Calvi waterfront cafes
What a view, the town and citadelle is the backdrop to the sunset and behind us, on the other side of the bay, are towering jagged mountains. And in between the 2 lays the sandy beach adorned with a garland of tall pine trees we can smell from the boat. The anchorage is busy but the bay so large that it does not feel claustrophobic. We spend the day on board, Ian is tinkering with the sink and the water inlet, he was hoping to fit in the new tap but has discovered a leak, so yet again, he finds that a straight forward job is not so straight forward and he has not got all the parts to complete it. I spent the day gazing at the shore and the goings on, the ferries come and go, watching the clouds, trying to find inspiration to write for the website. The anchorage is on the fringe of the area dedicated for water sport, so there is plenty of things going on, surfing, water skiing, kite surfing, jet skis, kids screaming with delight on the bananas going full speed. And all the sailing and motor boats coming up to anchor provide endless distraction. All this keeps me entertained for hours.
Friday 28th July
The next morning, we are ready to go ashore and explore Calvi. We are quite a way from the town, and we set off in the dinghy (wind on the nose). The Torqueedo, our electric outboard, get us there in less than 20 minutes and the ride is silent and smooth. Brilliant. The harbour is full and finding room at the dinghy pontoon is a bit challenging, not helped by the fact that we are just in front of a full bar/restaurant, where onlookers are just gawping. The audience is set, all they need is a drama. Fortunately, Ian managed to keep the dinghy in check and we tie up without trouble. The waterfront is charming, palm trees sway in the wind and colourful umbrellas shelter people having drinks in the shade. The citadelle overlooks the harbour to the right and we are drawn to it. We climb up the steep incline and find ourselves within the walled enclosure. The views are breathtaking; all around us is the sea so blue. Ian is delighted that the first thing we find on the way up is the little museum of the foreign legion (2e Regiment Etranger de Parachutistes), complete with 2 nice young legionnaires minding the exhibits. We spend a good hour watching the various videos. My favourite one is the black and white portraits of some very interesting looking characters. We are amused to see that amongst the various emblazoned tee-shirt and bath towels, there is also some legion branded bottles of wine for sale. You can tell that the citadelle is steep military history, even today kids are playing at being soldiers with very credible replica weapons in the streets of the citadelle, us joining in by pretending to be hit.
Allegedly, Christopher Columbus was from Calvi and some overgrown ruins are supposedly the remnant of his family house. It is a nice and restful place overtaken by trees and flowers, very much like a shaded garden.
We had lunch in the tree at the top of the citadelle so we could enjoy the marvellous views from there and wait out for the sun to go down so we could carry on our explore of the town.
It did not take long; Calvi is mainly 2 streets and a waterfront leading either to the citadelle or the beach. One street is dedicated to shopping with nice boutiques, and the other is full of restaurants and bars which really come alive later in the day. Every corner is taken up by a table, even on the church piazza, tables and chairs go right up to the churches steps.
The walk to the beach on the other end of the town is a shaded sandy walkway and we found some boules players on one of the piazza. The beach which is probably over 5 kms long is packed with tourists, but the backdrop is really stunning, mountains or citadelle makes for a nice photo.
Saturday 29th July
The wind has been growing stronger and the last 2 days have been a bit bumpy. It has not really abated at night either. Not for us quiet anchorage, Ian is keen to stay in this sheltered place as all the others further up the coast are far more exposed and the ride would be even bumpier, especially as up to 30 knots are forecasted over the next few days. So we just potter around, Ian under the sink and me cleaning the fenders…we have 14 of them so it takes me all day, between siestas…Ian took pity of me in the end and cleaned the last 2, well the one I had refused to clean and wanted to throw away…
Sunday 30th july
Funnily enough, the day starts with the flattest sea we have seen so far, like a mirror. We did jump in early in the morning, but it soon became rough. As Ian is keen to get on with the sink job, we go ashore and trawl the chandlers (all of the 2 of them). He had a fun afternoon trying to explain what he was looking for… I was not much help apart from providing the word tuyau… but I did have a potted history of Calvi and Corsica in under an hour we spent with the nice man in the chandlers. Wind was a bit too much to get back in the dinghy, so we had to wait sipping citron presse at the terrace of a cafe, watching the world go by.
The wind looks like it will drop on Tuesday… we might be able to move on from Calvi, although if it does not, we are happy to stay there for a few more days.