So I think we might be able to leave Corsica tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
We spent most of the day on tenterhooks, but it *appears* that the ferry tomorrow will in fact be leaving from Bastia (so we are rebooked at the Bastia Best Western) and so, in theory, we should be aboard at 8Am tomorrow morning, on our way to Livorno. In a perfect world, by the time anyone actually reads this (8AM EST?) we'll be in Livorno, on a train, on our way to Riomaggiore, in the Cinque Terre.
Today was pretty interesting. We slept in, knowing that nothing would be solved this morning, and then tentatively checked out of the hotel, stowed our bags, and wandered to the Old Port to kill a couple of hours over a Coca Light (Diet Coke) and a book or two.
We enjoyed a delicious lunch of lebanese food, and then returned to the hotel. On our way, we dodged the 'jeunes casseurs' (young hooligans), avoided the fireworks, rock throwing and tear gas. Nowhere but in France can this sort of unified mobilization happen.
Our hotel is right next to one of the only gas stations in Bastia that still has any fuel, and has been dealing with roadblocking line-ups all day.
At 2 pm we started calling Corsica Ferries, hoping they would have made some sort of executive decision. My 2 p.m. call brought me the news that even if the ferry was to leave from Ile Rousse (instead of Bastia), there would be a bus going from Bastia at 6 a.m. to make the 8 a.m. ferry. So we decided to rebook a room at the Best Western and stay there.
When I called again at 7, I was informed that the ferry was almost certainly leaving from Bastia. I am not ashamed to admit that I pulled my best impression of a wronged frenchwoman and called again at 7:30 and 7:45 just to make sure. I think we will be out of this merde tomorrow and belle et bien on an actual ferry at 8 a.m. Again, still fingers crossed.
After this encouraging news, Brad and I strolled down to the port and enjoyed another deeeelicious meal at Les Zephyrs - http://les.zephyrs.free.fr/, a Corsican/Italian restaurant near the Old Port. As with our first visit (two nights ago), the welcome was warm and the food delicious. We even left with wishes for a 'corsican baby' ringing in our ears, after showing off pictures of little miss Z. LOL.
Anyway, the only complaint we could possibly have about this restaurant is the incredibly generous portions. And even then, the proprietaire assured us that she feeds all the leftovers to her farm animals. Thank goodness, because despite our best efforts, there was no consuming the sheer portion size we were served.
Anyway, I'm about to snooze and get ready for an early AM departure on the a bright yellow ferry. We shall see.....
Tomorrow (in theory): Riomaggiore.
-Leslie
No comments:
Post a Comment