A bit of city life in Ajaccio
After all the walking and hiking on the northwest coast of Corsica, we were ready for a bit of urban culture by the time we arrived with Yuma in Ajaccio. Here, we would be marina-bound for at least a few days due to bad weather, so a perfect opportunity to soak up some history, music and cuisine.
The port of Ajaccio in 1882 (by François Peraldi) and the marina in 2025.
And there was a citadel to explore as well albeit a bit more dilapidated than the one in Calvi.
While Ajaccio was deciding on a future purpose for its citadel, its moat served as a storage space for cars and dinghies.
Maison Bonaparte
Corsica is famous as the birthplace of Napoleon and Ajaccio is where this momentous event took place. The rather rambling house where he was born in Ajaccio in 1769 was owned by Bonaparte family from 1682 to 1923 and is now the museum Maison Bonaparte.
Busts from various important people, including some members of the Bonaparte family.
Here, we learned about the family’s history, and that of Napoleon in particular, and how it intersected with the history of Corsica, France, and Europe. Or, perhaps more precisely given the clear Napoleonic cult feel that the museum had, how the histories of Corsica, France and Europe intersected with that of the Great Man. All very interesting and at times confusing, in other words, a very European history; lots of scheming, warfare and intrigue.
One’s ancestry matters: Napoleon’s hair (left) displayed in a medaillon at Maison Bonaparte. In contrast, my (long) hair ended up on the ground at Philip’s Studio Coiffeur in Ajaccio.
While Napoleon eventually ended up being interred in the Dôme des Invalides in Paris, his mum and dad and other family members are all taking it easy in the Imperial Chapel in Ajaccio.
The tombs of Napoleon’s mum and dad in the Imperial Chapel.
This ‘modest’ chapel and mausoleum was built by Napoleon III following the wishes of Napoleon I’s uncle cardinal Joseph Fesch. He, Uncle Fesch that is, wanted to be buried alongside his sister and other family members in the comfort of their massive, private, granite mausoleum under their very own chapel.
Intricate metalwork in the mausoleum.
That this was one wealthy and influential family is further evidenced by the fact that uncle cardinal Fesch established a fine arts museum, the Musée Fesch, in the rather regal building adjacent to the mausoleum/chapel, and, as you do, donated 1,000 of his 17,000 pieces of art works to the museum. These included works by Botticelli, Titian and Michelangelo that are still on display in this impressive building.
The main corridor in Musée Fesch, and Boticelli’s Vierge à l’enfant.
La polyphonie corse
Corsica is also famous for its tradition of polyphonic singing, a tradition which had almost gone extinct but was revived in the 1970s and declared a UNESCO cultural heritage in 2009. In Ajaccio, several performances were advertised on billboards along the streets, so we decided to listen to one in the Église Saint-Roch in the centre of town.
The vocal ensemble In’Cantu in the Église Saint-Roch.
This was an incredibly beautiful performance by the vocal ensemble In’Cantu. The four men sang a variety of traditional and contemporary songs in a cappella ranging from religious chants to folk songs, and love songs to serenades. Exceptional!
La cuisine corse
While famous for many things, perhaps the one thing that Corsica is most famous (or infamous?) for is its stinky goat cheeses. Having spent quite a bit of time in France enjoying a variety of smelly cheeses, we thought we were well trained and prepared for the Corsican varieties. We tried a few odoriferous goat cheeses that certainly did stink but otherwise had a rather mellow taste. But, we also bought a few that clearly required additional and more specific training.
Similar responses to ‘un fromage corse’. Luckily for us Yuma did not explode from ‘la drôle d’odeur’, unlike the pirateship in ‘Asterix en Corse’.
We are embarrassed to say that one or two of these ended up in the ocean where we can only hope that the fish went, oh là là! We did come across a couple in various shops that smelled like they could kill. These ones, we were happy to leave where they were; sticking with slightly less scary-smelling fromages seemed sensible.
Cute street art is everywhere in France.
Compared to the cheeses, the rest of the Corsican cuisine was rather mundane. We tried a set meal of five Corsican dishes in Ajaccio that the restaurant had apparently been serving for over 30 years. Even after that much practice, we’re sorry to say that it was heavy, greasy and rather boring.
Ajaccio’s centre was full of narrow streets with lots of café’s, bars and restaurants.
Corsican (pork) sausages were a bit better, especially when served as very thin slices and with a glass of pastis. As an aside, the sheer volume of sausages on offer in shops and restaurants could well explain the lack of (signs of) wild pigs observed around in the maquis.
Marcel Poggioli’s ‘Vue de Murzo et Vico’, my favourite painting in Musée Fesch.
The best dishes we had in Corsica all had an Italian origin, such as Pollo saltimbocca (yum!), wood-fired lasagna, tagiatella, pizza, and of course espressos and sorbets. The one exception being a grilled John Dory (one of our favourite eating fishes) at a lovely beach bar on the east coast of Cap Corse.
Mooi verhaal weer.☺️ straten zijn nogal uitgestorven in Ajaccio
Bedankt! De straten zitten later op de dag vol hoor, heel druk.