31st May to 1st June - Ajaccio to Girolata (the stress of a sailing holiday)

Bali Hai
Neal Stow
Mon 1 Jun 2009 22:59
It was a public holiday in Ajaccio on the Sunday and Monday and the town had a local festival on the waterfront serving lots of local produce.  It seems that most Corsican fare involves some combination of local cheese, figs and wild boar.  On the first night we ate in a restaurant called Le 20123 which is an institution in Ajaccio serving excellent country cooking - an absolute must if you visit the town. 
 
The old town of Ajaccio is quaint but very small.  Emma and I walked around the town in approximately 15 minutes, including a stop for drinks.  If it had not been a Sunday then we may have taken longer but all the shops were shut.  However, the town's one claim to fame is that it is Napoleon's birthplace and his house has become a small museum.
 
Pete (readers of this periodical may remember him as "Big Pete") and Tina arrived on the Sunday and on Monday morning we headed up the coast to Girolata.  Having missed Calvi earlier, the plan was now to go North and visit Calvi for a couple of days before heading south to Bonafacio at then end of the week. 
 
Girolata is a beautiful bay which is only accessible by boat.  We anchored for the night and Pete, Dave and Tina prepared an excellent barbeque dinner while Emma and I looked on sipping some local Corsican wine - it is a hard life!