A perfect holiday!

I had been to the French island before, but had only flown in to the North, spent a few nights in St Florent, drove down the east coast which is fairly flat and uninteresting, spent a few nights in Porto Vecchio which is stunning, and then driven round the tip and in to the south west for a few nights in lovely Propriano before flying home from Figari.

I had always wanted to see the capital of Calvi – a big citadel overlooking the harbour and marina, and 7kms of silver sand beach, backed by mountains high enough to offer winter skiing.

We were able to fly from our local airport Stansted with Titan Airways – what a fabulous airline! We had chosen simple French self-catering apartments and after a 20 minutes’ transfer, we had arrived.

There were some 60 apartments on site – split between two complexes and in two storey blocks set in lovely gardens. Each complex had a pool – and ours was primarily an adult only section with the number of children very restricted by the owners. The week we were there, there were just four older children of which Lily was one. We were on the second floor – in a studio apartment and we had two balconies on different aspects, both with lovely views of the gardens and pool area.

An 8-minute walk took you into the small resort area where there was a fabulous delicatessen and then slightly further on in a back street, a very large supermarket. Across the main road was a small train station and then the beach.

A further 8-minute walk along the promenade took you into the old town of Calvi – the harbour and marina – which was backed by beautifully preserved old buildings – most three or four storeys high – and then high on the hill at the end of the bay sits the old medieval citadel. All the ground floor premises of these old buildings had been converted to restaurants and bars – with tables and chairs spilling out on to the pavements of the Quai Landry. After dinner, we would wander into the back streets and enjoy the buzz of the small boutiques and shops, ice cream parlours and yet more restaurants – as people enjoyed their evenings in this stunning little town.

There are trips to be done here – there is a huge variety of boat trips for fishing and water sports, plus the narrow gauge Trinicellu railway takes you along the coast where you can stop off at one of several small villages, each with beautiful beaches or continue and have a day out in the mountains for some walking perhaps.

We returned very rested – it was so lovely to have a week in such beautiful serene surroundings. AND not to have to fight for a sunbed! There were perhaps 20 sunbeds round out pool and at least half were unused during the day. In fact, Lily and I had the pool to ourselves for two mornings in the week. I could easily have stayed there another week!

If this sounds like your sort of holiday, give me a call. It would suit anyone who loves off the beaten track simple Greek style self-catering holidays – but wants to try something different where there aren’t too many Brits, where the scenery is fabulous, and the food and wine is amazing.