Friends,

It has been a cycling kind of weekend for us. The husband and I went on challenging mountain bike ride and the Tour de France started. Now, I don’t always watch the Tour, and the ongoing doping scandals have made me lose all faith in this event. However, when I heard that the 100th Tour the France will be starting on the french island Corsica I couldn’t resist. I LOVE Corsica. My family vacationed here when I was a teenager. We stayed in Ajaccio (above pictures), where Napoleon was born. We rented a vacation house right by the beach. It was dreamy. Some of us also backpacked half of the GR 20. The GR 20 is a hiking trail that spans the entire island of Corsica.

We hiked half of the GR 20 from the middle of the island going north. It looked a lot like the picture above. Along the way we would see wild pigs. The trail is pretty popular, I remember the designated camp areas were crowded.

We didn’t make it to the end of the trail. Somewhere we took a taxi and drove to Calvi. This is a beautiful port city and also todays stop of the Tour de France.

From there we took the train back to Ajaccio. If you go to Corsica there is one more place you have to see: Bonifacio. It is down south sitting right on the ocean. In fact it looks like some of the houses could fall into the ocean any minute.

I have to say, it was a smart move for the Tour to start here.

-Sofija

Picture credits top to bottom:

Ajaccio: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4rt8ZNTPE3M/S8sw_RVJVtI/AAAAAAAAIM8/qOWj6cLaCug/s1280/ZIMG_A396.JPG

ocean near Ajaccio: http://media-cache-ak1.pinimg.com/originals/db/b3/f6/dbb3f6fd41a52307d4fad04feca10597.jpg

Calvi: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjunstorm/8371217383/sizes/l/

Bonifacio: http://cristimoise.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/bonifacio-corsica-france.jpg?w=560