Stopover on the Island of Beauty (Ajaccio, Corsica)

It’s been a while since Amanda (one of my best friends) and I wanted to take a little girly outing.

We hesitated about the destination and finally decided to go to Corsica, especially Ajaccio, the capital.

Amanda doesn’t know Corsica and I can’t say I know much about it either because, even though I went there when I was a teenager, it was for a stay at Club Med. At that age, I think you want to stay in the club to have fun with your friends and take part in the various activities offered by the GO (Nice Organizers) rather than go on an excursion with your parents.

We planned a 4-day stay at the end of September 2021 and we met at Charles de Gaulle Airport on Saturday, September 25th for a take-off at 6pm.

Day 1

At the check-in counter, the check-in agent asked us if we had read the new baggage policy of EasyJet, our flight company.

The dimensions of carry-on baggage had changed dramatically, to the point that a conventional carry-on suitcase no longer fit their criteria.

So the agent told us that we had to pay extra baggage in order to send our suitcases to the hold. This surprised us but we still put our suitcases on the carpet allowing us to send the luggage in the hold.

When we were handed our boarding passes, the officer realized that we were actually allowed to take our suitcases in the cabin because we had paid a surcharge to allow us to have more space on the plane. He apologized but our suitcases were already gone; fortunately we had not yet paid the extra he had told us about.

After passing the security gantries, we took a tour of the Duty Free and landed at the Starbucks.

Our flight had to take off at 6pm, we went to the boarding area 5 minutes before.

However, when we got there, we didn’t see any passengers, despite the presence of our plane.

We then asked the ground attendant where our flight was boarding and he told us that the doors had been closed since 17:00. We said it was 17:55 and the flight was leaving at 18:00, but he told us that it was too late because the ramp to the aircraft was no longer accessible.

We had actually thought that 17:30 was the time at which it was no longer possible to access the check-in boarding area and not the time at which it was no longer possible to access the aircraft.

The agent told us that we could pick up our suitcases at carousel number 5 and that the next departure for Ajaccio via EasyJet was the following day at 1:00.

There was no announcement made to warn us that we were expected to board.

We went to pick up our bags and tried to find a solution to catch a flight as soon as possible.

Amanda wanted to go to Marseille and then take the boat to Ajaccio but it would have taken too long.

I finally found a flight leaving at 21:20 with a stopover in Toulouse and departure at 6:00 for Ajaccio the next day.

It was the least time-consuming flight, so we bought tickets despite their high prices (almost 3.5 times the price of our previous tickets with options).

The flight to Toulouse Blagnac Airport lasted 1:25 (Air France company).

Once we arrived in Toulouse, we tried to find a locker to drop off our luggage but it closed at 6:00.

So we kept our suitcases and took an Uber to go to the city center of Toulouse.

There, we wanted to spend the evening in a nightclub closing at 3:00 but there was a queue in the street, and as it was raining cats and dogs and there was a thunderstorm, we preferred to find another less crowded place.

We found a gourmet restaurant also closing at 3:00 and located on the roof of Galeries Lafayette.

We had a hard time finding the place, but once in front of it, there were very few people and so we wanted to get in. Security guards stopped us and told us we couldn’t go there with our suitcases. We told them that we were not from Toulouse, that we had not found any luggage lockers and that we had to return to the airport 4 hours later.

One of the security guards, who was actually the manager of several nightclubs in Toulouse, then offered to put our suitcases in his car trunk, telling us that it was the first and last time he did this and that it was because we were not from Toulouse. He also told us that he would be there at the exit of the nightclub since he was the manager. We accepted his proposal and thanked him.

We entered the Galeries, free of charge, while the entrance fee was 25€.

We took the elevator that took us to the roof to Ma Biche sur le Toit, which is actually a nightclub.

The nightclub was great, great atmosphere (some people had come with helmets and light masks), great view from the terrace on the Capitole.

At the end of the evening, two men offered us a drink and it turns out they were pilots. They had training the next day.

We sympathized and told them about our misadventures that they half believed.

When we left the nightclub, when they saw that we were going to pick up our suitcases from the manager’s car trunk, they believed us.

We walked together at the foot of their building and then ordered an Uber to go to the airport and take our first flight in the morning.

Day 2

Once arrived in Ajaccio, tired but happy to be there at last, we picked up our luggage and took a taxi to get to our hotel because there was no Uber or public transport (the airport shuttle only runs every hour).

The race cost just under 30€ for 10 minutes, an exorbitant ride.

I had warned the hotel that we had missed our flight and that we had to arrive early the next morning.

The hotel had kept our reservation and we were able to access our room as soon as we arrived.

We went to have our breakfast (a lot of food: cereals, fruit, cheese and Corsican cold cuts and many others) and then we enjoyed the jacuzzi and the pool.

We then went out for a walk in the city center and looked for a restaurant. Unfortunately, all the kitchens of the restaurants were closed because it was already 3:00.

We ended up finding a restaurant serving all day, the Café Latin.

We had two glasses of red wine that seemed to be a week old as it was frozen as if it had been put in the fridge.

I ordered a seafood pasta salad and Amanda a bavette and fries.

The salad was an abomination; first of all, it was hot, then the pasta used was linguine pastas. Under the linguine pastas, there was rice, lettuce, tomatoes and seafood (mussels and scallops) that appeared to be frozen seafood. In short, a dish that shouldn’t even be served in a restaurant, a shame!

As for Amanda’s bavette, it was almost raw!

We then turned back to go to the plage Saint-François.

We went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner at the Lodge located 5 min walk from the hotel.

The food and cocktails were great! I had a watermelon cocktail and we both had a burger: Amanda’s burger had foie gras on it.

Amanda also ordered a strawberry puff cream for dessert.

Day 3

The next morning, we took a sunbath at the hotel and then in the afternoon, we went to the city center to collect our vouchers for the tour we had ordered the day before: a visit to the Iles Sanguinaires by boat.

The trip lasted about 40 minutes then we walked on the Iles Sanguinaires, beautiful with clear waters and superb views of the sea from the high viewpoint.

We hit it off with a Parisian, Robin, who advised us to eat at the Taverne du 20123 serving typical Corsican dishes in the form of a 5-course menu.

Back on the boat, we were lucky to see dolphins; they were following the boat but unfortunately I didn’t have time to photograph them.

We then made our way back to the hotel and went to a shop renting bicycles and scooters.

Indeed, we wanted to go to a straw hut (it was closed but the associated restaurant was not) to eat tapas without having to take a taxi.

Unfortunately, the batteries of the scooters that the guy from the shop wanted to rent us were all flat.

So we went back to the hotel and asked the reception to order a taxi.

We changed clothes and then we took the taxi.

The driver gave us a lot of good restaurant addresses on the way.

Once we arrived at the restaurant Cala Di Sole, we ordered a plate of tapas and two Sex on the Beach that we enjoyed in front of a beautiful sunset.

We asked the restaurant to order a taxi back to the hotel and then went out for dinner at the Taverne du 20123 located in the city centre (we had booked a table earlier in the day).

We were very well received in this restaurant with a very original decor.

The waiters were really lovely.

The 5 courses were as follows: 2 starters, a main course and a dessert.

I ordered a plate of cold cuts, Amanda had soup.

For the second appetizer, we both took a zucchini stuffed with meat.

For the main course, I took the boar with the polenta and Amanda lamb.

The cheese was served with a succulent fig jam and we had a chestnut cream for dessert.

We struggled to eat everything because it was quite a lot and we had already swallowed several types of tapas before. It’s a pity because everything was excellent.