Saturday Magazine – August 10, 2019

66 SATURDAY MAGAZINE

Christ des Miracles, credited with saving Calvi

from Saracen invasion in 1553.

Calvi is also home to the French Foreign

Legion’s parachute regiment – we saw dozens

of legionnaires drifting from the sky to their base

at Camp Raffalli – and another of the citadel’s

highlights is Caserne Sampiero, once home to

the Genoese governor and now used by the

Legion. Time it right and you can hear the

legendary Legion songs booming off the

sandstone walls as the sun sets over the bay.

We stayed at Le Home, a charming apartment

complex on the edge of the town, just a

10-minute walk from the nearest beach.

The property has the most incredible gardens,

brimming with colour and scent, and set against

a dramatic mountainous background. Some of

the highest peaks still had a covering of snow,

even in early June, while the temperature at sea

level ranged from the high 20Cs to low 30Cs.

If you don’t want to drive while you’re on

holiday, then Calvi is ideal – it has numerous

beaches, a stunning marina and dozens of great

restaurants and bars all within walking distance.

And there is also what must be one of the world’s

most picturesque train lines, running between

Calvi and the pretty town of L’Ile Rousse. We

took the 45-minute journey and enjoyed a glass

of pastis in the beautiful town square where

locals and tourists alike relaxed, and a very

competitive game of pétanque unfolded in

front of us. The train also stops at numerous

beaches and small resort towns along the way,

all of them boasting breathtaking azure seas

and white-sand beaches.

If you prefer to take to the water, there is a

choice of boat trips exploring the local coastline

• the Scandola nature reserve is popular, as is
  Agriates desert. The colour and clarity of the
  water here wouldn’t be out of place in the
  Maldives, so it’s no surprise that divers flock to
  the Calvi region. The visibility is exceptional and

You’ll be spellbound

by this stunning

French island,

as George Sell

discovered

Captivating

Pictures: Getty Images; Alamy

A

few years back, my wife Victoria and

I spent a week in Porto-Vecchio in the

southeast of Corsica and both fell for

the beautiful island in a big way. So we

were delighted to be able to return, this time

to the wonderful town of Calvi, on the island’s

northwest coast.

The town has a rich history – it is said to be

the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, and is

dominated by the brooding Genoese citadel that

looms over the town. Work on the citadel started

in the 12th century, and its winding cobbled

streets are home to the 13th-century Cathédrale

Saint Jean-Baptiste, which houses the ebony

The citadel’s

cobbled streets

The marina

Corsica

Calvi’s historical

citadel