Th chaos of boarding the ferry continued onboard. To order a drink, you joined a line and waited around 15 minutes whilst one server took your order (and money) whilst another fulfilled it. Just the 2 of them. We had just one small pillow each in the cabin. Asked the steward for 2 more. He arrived with just one. “Two, please,” said I. “Not possible,” said he. Why? He shrugged. We moved on! Both of us slept very well, so job done.
Passengers seemed equally “unusual”. I’ve never seen this method of avoiding paying for a cabin. We hoped they wouldn’t have the traditional camp-fire to make dinner.
Disembarkation followed similar patterns, but we were reunited with our coach by 07:00. Unfortunately, the weather was grey and overcast, so the spectacular scenery was a little less enjoyable, but still spectacular. Corsica seems to be an inhabited mountain range, which, if carefully ironed flat would be about the size of Canada. The roads are narrow and follow the contours up and down; repeated infinitely.
We arrived in Corte around 09:30. The coach park is at the foot of yet another mountain, the town is at its peak. Fortunately, our courier, Mel, had laid on a “Noddy train” to take us there and back (€10) so cardiac events were avoided. Corte was Corsica’s ancient capital and, tbh, doesn’t have much to commend it apart from some of the best patisserie on Earth. Margaret enjoyed some for a late breakfast. It also has its own local beer, an amber nectar. John enjoyed this for an early lunch.
The Noddy train returned us to our coach at 12:15 and we set off for Ajaccio and our hotel. Quite a journey via even steeper slopes and narrower roads.
We arrived at the hotel at 15:30. It seems a decent place and we were allocated a room with a balcony that overlooks the harbour. However, unlike the Novotels, the wifi peaks at 5mb/s, reminding me of the days of dialup internet. The laptop’s got nothing to do except sit on the desk so I’m just going to leave the lid open and let it get on with it!
Dinner is at 19:00. Finger’s crossed!
