84 NATGEOTRAVEL.COM
decide if I like it or not, I help myself to a generous second serving.
I take a late afternoon bus to Pointe de la Parata to see Îles
Sanguinaires, the “bloody islands” of red
rock just off the coast. Gravel crunches
beneath my work boots on the path up.
The view at the top is a postcard in every
direction: The clouds are sun roasted, the
islands stark against the pastel wash of
sea and sky. The pink light doesn’t seem ARCHIVIO GBB/CONTRASTO/REDUX (CARDS); PAOLO VERZONE/AGENCE VU/REDUX (REENACTOR); PREVIOUS PAGES: PAOLO VERZONE/AGENCE VU/REDUX (MAUSOLEUM)A set of 19th-century playing cards
(below left) depict Napoleon Bonaparte
and his extended family. Napoleon
was born in Ajaccio, Corsica’s capital,
where a reenactor (below right) dresses
as a member of the Imperial Guard.
Opposite: A visitor admires the paintings
in the 19th-century Greek Byzantine
Catholic Church of St. Spyridon in the
town of Cargèse, founded by Greek
settlers on the west coast.