Corsica, Sardinia & Iberian shores

Capital of the Cote d’Azur, Nice is surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills and mountains that protects it from the wind. You will probably want to explore the Promenade des Anglais, where you can sit on one of the famous blue chairs laid out opposite the baie des Anges. The Château hill is also a very pleasent place to walk. This is the entrance to the old city, with its bustling markets and regional products along the main street, the Cours Saleya.

Nestled on a rocky spur in the north-west of Corsica, the port of Calvi offers its whiteness between two sapphire-coloured bays. Capital of the Balagne region, the Genoese city benefits from an exceptional natural setting between the abrupt relief of the central chain, fertile hills and long sandy beaches. From the promontory of the Notre-Dame-de-la-Serra chapel, built in the 19th century on the ruins of a 15th century sanctuary, you will not miss the sublime panorama of the seaside, the mountains and the Calvi citadel. A little further west, you will have the opportunity to discover with the peninsula of Revelatta, a wilder and more preserved part of Corsica.

Birth town of Napoleon Bonaparte, Ajaccio occupies a privileged location on the Île de Beauté. Rich in history and culture, the old “imperial city” is imbibed with the memory of this son of the soil. His presence is tangible, from the citadel to the imperial chapel, without forgetting the statues of the emperor in several of the city’s squares. As you stroll through the shaded streets in the old town centre, you’ll come across the central market on place Foch, where you can taste one or two local specialities, for instance, brocciu, lonzu or the famous canistrelli.

Made up of the pointe de la Parata and the Sanguinaires Islands theSanguinaires archipelago was named Grand Site de France in 2017. At this exceptional site made up of four rocky volcanic islands, Mezu Mare is the largest. A semaphore built on the site of a former Genoese tower and the ruins of a 14^th century lazaretto, a quarantine station at the time of the plague, is testimony to a rich heritage. The island is also home to many colonies of marine birds including the Yellow-legged gull or the European shag. In his Letters from my windmill, Alphonse Daudet, a regular here, described this site with feeling: “I had found a pleasant place there where I could muse in solitude.”

The spectacular town of Bonifacio located on the very tip of southern Corsica, clings to a narrow promontory of white rock overhanging the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. You can admire its limestone cliffs hewn out by the wind, before setting off on a cultural tour of its cultural treasures. From the little paved streets in the ancient Haute Ville, to the promenade on the open-air medieval chemin de ronde, this stunning town will take you on a journey back in time. Frequented or secluded, there are numerous beaches to choose from, all in keeping with the high standards of the “Île de Beauté”.

Located on the north-west coast of Sardinia, Alghero offers you traces of Sardinian culture combined with vestiges from a Catalan past. Here, many inhabitants speak the Algherese dialect, a variant of Catalan, as well as Catalan itself. A walk along the well-preserved medieval ramparts will give you a panoramic view of the town. The streets in the historical centre bear witness to its rich past, from Santa Maria Cathedral to numerous palaces dating from different eras.

You will be welcomed by the colourful houses of Mahon, its narrow streets and pretty squares that appear as you stroll around this richly contrasting city. Mahon reveals its different neighbourhoods, alternating between monuments, villas and white buildings. Discover the Santa Maria church, a building of neo-gothic inspiration, rebuilt in the 18th Century. It is worth a visit to see its monumental organ with more than 3,000 pipes and four keyboards. Around the Carmen church you will find a local market, full of stands selling avarcas, typical Menorcan sandals originally made by peasants. Let yourself fall under the spell of this Mediterranean treasure.

The emblematic island of the Balearics, “the white island” was a haven for European artistic bohemians from the 1930s and a paradise for hippies in search of authenticity in the 1960s. It has been a giant nightclub for gilded youth since the 1990s. Behind this fiesta economy, Ibiza has managed to preserve the charms of its wild coves and its villages of white fincas with flat roofs that inspired Le Corbusier. The island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to its exemplary marine and coastal ecosystems but also thanks to the architectural vestiges of this former stronghold of the Mediterranean economy, from the Phoenicians up to the Renaissance.

Valencia - the city of Art and Sciences. Two hearts beat in this Spanish city: one is modern, avantgarde and almost futuristic; the other is more provincial, more traditional and nostalgic. Valencia has the temperament of a great Mediterranean city whose wide avenues form a border around the old town. The city has an abundance of architectural styles that coexist harmoniously, but above all it resolutely embraces the 21st Century with the futuristic structures of its Agora congress centre and City of Arts and Sciences, emerging from a crystal blue pool.

Located on the seashore between the mountains of Montjuïc and Tibidabo, Barcelona offers its many visitors a perfect blend of tradition and modernism. Truly an open-air museum, the “prodigious town” reveals an astonishing range of artistic treasures and museums, combining Roman ruins, medieval districts and a number of avant-garde elements from the 20^th Century. Over the years, it has been marked by some of the greatest artists, such as Picasso, Miró or Gaudí, most of whose work has been listed as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Take the time to stroll along the Ramblas and enjoy the gentle, typically Mediterranean lifestyle of the capital of Catalonia.