Day 6 Wednesday 21st September 2022
We
awake at 7.30am and are already docked in Ajaccio, Corsica.
It’s another gloriously sunny morning. We head to The Galley
for breakfast and I have a full English and Kev has a cheese and
ham omelette with some mushrooms.
We get off the ship at 9.15am and head to the booth selling
tickets for the Little Train Tour which which is in the town but
just a few minutes walk away from where the ship is docked. They
offer 2 different tours – The Imperial City circuit which is
around 45 minutes and includes a 15 minute stop at the Napoleon
memorial, or The Sanguinaires Islands circuit which incorporates
the above tour and includes a walk along the coast for a 10
minutes stop at the islands. We ideally wanted to do the second
tour but unfortunately the timing wasn’t right for us today
so we paid €8 each for the City tour. It was interesting to
ride the mini train around the streets of Ajaccio where we were
given some of the history of the city before a 15 minute stop at
Napoleon’s memorial, here we had a chance to get off and
walk up to the top of the steps that the statue is sighted on and
wander around the area surrounding it.
[Kev - Napoleon was born in Ajaccio and they make the most of it. Napoleon's monument, the house where Napoleon was born, the church that Napoleon attended etc. Still, there's no arm in it. Tee hee.]
We finish off back in the town having passed the house where Napolean was born. There’s also a big hall on the seafront where there’s a lovely market, with plenty of delicious looking foodstuffs – olives, meats etc.
[Kev - Mmmm ... fresh olives and cured meats. I could probably live off these two stalls for the rest of my life.]
It's warm now and we’ve come prepared for a visit to the
beach so take the 10 minute walk out towards the beach that
we’d seen on the train tour. It’s lovely to have a swim
and relax on the sand in the sunshine.
[Kev - I wasn't really keen on the shape of the Virgin ships to begin with, but it sort of grew on me. The stubby straight nose isn't as bad as I first thought.]
We get back on board at 12.30pm and head up to The Dock. On the way out to the deck there are some mezze boxes in the grab and go chilled unit and we have a couple of them. Walnut pesto and crackers, watermelon and goats cheese salad, goats cheese polenta and shrimp skewers. We enjoy time on the day beds listening to our music and reading until sail away at 5pm.
[Kev - Ah, back to our favourite place on the ship.]
[Kev - this is part of the lounge behind The Dock. It was very pretty and often quite quiet.]
After showering and changing for the evening we’re back out at 8pm for our meal tonight at The Wake. We have a glass of wine first in the bar nearby then get shown to our table. The bar is set high when they bring out delicious pans of fresh bread, Kev has Hamachi Crudo – raw fish with pickled rhubarb, hibiscus and basil whilst I have the razor clam chowder. Kev’s is really tasty but mine lacked a great amount of flavour – we agreed that Disney’s Columbia Harbour House do a much tastier chowder. For mains we both go for Filet mignon with which we share a twice baked potato, fries, creamed spinach and brown butter mushrooms. For sauces we have the bone marrow bernaise and the waitress also recommends the salsa verde. It really was a delicious meal and we finished it off by splitting the lemon cheesecake which is served to look just like a real fresh lemon
[Kev - No photo of the steak main course for some reason, but it was very good.]
After the meal we go to On The Rocks for a glass of wine and to see The Mentalist, which is a magic show. It was just OK nothing to particularly appeal to us. I did however feel sorry for the guy as the lack of audience response was pretty embarrassing. [Kev - I think Tam's being kind. It was pretty poor, not a show for a Virgin cruise.]
Back to the cabin for the night.