I was delighted to facilitate a press trip for freelance writer Nigel Farrell (of TV Series ‘Island Parish’ fame). Nigel & partner Sally Ann explore Corsica’s western coast, delighting in its isolated hilltop villages, stunning seaside towns and delicious local wines. To read the online newspaper version of this article in full, please visit the Telegraph website.
Grand Hotel Mare e Monte - The Sunday Telegraph's first hotel stay
The charm of of L'lle Rousse
Ajaccio Seafront Hotel Demeure Les Mouettes
Hotel Le Goeland - one of the hotels enjoyed by Nigel & Sally Ann on their tour
Nearly 40 years ago, I was working as a deckhand on a sailing ketch owned by an Italian ice-cream millionaire. We were cruising the Mediterranean, and the first stop after leaving Italy was a place that left an indelible memory in my impressionable teenage mind – the breathtaking Golfe de Porto-Vecchio on the south-east coast of Corsica.
We swept in under full sail, past the lighthouse on the Pointe de la Chiappa and into the glorious bay, swathes of undulating forest running right down to the bleached white beaches like great green eiderdowns, and, behind, the first of a small army of mountains which dominate so much of the interior of this verdant, olivine island.
The sheltered, sandy coves, guarded by stubby ranks of palm trees; the multicoloured verandas of the little luxury hotels overlooking the marina; the ancient walls of the tiny Genovese town clinging to the cliffs high above the harbour; I fell in love with the place and vowed – one day – to return.
Extract taken from Nigel Farrell’s ‘A Corsican Odyssey’ feature as published in The Sunday Telegraph on 10 July 2011.
I am also delighted to see that The Telegraph included Nigel’s feature in their Best of Telegraph Travel for 2011.
