Corsica - From North to South

Corsica, late August 2024. One week to travel down the island from north to south, from the Balagne to Bonifacio. People come for the sea, and it is everywhere; but it is the towns that hold the eye, with their sun-weary facades, their terraces and their markets.

Red granite rocks and islets in turquoise water, L’Île-Rousse, Corsica — Corsica

Blue, everywhere.

The first morning, a cove lined with maquis, the sea perfectly still. In the evening, sailboats packed in front of the colourful facades of an old harbour. In L’Île-Rousse, the granite takes on the colour that gave the town its name and plunges into turquoise water. Outside a shop, painted metal fish wait for the wind.

Café front covered in flowers, an olive tree by a marble table, Calvi, Corsica — Corsica

Calvi in colour.

In Calvi, colour moves from the sea to the walls. A café front disappears under flowers, shutters peel above wrought-iron balconies, straw hats pile up under the parasols and fruit spills out of its baskets. Outside an ice-cream shop, a teddy bear has settled on a chair to wait for customers.

A charcutier in a yellow T-shirt behind his stall, under a stone market hall, Bonifacio, Corsica — Corsica

The market in Bonifacio.

Down in the far south, Bonifacio. In the morning, under a stone market hall, the market keeps out of the heat. Fans turn between the stalls, the charcutier slices, the cheese seller smiles, and customers walk by in straw hats.

A lady in a straw hat walking past the stalls of the covered market, Bonifacio, Corsica — Corsica

An island at human scale.

Between two landscapes, I looked for the Corsica of the people who keep it alive in summer: those who sell, those who wait, those who pass by. The sea is never far: it waits at the end of every street.