Ajaccio, Corsica
15/11/2025
This morning we berthed on time at Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica and birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte. Very close to the City centre, the cruise terminal is only a short walk to the old city and the views from the ship are stunning.
View from the stern of Viking Saturn at our berth
Corsica’s economy is mostly dependent on tourism. There is no manufacturing industry and even a lot of food and daily consumables come in by ship, so poor weather can often result in short term shortages.
A morning tour of Ajaccio is our plan and we are on the bus at just after 9 am. This time we have a very good tour guide, who is German, but moved to Corsica at a young age and is now well and truly a proud Corsican.
Wandering through the backstreets we came to another small church, Eglise Saint Erasme, dedicated to the Patron Saint of Mariners. A former Jesuit Chapel it is quite ordinary from the outside but certainly worth a look inside.
Any introduction to Corsica begins with Napoleon Bonaparte, their most famous citizen. Our tour takes us into town and the first destination is a monument to Napoleon.
Monument commemorating Napoleon 1, at Place d'Austerlitz
Near to the monument is a cave where Napoleon was said to have played as a child, but there is some doubt that this is true.
Back on the bus we continue on out of town towards a natural parkland, Pointe de la Parata, overlooking a small group of islands known as the bloody islands (officially known as Sanguinaires Islands). The origin of the nickname appears to have stemmed from their use for quarantine to ensure people returning to Corsica, mainly Coral Divers, did not bring foreign diseases to Corsica. They were also used to quarantine lepers. Common medicine in those days to purge disease was to bleed people to get the contaminants out of their bodies. Whilst this didn't work there was plenty of bleeding going on on these islands, hence their name.
The largest island has a lighthouse and the white tower on the mainland was a semaphore station.
Corsica has and extensive network of these stations which were used to monitor maritime activity in surrounding waters.
Another Semaphore station located high up on a hill top further in from the coast
Pointe de la Parata is a popular place for family outings and tourists as there a many walking tracks and great vistas.
Looking back towards Ajaccio from Pointe de la Parata
Next we head back to Ajaccio to see more of the city in detail, including a guided walk to see the highlights of the old city.
Along the road back to town there is an amazing cemetery, Cemetery Marin d'Ajaccio, a huge area, overlooking the sea, covered in mausoleums, many of them very substantial. The mountainous and rocky nature of Corsica makes in ground burial challenging.
Mausoleums at Seaside cemetery
Soon we are in town, our bus driver finds a temporary spot to drop us off, and the bus then leaves us and our guide to do our walking tour and then a short walk back to the ship.
First stop is the Ajaccio Cathedral, Cathedrale Notre -Dame de de l'Assomption de Sainte-Marie. Around 80% of Corsica's population is Catholic, and this Cathedral was visited by Pope Francis on December 15th, 2024, something the locals are very proud of, and Parisians possibly not as excited that Corsica upstaged them getting this visit.
You could easily walk past the entrance without seeing it
Once inside, the maritime theme is on full display
As we continue on, we come to the Cidatel, the remains of a fortress in the centre of town, only seeing part of the massive fort walls as we move on to our next highlight, the Statue of Pascal Paoli.
Citadel wall
Pascal Paoli is revered as the Father of the Corsican Democracy, leading the resistance movements in Corsica against the Genoese and later the French rule over the island. He was responsible for writing the Constitution for Corsica and many other reforms that were world leading at the time.
Continuing through the old city we walk down narrow streets lined with restaurants and bars. Apparently the Corsican's don't mind a drink.
Restaurant lines alleys look pretty inviting
Inviting as the restaurant lined alleys look, we have to continue on to see where Napoleon Bonaparte was born. The building, of which the Bonaparte family occupied one floor, is now a museum.
We didn't bother to look inside, as in good French custom, it closes for lunch, and if we really wanted to see it, we could come back in a few hours.
Finally, we are now heading back down towards the water for our last stop at the fresh food market, through a large square where we can see one last reminder of Napoleon, a Statue in Foch Square.
On now to the fresh food market. To get there we have to walk past city hall, another impressive building.
Nearby, we find the market. Local produce on display and plenty of activity. Most food production on the island is at a cottage level, but there are great selections of fresh fruit and vegetables, dried and processed meats and cheeses. Interestingly, they do not have cows milk produced on the island, so all of the local cheeses are either goat or sheep milk. Animal husbandry is also pretty basic, but wild boar is readily available.
There is also a good range of local seafood
Our tour complete, we walked back to the ship in time for lunch. Ajaccio has a very nice feel about it and I suspect that other parts of Corsica are equally interesting.
All aboard time is 4pm, so we spend the rest of the afternoon on board. It is surprisingly hot today, so a bit of air conditioning is quite welcome.
It is Saturday afternoon and a small sailing fleet start heading out from a marina close to where we are berthed, I guess for a Saturday afternoon race.
The captain seems to be wasting no time to get away this afternoon, and all lines have been cast off by 4.30pm. It was interesting that the berth here is a bit short for us, so a bowline is attached to a large mooring buoy well out from the pier. A boat crew has to go out to release this line.
Our next destination is Civitavecchia, the port of Rome.
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