Ajaccio - Home of the little Corsican!!

---

---

Total distance travelled from Santos: 6171 nautical miles

So, the eve before our last port. Mrs H had been at the satellite imaging for the weather in the Mediterranean due to what we had heard from the MSC Splendida. I kept reassuring her at 10pm and 11 pm that we had missed the worst of the weather but she was adamant that we wouldn't hit the rough seas until 12 midnight. Sure enough, I had been asleep for 2 hours and at just after 2am I happened to awake. The ship was rocking slightly (but that's very subjective!!) A light was flickering and reflecting off the cabin bulkhead. As I turned over to investigate, there is Mrs H sitting up battling with level 410 of Candy Crush!! We have travelled just over 6,000 nautical miles of ocean. It's been a breeze (so to speak.) The ocean, whether there had been 40m or 4,000m below the keel had been relatively calm. King Neptune, had indeed shown us mercy. Until now. He can be a bugger when he wants to, lulling us into a false sense of security! I personally think it was mildly just above choppy on the spewometer but Roisin wasn't taking any chances. I must have fallen back asleep because the next time I woke was about 5:30. All was calm. No motion of the vessel and CANDY Crush was finished for the night. All I could hear was the gentle breathing of Roisin as she caught up on some well-earned sleep!

Ajaccio is the capital of Corsica, an Island belonging to France. The island is 210 nautical miles (390 km) southeast of Marseille. It is unclear how the city Ajaccio got its name. One explanation suggests that the city was founded by the Greek legendary hero Ajax and gave the city his name. Another realistic explanation is that the name could be related to the Tuscan agghiacciu meaning "sheep pens". Although it is a well-known fact that sheep can't write (especially French ones!!) so whether it is ball point, fountain, felt tip or indeed any other calligraphic implement, I'm happy to accept Ajax is the reason for Ajaccio's name!!

The ship docked practically in the centre of the city. It was a short walk to the dock gate, only temporarily halted by the local Gendarme to let another ambulance on to the quayside. This seems to be getting a regular occurrence now, so much so that no one seems to bat an eye lid when the blue lights start flashing. People were too focused on getting to be the first in line for the ho-ho bus to worry about the latest coronary. As long as the head count in their own party is about right, the show must go on!!

Ajaccio is a relatively small city so we were not too sure where the ho-ho would go in the 80 minutes it advertises as the time it takes for one circuit. At a cost of €20 each. We decided to take a 45 minute trip on ‘Le Petite Train'. The name says it all so I won't describe it! However, the ticket office were very rude to all its customers practically throwing your change back at you. There were two possible routes on ‘Le Petite Train': 45 minutes for €7 or 90 minutes for €10. The 90 minutes train would have been the better value for money but as I counted my €6 change from a €20 note, I guess there is no say in the matter and we're taking the 45 minute route!!

The miniature train crawled away from the centre around the Napoleon Fountain that formed the centre piece of a roundabout at the top of Place Foch. It then passed the Place de Gaulle. A further 5 minutes of tooting through a residential area of Ajaccio we arrived at the Grotte Napoleon. Here we were given 15 minutes to take photos and walk around.

The grotte itself is at one end of a wide open space called Place Austerlitz. It is a huge monolith of carved rock with steps rising up either side. At the top of the steps is a tall plinth with the majestic figure of Napoleon Bonaparte staring out across the bay of Ajaccio. This place was originally chosen as it is said Napoleon used to play here as a child.

As you may have guessed by now, Napoleon Bonaparte can be seen all over Ajaccio, in monuments, statues and place names associated with his famous victories (Place Austerlitz springs to mind although we were hard pushed to find an Avenue de Waterloo – I wonder why!!) Napoleon I or Napoleon Bonaparte, the little Corsican (although they never called him that to his face!!) was born in Ajaccio and around every corner there is something dedicated to him. It is strange how this man, the Emperor of the Napoleonic Empire, the leader of the 2^nd Reich (the Holy Roman Empire was the 1^st Reich) has statues, memorials and many souvenirs in memory of his achievements. It's strange how you don't see many of the same knocking about for the leader of the 3^rd Reich!!!

After the photo stop, ‘le petite train' cut through and down on to Boulevard Lantivy. This road runs alongside Ajaccio's main beach. We passed the small Casino and the Citadalle before turning back up Rue Bonaparte and then came to a halt in Place Foch from whence we started. The whole journey lasted just over 30 minutes. Speaking to Emila and Stephen later that day, they managed to book the 1 ½ hour journey, but also felt the staff were very rude and abrupt. I can't even blame this on the French/English thing because the staff seemed to be rude no matter what nationality their customers where. Ah well, at least they were consistent and not at all discriminatory!!

After leaving ‘Le Petite Train' we decided to wander through the old town as many of the streets are pedestrianised and the train only passed by giving you a fleeting glance of the streets that are steeped in history. The cathedral of Ajaccio is very ordinary with its plain ochre baroque façade. It would be classed as a church, and a very non-descript one, in many European cities. The cathedral has been made famous by the marble plaque at the entrance to the cathedral with the inscription: If they forbid my corpse, as they have forbidden my body, a small piece of land in which to be laid, I desire to be buried with my ancestors in Ajaccio cathedral in Corsica. These are the words Napoleon is alleged to have uttered as he lay dying on St. Helena.

We passed the birth place of Napoleon (Maison Bonaparte) which is now a museum on our way to Rue Fesch. This is a pedestrian thoroughfare lined with a mixture of souvenir shops, restaurants and bars and a few fashion boutiques. One shop was called ‘Show ping' I couldn't decide if the proprietor was trying to break in to the British Shopping market but went slightly awry with the spelling!!

It is nearing General Election time in the UK. 7 of the major parties went head-to-head on the TV yesterday and we were discussing the programme over dinner. Emilia, on form as usual, bless her, feels that Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party, looks a lot like the Nick Parks creation ‘Wallace ‘the' Grommit'!!!!

Tomorrow we arrive in Genoa, our port of disembarkation. In order to stagger the disembarkation process, everyone is provided with a coloured label. This indicates a time slot for disembarkation. You are unable to disembark before this time as it is unlikely your luggage will have yet been off loaded. As black card members, our luggage is offloaded in the first batch. We can then decide when we wish to disembark. We can be one of the first away from the ship or take it easy, have another croissant and wait until a later time before strolling ashore. We said our goodbyes to Brian and Julie. We would be seeing Emila and Stephen tomorrow before disembarkation so just said a ‘goodnight' to them before heading off to complete our packing. The ship arrives at 8:00am with its first passengers scheduled to disembark at 08:10. Our train for the next leg of our journey to Pisa is at 09:47 so we plan on leaving the ship around 08:20. Timings never go according to plan and what's more, this is MSC after all so we may be catching that later train!!

---

Comments

[Ragnhild]

Hi friends,Thanks for sharing another fantastic trip via this blog, As always I?m amazed to read all the things you do and all the places you see - places I probably never will get to. Anyway, when reading your blog I can imagine what it?s
like in the middle of the Atlantic.... Fantastic!