Week-end in Bastia

We discover Bastia after hugging the wild coast all the way along the Cap Corse.

The town is set by the sea at the foot of a mountain.

The boat will turn in front of the old port overlooked by the citadel and the governor’s palace before berthing opposite the huge Saint Nicolas square.

A unforgettable viewpoint to introduce you to Bastia, both enigmatic and beautiful….

Bastia, historical with its heritage treasures…

Bastia, a modern city with its shops restaurants, fashionable places, festivals and events

Bastia can be visited on foot through three unmissable sites :

• The Saint Nicolas square
• The old port Terra Vecchia
• The citadel Terra Nova

The Saint Nicolas square

Around the bandstand, a stylish metal structure from the beginning of the XIX century, between the antique market on Sundays, the children’s play areas, the games of ‘pétanque’ (type of bowls played in the south of France) the square is THE meeting place down town.

It is a long esplanade lined with buildings with stylish fronts, undeniably of Italian inspiration. People enjoy reading the daily newspaper and discussing politics on the colourful café terraces, in the shade of the plane trees and the palm trees, from early morning.

In the late afternoon, at the very important hour for the ‘apéro’ aperitif drink, everyone meets up to enjoy the twilight, to talk about their day, trying to spend the evening putting the world to rights just like in all the café terraces in the town….

The old port, Terra Vecchia

This is the oldest and one of the most popular areas in Bastia where you can enjoy losing your way amid the winding narrow streets, the shadows and the sunlight guiding you towards the sea. The old port, at the end of a bay, hemmed in between the citadel, the colourful houses with lauze roofs is overlooked by the baroque frontage and the twin church towers of the Saint Jean Baptiste church : a real picture postcard from the Mediterranean.

The symbol of Bastia, this baroque church, the biggest in Corsica, watches over the busy fishermen and sailors and contains, in the middle of the gold stucco and polychromatic marble a remarkable collection of works of art from the XVII, XVIII and XIX centuries.

Just behind it in a setting of some old narrow streets, stone steps, Genoese frontages, washing hanging on the line outside, of light and life in the sun, there is the market just in the shadow of the Saint Jean church with the beautiful town hall, its fountain, and all around restaurants terraces.

On the port between choppiness, colours, the comings and goings of boats and the fishermen early in the morning, in the light of the sunrise, it is the perfect place for you to sit on a café terrace and to take in the “real” atmosphere of Bastia.

You will find another outstanding viewpoint by a promenade the length of the “Jetée du Dragon” as far as the lighthouse. From one side there is Bastia and the old port, and on the other the commercial port and the foothills of the Cap Corse which dive down into the sea.

Just behind it in a setting of some old narrow streets, stone steps, Genoese frontages, washing hanging on the line outside, of light and life in the sun, there is the market just in the shadow of the Saint Jean church with the beautiful town hall, its fountain, and all around restaurants terraces.

On the port between choppiness, colours, the comings and goings of boats and the fishermen early in the morning, in the light of the sunrise, it is the perfect place for you to sit on a café terrace and to take in the “real” atmosphere of Bastia.

You will find another outstanding viewpoint by a promenade the length of the “Jetée du Dragon” as far as the lighthouse. From one side there is Bastia and the old port, and on the other the commercial port and the foothills of the Cap Corse which dive down into the sea.

The citadel, Terra Nova

By the stairway of the Romieu garden, the preferred way between the two areas Terra Vecchia and Terra Nova, we climb to the Citadel built by the Genoese who in the XV century made it their dwelling place and place of governing.

On the donjon square, the governor’s palace is imposing with its ochre coloured frontage up to the tower, which overhangs the old port, standing guard over the sea. Today it houses a museum, which is being renovated till 2008. From there, you’ll benefit from a magnificent view over the town and as far as the Cap and the Tuscan islands on the horizon.

The area around the citadel, is a town within a town :

behind the ramparts are narrow streets interlaced which lead to two gems of Baroque art

the Sainte Marie cathedral with its silver virgin Marie, its blue and gold ceiling, its ornamental tiling in marble and a sumptuous collection of holy objects and paintings.

Just beside it, is the Oratory Sainte Croix abounding in gold and history a real showcase for Baroque Rococo with its Black Christ, which was according to the legend found into the sea, worshipped by fishermen and carried in procession all around the citadel on Good Friday….

Also to be seen :

the Napoléon street, a busy shopping street with its two oratories, the Conception and Saint Roch, the Boulevard Paoli, the main street down town

the theatre, the cultural spot in Bastia, and just below it the M.J.C = Community arts centre with several permanent exhibition rooms and its strip cartoons festival in March

Bastia is a secretive and fascinating town, a town to be visited for the pleasure of looking, but also for the pleasure of the palate with its numerous restaurants which propose some Corsican specialities, with a great variety of wines from the region….Patrimonio, the Cap and Balagna which are not so far off !