Bavella

Heading up towards the Bavella Pass

The forecast was right, its raining. It's supposed to rain all day and most of tomorrow too. We're up after a good night, having breakfast and putting a few things together. The plan is to head over to the Tourist Office and see if there is a bus or maybe even a taxi to take us to the Bavella Pass.

We ask the lady behind the desk if there are any buses going to Bavella. No, it's too early in the season and the bus hasn't started running yet.

What about a taxi? She calls the local taxi and asks how much it would cost. 80 euros. Hmm, tempting. But is that one way or the return trip? She asks if it's one way or return trip. One way, plus 25 euros per half hour while waiting at the pass.  Hmm, that sounds a bit too expensive.

She asks if we wouldn't rather rent a car? We explain that we tried yesterday and there were no cars available. She says she'll give it a try. She calls Hertz in Solenzara, no cars. She calls Hertz in Porto Vecchio, no cars. She tries a Total garage in Travo that is also an Avis rental agency, and they have a small car available!

We are the only people in the Tourist Office except for the lady behind the desk and an old guy milling about. When we came in he was criticizing brochures for a nearby attraction, and so I assume he works here. He's listening in to our predicament, and when he hears they have a car in Travo he immediately says he'll take us there. The lady behind the desk explains that we can have a car for the day for 101 euros, and the old guy will take us over to pick it up. When we drop it off, they will run us back into Solenzara. Perfect!

The old guy says "follow me" and he's off out the door. We thank the lady for her help and run off after the old guy. He has a mini-van, and we climb in. Laura goes in front and the guy's got a little dog in the front of the van that jumps up and licks her! He's a super-friendly cute little fellow, and Laura is thrilled. The old guy tells us that he is retired, and does odd jobs to keep himself busy. He used to build wooden boats. He asks where we're from and when he hears that Eileen is Irish he tells us that he spent a few years in Belfast in his younger days and really enjoyed it. And he's still a big fan of Irish whiskey!

He doesn't recommend going up to the Bavella pass today. Won't see a thing, he says. Better off heading north, where the sky is a bit brighter. We have no idea how far it might be to Travo, but after about ten minutes he drops us off at the Total garage. We thank him profusely and say bye to his dog.

The car hire lady says that the car we were supposed to get is blocked in the parking lot, she can't find the keys to the car that's blocking it, so we've been upgraded to a Peugeot 308! We do the paperwork and buy a map of Corsica. I realize that I forgot to bring the Michelin guide, so we'll have to go back for it. We drive back to Solenzara, get the guide book, and put together some food for a picnic lunch. We'll have to try to find bread along the way.

Despite the old guy's advice, I still want to try the Bavella Pass. We might not get great views, but we'll get a taste of the mountains. We take the road that leads towards the beach, then take a left at the round-about. The road immediately starts gaining altitude. And the farther we go the twistier it gets. We're a bit worried about Laura getting car-sick, but the motion of the boat for the last week seems to have immunised her. At first the visibility isn't too bad and I have high hopes for the pass.

View from the Bavella Pass

Our ears are popping as we climb higher and higher. There's a lot of fallen rock on the road. Eventually we're climbing into the clouds and the visibility is getting worse and worse.

By the time we reach the Bavella Pass, it's reduced to a few hundred yards. The light is really fading, and it almost feels like night is setting in. The old guy was right, we can't see a thing. But the atmosphere is magical, a bit like a solar eclipse. And the rainwater seems to increase the intensity of the reddish hues of the rocks, and make the greens greener.

After a few super-tight hairpin bends the road straightens out a bit and descends as we head for the village of Zonza. We figure we'll find a place to picnic there. We're not sure yet if we'll then continue on towards Porto Vecchio, or turn back through the pass. It's still raining when we get to Zonza, and it seems like everything is closed. Looks like we'll have to make do without the bread.

We picnic in the car and then put on raincoats and head out for a walk around the village. The architecture is quite interesting. Most of the buildings are made of granite blocks similar to what you see in the north of France, but the red tiled roofs are definitely southern. There is a lovely looking church but it's locked up so we head back to the main square.

The mountain village of Zonza

There is a nice looking café that seems to be open. We open the door and find a small group of locals crowded around a tiny bar. Beyond the bar is another small area with a plastic table and chairs. Strange, it looked really nice from the outside. Did they spend their entire budget on the exterior and run out of money for interior renovations? Oh well, it's warm and dry and the people seem friendly enough. The sign outside said coffee, cakes, pastries, etc. but all we can see is a bar with a few bottles behind. The lady comes over and asks what we want. We order coffees, a hot chocolate for Laura, and ask about pastries. They only have one piece of cake left. We'll take it! She brings the piece of cake and 3 plates and we divide it up.

Back outside we find the Corsican specialty shop is now open. We go in for a look and end up buying cookies, figatellu, and a bottle of Corsican lemon liqueur that looks like limoncino. The only other thing in town that seems to be open is a traditional restaurant, but we just had our lunch so we decide to start heading back. We'll go back the way we came instead of continuing on towards Porto Vecchio which would take too long.

Tonight we are planning on going to the ferme auberge A Pinzutella that we saw in the Michelin guide and also at the tourist office. It sounds interesting and we'll take advantage of having a car, because the ferme auberge is several miles outside Solenzara. So we retrace our steps over the pass and back down towards the coast. It is still just as foggy and still raining as we descend from the mountains.

It's a bit early when we pass by A Pinzutella, but we decide to stop and see if they are serving yet. We follow the track up towards the house and park in the small parking lot. As we are getting out of the car a man comes towards us with an umbrella. I'm thinking how nice it is of him to come and welcome us and escort us from the car when he says "sorry, we're closed". He says the weather is too bad so they are not going to open tonight. Wow, we are very disappointed and unsure what to do next. A quick check in the Michelin guide and we decide to try the traditional restaurant just on the edge of Solenzara, called A Mandria.

Since A Mandria is on the edge of town we decide to take the car back and ask them to drop us off directly there on the way back. That way we avoid having to take the car back early in the morning, and Eileen can have a glass of wine with dinner since she's not driving. By the time we get back to A Mandria it's no longer early and the parking lot is filled with cars. We hurry inside, hoping it's not booked out.

It's a family run place, and once inside we are greeted by le patron and led directly to a table. There are many empty tables and we wonder where all the customers are. Looking around a bit more it turns out that the place is quite big with several other dining rooms which are all full. Eventually our dining room fills up too.

The building itself is a converted barn, with stone walls and thick wooden beams. It is very nicely done up and decorated with many antiques. There is a big open fireplace at one end where meat is being grilled. Le patron is quite a character, an old guy with a very direct manner but very friendly and helpful. Eileen spots a poster of Nicolas Sarkozy on the wall and wonders if he might have eaten here during his recent visit to the military air base.

Live Corsican charcuterie!

I decide to take a big risk and go for the most traditional dish on the menu. It includes several types of charcuterie corse. I usually try to avoid the traditional French dishes which consist of various animal parts that you wouldn't normally eat like head cheese, calf's tongue, or bone marrow. But I'm feeling adventurous and hope I don't regret my decision.

We start with Muscat and the glasses he brings must be twice as big as any we've had so far. A good start! When my main course arrives I'm a bit worried as it consists of very fatty-looking strips of grilled pork belly with the skin still on and a figatellu sausage, with baked garlic potatoes and a blob of pasty looking stuff. The whole thing turns out to be delicious. The pork skin is crispy and the fat melts in my mouth. The figatellu is tasty too and is meant to be eaten with the blob, which is a sort of chestnut flour polenta.

As we start eating le patron comes by and takes away our Muscat glasses. Eileen is horrified and whispers that she wasn't finished yet, there was still a drop in the bottom of her glass! A few moments later he brings her glass back and says "Hey, you didn't finish! Go on, we can't waste any!". We have a good laugh and Eileen rather sheepishly finishes her drink.

As we're leaving, the boss's wife comes to see us off and Eileen asks if she would mind if Laura played a tune on their piano. We had spotted the piano on the way in, but the restaurant is full of diners now and I'm pretty sure she'll say no. Laura is really hoping she'll say no. Poor girl, she says yes. Laura resists a bit but then agrees to play one piece. She plays Scherzo by Anton Diabelli and gets a big round of applause. The piano is actually an antique player piano, but the lady tells us that the "player" part doesn't work anymore.

We walk back to the boat in the rain. It's quite late when we arrive and we still have to clean the boat and pack. We'll be leaving for the airport in the morning. Xavier will be coming by at 08:00 to pick up what's left of the cockpit table and do a final check. First priority is to get Laura tucked up in bed, then we start cleaning and packing. There is some swell coming into the marina now and there's a fair bit of wind so the boat is pitching and rolling. By the time we get to bed it's very late and we're too tired to notice...

Log entry for Friday 22/04/2011
Baro: 1014, falling
Rain!
From: Solenzara; Log 132

Towards: IN PORT