PARIS TO SOLENZARA

We arrived in Paris on Tuesday after a fairly tiring but comfortable flight.  Next stop was the TGV to Marseille  where a few wonderful hours were spent wandering around the new port. When we left last July the port promenade was a mess - streets and footpaths were impassable and the city appeared to be in the middle of a major renovation.
The results are amazing. New sculptures appeared in the streets, massive buildings given a "trompe l'oeil" makeover and the port boulevard area widened, repaved and dotted with huge mirrored structures.

The massive "Trompe L'oeil' painted building.

The huge mirrored cover over the port promenade

At 6pm we caught the new Le Meridionale ferry 'Piana' to Corsica, landing the next morning at Bastia on the east coast. It was our first contact with the sea air and this really excited Dave. Even though the weather was a bit chilly he spent much of the time on the outside balconies, dreaming of being back on the water.

Sunrise near Corsica

 After a 2 hour bus trip from Bastia to Solenzara, we arrived, tired and sore from dragging 60kg luggage for 2 days.
It was great to get back on the boat and immediately we felt at home. She was in reasonable condition after 9 months in the water although there were a few issues with batteries and pumps.

We had intended to stay only a day or so but the weather warnings looked scary and it was pretty obvious that we'd need to hang around Solenzara for at least 3 or 4 days. The 'Mistral' certainly arrived and the boat next to ours registered 45kts during the night.
Our days have been spent enjoying being back on board, walking around the village and meeting people.

We made friends with a delightful French couple, Dominique and Jean-Marc on a sailing boat nearby. They offered to take us on a journey into the mountains to visit a monastery.

The convent was originally established as a refuge for women from all over the world. Many of the women have skills in ceramics and sculpture and spend time in their cells painting and carving.

Jean-Marc and Dominique

The beautiful convent perched high on the hill overlooking Solenzara

 The experience was wonderful