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Holidays in Corsica ‹‹
The Balagne
From
Calvi to Galeria
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Ile Rousse [Ph. Desjobert]
Between the fresness of the seaweed with their
powerful scent of iodine, which caresses St Florent, the genoese
and the coasts which line the gardens of the Balagne, the blazing
Desert of the Agriates streches.
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This piece of land covered with a burning and scented scrub, favorable
to kindle the imagination which has nourished many legends which were
born from its wild beauty and from the strangeness of its forms, contrasts,
for more charm, with its neighbor, the fertile Balagne.
Dominating one of the most beautiful gulfs of the Mediterranean, the
valley of the Balagne which is gentle and majestic would willingly inspire
the poets. Its hills covered with olive trees, embellished with lemon,
orange and fig trees have for a long time symbolized the one who was the
"Garden of Corsica".
But today, if the olive tree and vine know a new and happy expansion,
it seems nevertheless that it is the littoral which gains in this eternal
land-sea duality.
Ile-Rousse founded level with the waves by Pascal Paoli in order to bother
Calvi, the genoese reddens with pride to attract so many happy visitors
in its harbor, in its streets and on its sands.
Calvi, jewel of the Balagne impresses with the variety of its beauty
: an imposing genoese citadel and a marina which is full of life at its
foot, cheerful and many-colored alleys, a high-town full of self-assurance
and serenity, and finally a beach which languorously streches along its
pinewood.
Lucky is Christopher Colombus which is said to have come into world there
!
Towns and Villages
- Calvi
- Ile Rousse
- Lama, Medieval Village
- Sant'Antonino
The temple is in ruins at the top of the promontory
and the death has mingled in its fawn grounds
the marble goddesses
and the heralds of bronze
whose solitary grass buries the glory...
L'Oubli José Maria de Heredia There are neither
temple nor goddesses in Sant'Antonio, but it emanates from this small
medieval village, rigidly set in the aridity, with cobbled alleys, a
spellbinding feeling of solemnity as if, even before we know it, we
could see that it is weighed down by history, unless our emotion arises
from the panoramic view that it offers onto the Balagne, the sea, the
infinity...
- Speloncato
It springs from there Moorish features. At the top of the Cima which
dominates Speloncato we find the ruins of a fortress built about the
thousand year by Malapensa. It was at the origin of a long and bloody
vendetta which put the Savelli of Speloncato against those of Sant'Antonio.
Curiously on the 8th of April and 9th of September, the sun disappears
behind the mountain at the end of the afternoon and reappears later
by the opening of a pierced rock. Then the rays shine on the church
a few seconds, as if a new day was breaking.
[ extract Terres de Corse ]
- Calenzana
In Calenzana, the most populated village of Balagne, the traditional
Corsica wisely looks at the Corsica of tourism which has become Calvi.
Dominated by the Monti Grossu, this big village still produce wine,
cooked pork meats, oil with a joyful vigor. We still find there august
residences of sgio which have some of the most beautiful corsican libraries.
[ extract Terres de Corse ]
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