Flanêur à Bonifacio!

Tuesday October 8 was a cloudy, windy day with the odd bit of drizzle.  High of 22C.  We asked our host how old our building was and he said it dated back to the 13th or 14th century!  All that history in the streets of Old Town.  

We walked two minutes from our apartment to a small market held on Tuesdays and Fridays in the Loggia de L'Arsenal, built in 1492, on the site of the former Saint-Laurent chapel built by the Templer Knights.

Small market inside Loggia 

There were only a few vendors.  We have learned that Corsican charcuterie and cheeses reign supreme in people's diets on the island.

Cheese and charcuterie

Limoncello and other liquors

Corsican dessert- fiadone

We got two of these turnovers

We stopped at the nearby St. Dominique Church, one of the rare religious buildings in Corsica with elements of Gothic architecture. 

One view of Church

Inside

With the tower

The church was quite large

We walked back to our apartment to drop the items we had bought.

Our street

Just two doors away was a former hospice "Domus Misericordia" founded due to public charity in the 13th century.  This former hospice is now the St-Croix Church.

Entrance to the church

Inside the entranceway

Inside the church

Very old building--- at #15, our apartment is at #19

We wandered a bit more through the Old Town.

On Rue Varsi- plaque in the memory of Simon Varsi, architecture student,
shot by the Germans on August 23, 1944 (plaque put up by the Corsican Resistance)

Hotel with the Corsican flag

Typical street

We walked to the view of the "Grain of Sand" rock and the water--- it was a cloudy day and looked so different from our pictures on Monday evening, when the sun was shining.

A street with a confiserie (confectionary) artisinale since 1793, Le Corail de Bonifacio

Made by François Rocca Serra-- maître Glacier-Confiseur-- made with Corsican almonds, hazelnuts, orange and lemon peel, and chestnut honey.

Napoleon liked these too 

We stopped at the Ste-Marie-Majeure Church, which is the main church and oldest building in Bonifacio.  It was built in the 12th century by the Pisans.  The entrance has a loggia, the place where the soldiers used to meet to deliberate on the city's decisions.

Outside of church with the loggia

Inside of the church

We walked around the corner to Doria House, which dates back to 1320.  This house belonged to the Doria family of Genoese nobility, whose several generations of Podestats (Chief Magistrates) succeeded one another to represent the Republic of Genoa in Bonifacio.

The Doria House on Rue Doria-- plaque over door

We walked over to La Rue des 2 Empereurs where there are two plaques commemorating the visits of Charles V and Napoléon Bonaparte.

Empereur Charles V stayed in this house from October 3-6, 1541.  
The proprietor was Comte Cattagiolo. (Plaque beside building)

Right side is where Charles V stayed-- left side is plaque which says that Napoleon Bonaparte, then Lieutenant-Colonel, stayed in this house from January 22- March 5, 1795.

Plaque- where Napoléon Bonaparte stayed

After wandering the streets of the Old Town, and tracking down a number of addresses on our tourist map, we headed down to the Marina.

Going down to the Marina

We passed a WWI memorial en route.

War Memorial- monolithic block ground back from a nearby island
where an ancient Roman granite quarry once operated.  
Memorial to the soldiers who died in WWI -1914-1918

People boarding the Moby ferry to Sardinia-- we will be taking the ferry on Thursday

Some sunlight in the late afternoon

After stopping at the wonderful pastry shop on the waterfront, we walked to the end of the Marina near where we caught the petit train on Monday to the Old Town.

Le petit train that we took with our luggage up to the Old Town.  It stops running at 4:00 p.m.

We walked to the other side of the marina.  Different view of the citadel.  Only a few shops and hotels on this side.

We then headed up the long ramp from the Marina to the Old Town.  We stopped at a shop near the Marina that carried some nice Corsican specialties as well as a selection of wine and liquors.  We decided to get a small bottle of L.N. Mattei Cap Corse, the famous Corsican aperitif. It was created in 1872 by Louis Napoleon Mattei.  It is made from a secret recipe that contains many exotic plants.  We have had a few Cap Corse Spritz's and have liked the bittersweet flavour.

Lovely store where we got the Cap Corse aperitif

The famous "Grain of Sand" Rock

The austere Saint Roch Chapel- raised where the last victim of the Plague epidemic of 1528 died.

Some lovely light heading to the Citadel

View back down to the Marina

A selfie in Bonifacio-- almost to the entrance to the Old Town

We decided to have an apéro at Café Chez Ange which is located just opposite the Loggia and Ste-Marie-Majeure Church.  It is a lovely location- only a short walk from our apartment.

Red or white?  This is a bigger version of the J.N. Mattei Cap Corse aperitif we had purchased.

Alain had a glass of Corsican beer and I had a Cap Corse Spritz.

Just opposite the loggia of Ste-Marie-Majeure Church

Cheers

They had little lights on the tables- a beautiful spot -picture taken as we were leaving-- it is housed in the Podestats' House, which was the residence of the Podestat (chief magistrate), representing the authority of the Republic of Genoa in Bonifacio from 1270.

We walked back to the apartment for a light dinner of eggs, zucchini and tomatoes and the turnovers we had purchased in the market.  A quiet day in Bonifacio.   Better weather is predicted for Wednesday, which will be our last day in this beautiful medieval town.