Ajaccio: My Corsican Adventure

We stepped off into a town that smells of maquis and espresso – the honey-sweet scrub that covers the island. Maison Bonaparte was tiny and perfect – you can still feel the future emperor growing up in those rooms. The market was bursting with brocciu cheese, chestnut honey, and wild boar saucisson we devoured on the spot.

We rented a little car and drove to the Cupulatta turtle sanctuary first (random but adorable), then up the coast to Plage de Capo di Feno – wild, untouched, and the water was that impossible Corsican blue-green. We had lunch at a paillote beach shack – charcoal-grilled fresh fish and Pietra beer with chestnut flavor while waves crashed ten feet away. In the afternoon we spent time in the old town watching old men play pétanque under plane trees.