Day 7-
Boat ride to the nature reserve in the gulf of Scandola and to the village of Ghirolata. We
were in a semi-rigid boat...I think that's what they call them...it's a big zodiac with a hard
bottom, a big motor, and a little canopy/cockpit for the captain....a nice boat.
The first part of the trip we would go into these little caves along the coast line and he
would manage to turn the boat around in these tiny caves. That was impressive! And, he
would turn on music while we were in the caves.
I hardly understood a word our guide said. Between the wind, the motor sound, his
accent and the speed with which he spoke, oh, and the face that I don't know the
vocabulary for a lot of what he was talking about...I was lost. Josie gave up completely
and just enjoyed the ride, which got exciting at one point when our guide was on his cell
phone and speeding across the ocean to our next stop and he didn't notice that we were
hitting the wake from another boat that created some larger steep waves. We slammed
into them at too high of a speed and Josie got washed off of her seat...thankfully into the
bottom of the boat and not into the sea!! Exciting!
The nature reserve was beautiful...the water so blue, the rock red and black, the sky blue.
The little village of Ghirolata was quaint and we enjoyed a coffee and tea on a terrace
overlooking the sea.
For lunch we had sandwiches from a shop where you select the guts of your sandwich
from a display case. The different sandwich innards are on little, long skinny metal
trays, which are then set on a small metal table top that hinges so that you can flip it over.
The shopkeeper cuts open a baquette the same lenght as the little metal trays...holds the
baguette up next to the table top and flips the sandwich guts into the bread. The metal
tray is magnetic (or the table is?) and so the metal tray sticks to the table and viola! you
have your sandwich....the bread isn't soggy from sitting in the fridge as an pre-made
sandwich! ingenious!
We continued driving south along the coast to Calcatoggio where we are staying at A
Marina campground. It's hot! But we do have a shade tree and the beach is a very short
walk away. So, we spent the afternoon lying on the beach and swimming, then showered
and are spending the evening using their WiFi and having a pizza, which isn't as good as
Les Oliviers. Oh well...the beach is right here...we are happy. The beach isn't stony! It's like coarse sand/find gravel...right around that 2 mm transition. A little more comfy than
the stones in Nice and Porto. Life is good.
Boat ride to the nature reserve in the gulf of Scandola and to the village of Ghirolata. We
were in a semi-rigid boat...I think that's what they call them...it's a big zodiac with a hard
bottom, a big motor, and a little canopy/cockpit for the captain....a nice boat.
The first part of the trip we would go into these little caves along the coast line and he
would manage to turn the boat around in these tiny caves. That was impressive! And, he
would turn on music while we were in the caves.
I hardly understood a word our guide said. Between the wind, the motor sound, his
accent and the speed with which he spoke, oh, and the face that I don't know the
vocabulary for a lot of what he was talking about...I was lost. Josie gave up completely
and just enjoyed the ride, which got exciting at one point when our guide was on his cell
phone and speeding across the ocean to our next stop and he didn't notice that we were
hitting the wake from another boat that created some larger steep waves. We slammed
into them at too high of a speed and Josie got washed off of her seat...thankfully into the
bottom of the boat and not into the sea!! Exciting!
The nature reserve was beautiful...the water so blue, the rock red and black, the sky blue.
The little village of Ghirolata was quaint and we enjoyed a coffee and tea on a terrace
overlooking the sea.
For lunch we had sandwiches from a shop where you select the guts of your sandwich
from a display case. The different sandwich innards are on little, long skinny metal
trays, which are then set on a small metal table top that hinges so that you can flip it over.
The shopkeeper cuts open a baquette the same lenght as the little metal trays...holds the
baguette up next to the table top and flips the sandwich guts into the bread. The metal
tray is magnetic (or the table is?) and so the metal tray sticks to the table and viola! you
have your sandwich....the bread isn't soggy from sitting in the fridge as an pre-made
sandwich! ingenious!
We continued driving south along the coast to Calcatoggio where we are staying at A
Marina campground. It's hot! But we do have a shade tree and the beach is a very short
walk away. So, we spent the afternoon lying on the beach and swimming, then showered
and are spending the evening using their WiFi and having a pizza, which isn't as good as
Les Oliviers. Oh well...the beach is right here...we are happy. The beach isn't stony! It's like coarse sand/find gravel...right around that 2 mm transition. A little more comfy than
the stones in Nice and Porto. Life is good.
