San Giuliano Terme - Bastia: I'm on a boat!

"Souvent conquise, jamais soumise!"

This motto of Corsica roughly translates to "Often conquered, never subdued" and speaks to the fact that this island in the Mediterranean has been claimed by several countries including Italy and, most recently, France. When I made the decision to take the ferry to Corsica, I had no idea how different it would be from the rest of France. I'd heard stories that they speak a dialect of French, but that was the least of the differences that I experienced.

There were a couple of events leading up to the trip to Corse, and the driving factor was that I had a couple of days to kill before meeting up with friends who happened to be in Tuscany, just outside of Siena. My options were to shoot down the coast then head back up to Siena, or jump on the boat to Corse. Ever since the trip that I took last year, I'd wanted to visit Corse, so it was an easy decision. The ferry left from Livorno, which was about 30 minutes (or so I thought) from where I was staying. In reality, the trip at that hour on a motorcycle takes twenty minutes. It's a good thing that I left early, though, because I got quite lost and had use terrible Italian to ask a salty Italian dock worker for directions.

Despite becoming lost, I arrived on the ferry with plenty of time to spare. The sun rose with a dusky pink and orange hue while I made my way to Livorno, so I couldn't get any pictures as it broke over the Apuan Alps, but the memory of it will be etched in my mind's eye forever. This was the first photo of the day:

[caption id="attachment_869" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Daybreak in Livorno"][/caption]

After a little breakfast, I popped out on the deck for some photo opportunities. I was surprised to see nothing but water all around. Not long after, a land mass appeared and no one took any action when I yelled "LAND HO!!!". Something must have been lost in the translation. This land mass was not Corsica, but Capraia, which is a much smaller island:

[caption id="attachment_870" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Capraia"][/caption]

Corsica is much bigger; here is the coast just north of the port town of Bastia on Corsica:

[caption id="attachment_871" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Corsica: Bastia"][/caption]

Finding boat parking is like trying to find parking in Russian Hill:

[caption id="attachment_872" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Boat Parking"][/caption]

Unnecessary motorcycle pictures:

[caption id="attachment_873" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Motorcycle"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_875" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Italian Camouflage"][/caption]

The boat docked at approximately 12:30 PM local time and my return ticket was scheduled for Monday morning. There was no way of knowing what the next two days would bring, but here's a sneak peek at the kinds of views that Corsica offers:

[caption id="attachment_876" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Corsica Vista"][/caption]