thüngen und gambach (13. 591)

 

mare e monti (13. 480)

 

Driving to the clifftop of Col de la Croix in Osani, we took a hike down the verdant slope through the nature reserve of the peninsula of La Scandola, the oldest on the island and included in the UNESCO registry, down in the direction of the gulf of Girolata. There are three such “mountain and sea” trails in Corsica and our short walk was only a tiny portion of the system of long-distance trails along the western coast.

Though we didn’t quite make it to the isolated, former fishing village—touted by boating excursion operators as an abandoned pirate town, most of whom are not allowed to lay anchor there, we discovered, and so a little suspect as a tourist trap—accessible otherwise only by foot, we nonetheless had a very nice walk through the woods punctuated with stretches of marquis shrubland of savanna-like evergreens, myrtle and oleander—called machja in Corsican, the ground cover gives off a distinctive piney aroma, and discovered a pebble beach in one of the coves which we had all to ourselves, sharing it only with a couple of sedate cows.  

stradi di e calanchi (13. 468)

Travelling west down the Route of the Calanques, narrow, steep coastal inlets, along the Gulf of Porto, passing many fantastical and breathtaking rock formations along the way, negotiating on-coming traffic, tour buses and those parked in the middle of the single carriageway road to marvel at the view, we stopped at the entrance to a hiking trail that began with the monolithic Tête du Chien (Head of the Dog). We progressed along a mostly forested path through a landscape that was at times otherworldly, like this hollowed out boulder that resembled Yoda’s dwelling on Dagobah, following an ancient trail used by mules and required some climbing to reach the cliff top called Castellu di Ghineparu—not a castle but a plateau with incredible vistas of the Mediterranean and valley below. 

Afterwards we went on to the small village of Piana, listed among France’s most beautiful and dating from its rebuilding in late fifteenth century, caught up it the territorial struggle between the Republics of Pisa and Genoa centuries before and abandoned and falling into disrepair—only resettled once Genoa took control of the whole island and were motivated to keep the Barbary pirates at bay. 

As with the whole of Corsica, during World War II, it was a stronghold of the resistance and Piana was a staging location for the covert Opération Pearl Harbour in 1942 to arm and organise and prevent the Axis powers from obtaining another base of operation in the region, sponsored with coordination by the American’s and codenamed for the attack in Hawaiʻi from the year before. In the centre of the village is l’Église l’Assomption (Ghjesgia di l’Assunta) dedicated to Sainte-Maire with multiple shrines.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the engineering of wine bottles (with synchronopticæ), closed-captioning plus a return to the Saale valley

seventeen years ago: climate change mitigation 

bamberger bürgerpark (13. 396)

Taking a short stroll through the village of Bug, we crossed the bridge south of the city to the massive public green space bordered by the Main-Danube canal and the Regnitz called the Theresienhain and took a long walk around the park’s perimeter. 

 The Franciscan order was donated the village palace with its mansard roof for its missionary work in India and Sri Lanka, the former royal forestry office of the Kingdom of Bavaria—and is the only branch of the brotherhood in operation in Germany. 

Designed in the style of Munich’s English Garden in 1803, the commission of Maximilian I, the area was preserved during renovations and expansion of the inland waterway and shipping channel, and the forest, rewilded, true to the route that writer ETA Hoffmann took through the Hain on his brainstorming walks for inspiration, and is dotted with pavilions, monuments (including one to the author himself) and a so called druid temple, Monopteros (see also) as well as sports facilities and a botanical garden. 

We stopped at a former boathouse that was converted into an open air tavern and sampled some more beers as a band played before returning to the campsite.

katzenkopf iii (13. 281)

Taking advantage of the nice weather, H and I got the camper from storage and prepared for the season with a weekend trip back to the Frankish wine islands, staying in the village of Sommerach. The vineyards waking up too for the spring, we took a long hike crossing the island and over the canal of the Main river through fields and pine forest in protected environment known as the Sandfluren (inland dunes, the sandy areas reminding me of trekking from Wiesbaden to Mainz under the bridges and over the islands) outside of Volkach on the mainland. 

Reaching the village of Dimbach, we headed back to the island over the lock and weir at the southern part of the river loop at the Mainkanal. In the distance, we could spy the twin steeples of the cloister Münsterschwarzach with a cruise ship docked at the weir. Exploring more of the landscape on the way back, we walked around the village a bit, trying out that wine automat we saw on our last visit—it wasn’t dumped out like a soda machine but rather a mechanical arm guided our selection down to the flap—and had a late lunch before going back to the camp grounds.

More details about the history of these places and impressions at the links above.