Corsica: ParadiseBay.
 The road network in Corsica is similar to the coastline. The island has a size of around 532 km, but at the same time no less than 1047 km coastline. This is because Corsica has almost none straight roads. Even on the map you need to search to find a straight path of more than 1 kilometer. Enough reason to explore this island with a motorbike.
We sail on the night boat from Marseille to Bastia and arrive the following morning around 7:00 am and eat a delicious sandwich on the promenade. The first day we drive direct across the island to Ajaccio. We visit Corte, which was the capital since 1981, and can call itself the first university town of Corsica. We enjoy the wonderful winding road and need 3 hours driving for this 130 km highway. When we arrive in Ajaccio, it is very crowdie because there is a car rally taken place. A beautiful happening, but the disadvantage is that all hotels are full and we need several hours to find a hotel with vacancy.
We drive from Ajaccio to Bonifacio, the southernmost tip of the island. This village is build like a bird's nest on top of a cliff, high above the sea. On a clear day you can even see the neighbouring Italian island of Sardinia. In wild storms there are several ships lost in the front of Bonifacio, including the famous frigate La Semillante, for witch a monument is placed by France.
At this monument a Corsican man told us that Corsica officially belongs to France, but that Corsica must emphatically not be seen as part of France. It has more relationship with Italy, but overall they prefer to see themselves as independent. We make a special visit  to the cemetery of Bonifacio, where the graves are above ground in small houses. These houses are built of granite and luxurious marble and often large enough for whole families. This together with the named squares and streets gives the cemetery almost the feeling of a holiday village ....
The return to Ajaccio is only 120 km, but again we need 4 hours because of all the beautiful curves in the road.
In Ajaccio you see everywhere monuments of Napoleon Bonaparte who was born here, but from his brother Louis Napoleon, who was 4 years old monarch of our own kingdom Holland, you find sadly not one monument. Anyway, Ajaccio has a beautiful harbour and a nice centre with plenty of restaurants where you can eat overlooking the rugged Mediterranean sea. We drive from Ajaccio to the Scandola nature reserve, which, since 1983, has been designated as UNESCO world heritage. We admire the beautiful coastline of rugged rocks and cliffs and then go inland to see the mountains. We drive through small and pretty bad roads to the Col de Tartavello and enjoy the nice scenery. Once again we notice that on Corsica you can drive only a few kilometers on a day.
 The last few days in Corsica, we stay in Bastia, where we make a round trip of Cap Corse. On a wonderful sunny day we drive through the west side to the top of Cap Corse on perfect asphalt. On one side high cliffs and on the other side a dream blue sea. Regularly you get splendid places on high cliffs were you can make the most beautiful pictures from the sea.
The views on the east of Cap Corse are just as good as on the west, but the asphalt is so bad that you need al your attention for the road.
From Bastia we visit Calvi, the birthplace of Columbus, if we believe the Corsican legend. Evidence is however never delivered, but for the tourists the Corsicans did make a little monument placed on a ruin.
The road between Bastia and Calvi is again one out of a booklet. Certainly the first 25 km accompanied by a lunar landscape, with brand new tight winding asphalt. I can not resist starting my camera and going into race-mode, resulting in a separate race movie on www.LifeIsJoy.n l.
On our last day we stroll true Bastia searching for a nice terrace on the Place St. Nicolas. From this square we have a nice view on our ferry, but after a couple hours waiting we hear that the boat will not sail at all today. The French company SNCM strikes again and refuses us without any apology or explanation. Fortunately, Corsica also has a own ferry company, and after some searching and talking we find some seats back home. All sleeping cabins are gone, but because of a large storm at sea, nobody is getting much sleep.
Overlooking our holiday we can conclude that Corsica is beautiful and probably has the most corners per square kilometer in the world: Corsica is a real paradise for motorbikes.
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