléon pastry in a display case. La Mie du Cours turned out to be an “artisan boulanger” … good enough. There wasn’t much left in the way of pastries, but we only needed one each, so all was good. Then we returned to Rue Fesch where we stopped at Gelateria Cabogiro to get a couple of cones of Italian gelato. Yes, we had two desserts … got to give both countries equal billing dont’cha know ;-)
Both of our dessert treats are good, but the pastries edge out the gelato by a small margin.
Thus we concluded our day in Ajaccio. We made our way to the ship by way of the market — no sign of the stalls that had filled the square earlier in the day, so we didn’t dally. Time to relax for a bit.
Ferries ply these waters, connecting Corsica to mainland Europe and nearby islands.
Captain Kafetzis has just announced that we’re ready to take our leave of Corsica. We have one port of call left on our itinerary … but first a well-earned day at sea.
Next Stop: La Spezia, Italy … 213 nautical miles from Ajaccio.
[To see more images from our day, click here for my online gallery.]
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We are at Gate G7 awaiting the boarding of our flight.
