Arriving in Ajaccio- visit to Napoléon's birthplace

Saturday October 5 was a mainly sunny day with a high of 20C by the time we arrived in Ajaccio.  We had a very early 7:03 a.m. train to catch from Calvi.  We had discovered that the train's first stop after the main station was at a platform just a 3 minute walk from our apartment!  We were able to get there just before 7:00 a.m. and there were two other young women waiting for the train.  It was about four minutes late, but pulled up just as the sun was rising.  

It is only a two car train and the first part of the trip is an hour north to L'Ile Rousse where we had been the other day.  From the coast, the train travels an hour inland to Ponte à Leccia.  We arrived just after 9:00 a.m. and then (probably due to track work) had to take a bus the equivalent of two train stops and then board the train again in Corti.  We made our way south and then west back to the coast to Ajaccio, our destination.   We passed through mountainous areas with only a few farms and houses scattered along the way.  Beautiful countryside on a lovely sunny day.

From the train

Countryside

Small village with rocky cliffs

Gorge with water below

High on a hill

We arrived on time at 11:49 a.m. in Ajaccio, which is the capital city of Corsica and its largest.  Ajaccio serves as its administrative and cultural centre.  It has a population of around 70,000 and is a bustling port with ferry services to a number of cities in southern France.  There are also a number of beaches nearby.  Ajaccio is perhaps most famous as the birthplace of Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1521).  He was born on August 15, 1769 in the city and there are several sites in Ajaccio related to his life and family. 

It turns out that our Airbnb was only a three minute walk from the train station, just off Cours Napoleon, the main street which is lined with cafés and shops.  We are on Rue Sainte Lucie, which is a very quiet street with a few apartment buildings.  Our apartment is old-fashioned but it is very large and well equipped with lots of windows and light.

Dining area- all one room with living area

Part of living room

Small balcony with view of the port

View from the balcony

Kitchen area-- large fridge, dishwasher, clothes washer etc.

Bedroom

Bathroom with large shower

After we unpacked, we decided we might be able to make it to the Market building before it closed at 1:00 p.m.  The Marcatu D'Aiacciu (Corsican spelling of Ajaccio) is both an indoor and outdoor market that operates every day except Mondays.

Outside of building where people were having lunch

Indoor cheese and meat and fish shops

Charcuterie stall

Most of the outdoor and some of the indoor stalls were shutting down.   We found one open fish stall where they were also selling oysters and seafood platters.

Very nice fish

We got a filet of dorade for dinner-- oyster and shrimp platter in the foreground

Our fish--- the man filleting the fish was a former fisherman who after many long years on a boat now worked in the fish shop- expert filletter.

We, of course, had to get 1/2 dozen oysters for lunch-- delicious- nice and briny

The olive guy was still open

Street near the market with a number of restaurants and cafés

Very near to the market at Place Foch, the main square, was the Fountain of Four Lions and the Statue of  Napoléon as a Roman Counsel.  The statue and the four lions were inaugurated in 1850, although the statue had been completed in 1804.

Nearby City Hall, closed on the weekends

Large ship in the port

Statue of Pascal Paoli (1725-1807), a Corsican statesman and patriot who was responsible for ending Genoese rule of Corsica. 

We decided to visit the Maison Bonaparte, Napoléon's birthplace, which has been turned into a museum showcasing the history of the Bonaparte family.  There was a small line up to get in, but as we were waiting two tour groups got in before us.  Luckily, by the time we got in, the groups were well ahead of us in the two floors of small rooms with the displays.

One enters through a side street

Many of the items on display were family pictures and there were a number of furnished rooms, including the room where Napoléon was born.  The information was only in French, which was surprising given the number of English speaking tourists.  We can read French reasonably well, but we definitely missed a few things.   

Maison Bonaparte is the ancestral home of the Bonaparte family.  It is located on Rue Saint-Charles and was almost continuously owned by members of the family from 1682 to 1923. Napoleon's great-great-grandfather Giuseppe Buonaparte first moved into the Casa Buonaparte in 1682.  Originally, the house was partitioned between different families but Giuseppe purchased the retiming sections after he married.   

In 1764, Charles-Marie Bonaparte married Letizia Ramolino and settled in the family residence.  Napoléon was born there on August 15, 1769, one of eight children.  He lived in Ajaccio until he was nine years old when he was sent to France to be educated.

Napoléon's father died in 1785.  After three years spent in France from 1793-1796 due to the family's allegiance with the French Republic, Letizia returned to Ajaccio in 1797 and had the house improved and enlarged.  Napoléon spent a few days there on returning from Egypt in 1799, but did not return after that.  In 1805, Napoléon handed the house over to his cousin.  It was reclaimed by Napoléon's mother in 1832 and passed on to Joseph in 1843.

In 1852, Napoleon III and Empress Eugênie took possession of the house.  She later passed the house to Prince Victor Napoleon who donated the house to the French government in 1923.   In 1967, the house became a national museum.   

The museum visit starts on the second floor with an evocation of Corsica in the 18th century (a number of old maps) and then an introduction to members of the family.   The family's rooms are on the first floor; drawing-room, mother's bedroom. the room where Napoleon was born, and the dining-room.  

Charles Bonaparte (1746-1785)

Letizia Bonaparte (1750-1836)

Portrait of Charles-Marie Bonaparte

Le Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839)- half-brother of Letizia---  He was born in Ajaccio and died in Rome.  He was an archbishop of Lyon and a great art lover.  He was Napoleon's ambassador to the Vatican in Rome.  He assembled a collection of paintings which are found in the Fesch museum in Ajaccio.

Napoléon Bonaparte, Lieutenant Colonel du Batalion de la Corse en 1792

Alcove chamber where Napoléon stayed during his 1799 visit after his Egypt campaign

Picture of the Bonaparte house, vers 1830

Another historic view of the house

Tradition says that Napoléon was born in this chamber

Dining area

Beautiful reception hall-- part of the enlargement of the house in 1797

Study

Napoléon 1er, par Girodet-Trioson

Family tree

There was a room about Victor Napoleon who donated the museum to the state in 1923. 

Part of a very lengthy family tree

After our visit to the museum, we walked up Cours Napoleon and stopped at Carpe Diem for a coffee. 

Lovely large coffee shop with roastery, coffee supplies and beans and loose teas

We had a lovely chat with the woman working there, who even suggested we get a treat at a nearby patisserie and bring it back to have with our coffee, as Carpe Diem only served coffee and tea.

I had an iced latte with oat milk and Alain had a flat white.  
Alain went to a nearby patisserie for a treat which we shared.   

We then walked six more minutes up Cours Napoleon until we got to the street with our apartment.  

We are on the fifth floor.  There is a an elevator.

The apartment building where we are staying.

We were both tired after getting up at around 5:30 a.m.   Alain made a lovely dinner with dorade, zucchini and potatoes.   We had tea and finished the almond biscuits which our host in Calvi had given us.   We are only in Ajaccio until Monday, so wanted to get off to a good start which we did on Saturday.