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Published: June 30th 2017
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The podium
All the riders had to sign in here, before getting on the course. Geo: 41.591, 9.27949
So. This is It. The day we've been waiting for, the reason we came to Corsica at all. Day 1 of the 100th edition of the Tour de France. We wake up nice & early (well, no earlier than we've been waking up – about 6:30), take a shower in the World's Tiniest Hotel Room Shower, and head downstairs for a lovely breakfast on the terrace. Some of the other guests there are TdF motorcycle photographers, so we figure, if they're still there, we're all good.
Pack up, check out, ask the nice lady (with help from an iPhone app, Jibbigo) if we can park there til about 1:00, and off we go. We had a great spot picked out, where we'd see the guys start up a little hill, but then Dejo decided he'd rather see the sign-in and ceremonies. An excellent choice, as it turns out. We scoped out the merchandise tent, to see what we might want to get once on the mainland, and then scouted a good spot to see both the podium, (where the cyclists have to sign in prior to racing), and the actual course itself.
It was pretty cool to see the riders come
The course
The other side of our spot, was where the riders passed by, to get to the sign-in, and where the race began from. I think we selected our place well. up behind us, circle around the crowd, then pop up on the podium for clock in, as it were. The "caravan" also came up on the road right behind us, which afforded us some opportunities to score some schwag (or try to, anyway).
The caravan publicitaire is a little parade of sponsor vehicles that go along and hand out promotional items to the crowd, usually about an hour before the cyclists come through. Keeping the crowd amused & engaged, while promoting the sponsors. Brilliant.
Anyway. We watched the sign-in, saw the caravan go by, watched the 8 French fighter jets do their flyover, and then the Tour was off and running. Er, pedaling. The course took them down to the very southern tip of Corsica, to Bonifacio, and then back up past Porto-Vecchio before they headed north to Bastia. We decide to make our way over to a point where we could see them come by a 2nd time (thanks, Google maps!). About 40 minutes later, they came by, we yelled & clapped, then we got in the car and headed down to where they'd just been: Bonifacio. Dejo figured (bright boy that he is) that as long as we were this
Even the pros think fly-bys are cool
They may do this cycling thing all the time, but they don't get the French air force flying by every race. close we should go visit, since the postcards made it look so lovely.
And ooh, it was. Beautiful little town, built up on top of the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean. We wandered through the town, snaking through teeny tiny passages (all different), and with Dejo looking up at the bars, rafters and stonework, saying “I could climb that”, referring to his Assassin's Creed characters. 😊
We decided it was time to make our way toward Ajaccio. Since we planned to see the finish there, we didn't need to get there right away, so stopped partway down the route. Propriano was our target, and after some twisty-turny roads that made Pam almost carsick (and she was driving!), we arrived in this little seaside town around 5:30 pm. We found the tourist office, as well as a parking spot right across the street, and though they couldn't book for us, they did give us some ideas on nearby hotels. We popped into the Hotel Neptune, and yes, they had a room for the night. Would we like a street view, or sea view for €10 more? Duh. And why yes, we'd love to come back down and enjoy a beer on the terrace.
We opted
The end of Corsica
This is the view from one of the terraces at Bonifacio that we happened upon. The camera couldn't possibly capture the ever-so-deep blue color of the water. to wander down toward the ferry port for some dinner, and had an underwhelming entrée served in a to-go tub. But the ice cream that we got across the way was lovely. And so was the view from our hotel room, when we got back.
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Carol Nussbaumer
non-member comment
Actually the b/w is pretty neat!