My Secret Travel Tips

As I mentioned yesterday, until December 15, I'll be doing something a little different here. Each day, I'll have a short post (either highlighting a product I adore and that I bring on most of my trips or mentioning one of my very recent guest posts on hidden treasure travel). In addition, at the end of each of these, you'll find a screen shot of the travel blog that's featured as part of the Travel Bloggers Caravan that I'm participating in. Just remember to click on the Travel Caravan banner on the right or visit the Luxury Cruise Bible blog to find out more about the entire schedule and prizes.

My trips are always full of adventure and discoveries. For example, who knew that an immense garbage dump in Israel is being turned into an eco-center complete with walking and biking trails, or that hiking in Corsica's interior might bring a close encounter with wild boar hunters. Andy Hayes at Sharing Travel Experiences recently interviewed me on some of my favorite authentic spots around the world. I've included tips on visiting, Portugal, Spain, Iceland, Israel, Turkey, Corsica and more. You'll find out why I can't wait to visit Bhutan and what trips I'm planning for the near future.

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Corsica's Artisan Route

I always enjoy reading books or articles on places I've traveled and perusing the recent article on Corsica in Travel & Leisure was no exception. It's always great to see a country through the eyes of someone who has roots in the land, as the author does. As you know, I've posted on Corsica a couple of times already and have written many magazine articles, all focusing in on the off-the-beaten-track travel and hidden treasures that are my specialty. Since I noticed the T + L article didn't deal with one of my favorite haunts in Corsica, I wanted to share this unforgettable region with you.
The Balagne region of Corsica may be France's best-kept secret. This mountainous area in the north of this island is dotted with hilltop villages that snuggle against the backdrop of jagged peaks. In fact, detouring from the much-loved coastal resorts is a must for those who want to find the Corsica of centuries ago. Many of these villages date back more than 1,000 years and yet these are active communities where artisans and crafts people thrive.


Driving the Routes de Artisans along the wiggly roads that wind through this land of olives and vines, I met an array of personalities producing glassware, pottery, wine, olive oil, honey, almond biscuits, chestnut cakes, knives and aromatic oils. For example, Helene Cancela, a jeweler near the seaside town of Ile Rousse, etches bronze and sets semiprecious stones with healing properties in silver, creating organic works. Outside Calenzana, Rony Annick weaves olive branches, myrtle and bamboo into all manner of traditional baskets. Calvi’s knife maker, Patrick Martin, originally a sculptor, forges knives that are works of art. Don't be surprised when you enter his shop and see it decorated with animal skulls, since he delicately fashions the handles from antelope, goat and even boar horns or skulls. Carole Fanet, a potter in Algajola, produces contemporary works that are influenced by her travels in Asia.
But, probably the heart of this artisanal area is Pigna, the music town, as it's known. No wonder, considering this hamlet became the center to resurrect Corsican traditions, including paghjella singing, and playing the cetera, a lute-like instrument that people from all over Europe now order from Pigna. Every July during the Estivoce festival that virtually takes over this hamlet, visitors can experience five days of theatrical and musical productions.

I wandered the narrow cobbled lanes and met women making wooden music boxes that play traditional Corsican lullabies; in another shop, Mr. Quilichini produces earthenware works that are inspired by Genoan pottery, which divers found off Corsica’s coast.
Herve specializes in contemporary Asian-inspired, etchings as well as 18th century copper prints that he collects from antique shops. Among the most interesting items you can buy is one of Ugo Casalonga's ceteras made from walnut and cypress or Corsican flutes from goat horns.Among the most interesting items you can buy is one of Ugo Casalonga's ceteras made from walnut and cypress or Corsican flutes from goat horns. In Casa Savelli, Dominique Giantini sells locally made items, such as clementine marmalade, myrtle vinegar and chestnut flour cakes.


The hamlet has three restaurants, all serving local products. Casa Musicale is a stone dwelling that combines a thriving music center and a lovely inn that's decorated with an array of authentic items, including a handmade harpsichord. Lunch and dinner is served in the barrel-ceilinged stone dining rooms that are housed in the original olive oil mill. The terrace perched on the hillside is much sought after during mealtime to catch views of the Algajola Bay. U Palazzu is a 400-year-old villa that's been in the Franceschini family for generations. Their fine restaurant, serving dishes that include grilled sea bass with risotto and artichokes and prawns with pumpkin sauce, is also housed in a former olive oil mill, where two centuries-old presses are still present. Finally, A Casarella serves up organic cuisine that focuses in on tapas, such as anchovy filets, sheep's milk cheese and mashed chickpeas with olive oil. Their dining room, dating from the late 1700, was once an animal shelter. But most guests opt for the terrace seats to glimpse the fabulous sunsets.

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Corsica's Beauty Far From The Coast

Corsica’s coastal properties may get almost all the tourist traffic, but hiking through the interior with Vallecime tours is how I experienced the wild side of Corsica. Specializing in guided hikes based out of two bed and breakfasts, this local company organizes private treks for couples, families or groups of friends. For a week, my three friends, Andrea, Eric and Dennis, and I climbed and descended the rugged picturesque terrain covered with aromatic maquis with our local guide, Laurent, who gave us a window into authentic Corsican culture, pointing out all manner of geological and botanical finds, and taking us to plenty of spots so we could sample local culinary delights. No matter which village we enter, our guide meets and greets people, whether a man delivering supplies to one of the mountain refuges, or a woman driving the grocery truck, which brings produce to the villages who live far from markets.

Starting in Sant Andrea di Bozio with its schist stone houses some 2,600 feet above sea level, we trekked through peaceful valleys, circled glacial lakes and wandered along old shepherd and mule paths where, on one day, we ran into a wild boar hunt where Laurent knew the hunters. On another day in the isolated Niolu Valley , we found a shepherd selling fresh sheep's milk cheese. Majestic peaks rose all about, including Mt. Tafunato with its prominent hole -- attributed to the devil as are several other land features -- where clouds often float through.

In the hamlet of Poggio, our bed and breakfast, the five-room Casa Capellini, sits along a terraced property where pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers and lettuce grow in the vegetable garden. From here, dramatic peaks are visible from just about anywhere. In another village, San Quilico, an old milling stone forms part of a doorway, and a schist oven still stands where villages once baked bread. In the area of Casamaccioli, the village that's home to our second inn, Casa Vanella, most of Corsica’s high peaks can be found.

Interestingly, one of the co-owners of Vallecime, Jean Francois, held the record, until recently, for running the 120-mile GR 20, Corsica’s most famous high mountain, long distance hiking trail. (He managed to finish this rugged route, that's considered Europe's most difficult, in a mere 37 hours; it normally takes hikers about a week.)

Trail markers were rare where we hiked because, as our guide noted, “This is the land of freedom and any signs are a form of pollution.” Corsica’s independent spirit is ever present. The island has few resorts. No wonder, considering separatists have been known to demolish construction sites. And just about everything runs wild: bulls, cows and sheep on village streets, pigs outside our B & B, and horses and goats beside our trails.

In Casamaccioli, the village that's home to our second B & B, Santa di u Niolu , the island's most important folk festival, has been celebrated every September for more than 500 years. Commemorating the old ways, this fair, with its handicrafts and regional food specialties, has long attracted all manner of Corsicans, especially shepherds who would herd their flocks back into the valley.

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In Corsica, Chestnuts Rule

In my Corsican travels, I found authentically produced foods aplenty. The locals consider the chestnut tree the "tree of life." So, it's no wonder their oldest, and perhaps the biggest, fair is Fiera di a Castagna (the chestnut festival) held in the village of Bocognano. In December, the beloved chestnut is the main attraction with the many stands selling chestnut butter, breads and biscuits while visitors can also watch chestnut fruit and flour competitions.

Chestnuts and chestnut-derived products appear just about everywhere on this French island. In fact, it's one of the only places in Europe where you can still find chestnut flour that's made into cakes, pastries, bread, soup, polenta, honey, even ice cream and beer.

When I sampled the island's honeys, cheeses and meats, I found that they all had a unique flavor because of the aromatic maquis plants -- coating so much of the land -- that the animals feed on.

The pork products that are staples of all meals also have a sweet flavor because of the free-range pigs and wild boar foraging also for chestnuts as well as acorns. Interestingly, the charcuterie, whether figatelli, a smoked sausage with offal or lonzu, a pork loin, are artisanally produced. And most of the other meat products are free range also, including lamb and beef.

The unique beer, Pietra, is brewed from sweet chestnut flour making for a full-bodied beverage.
(Colomba, another beer produced by the same local company, gets its flavor from Corsica's scented maquis, the aromatic herbs coating so much of the land.)

Brocciu is a shepherd's cheese of sorts made of whey usually from sheep's milk cheese. It's served fresh or made into a fiadone, a Corsican cheesecake, or in omelettes.

From the smallest mountain huts to the finest seaside restaurants, Corsica lovingly maintains its traditions that bring an array of flavors to the table.

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