A Magical Realist: Backdated Post

This was my last day in Corsica. Feather, Dolphin, and Wolfie were taking a plane so we said our goodbyes and they dropped me off at the ferry. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to park my suitcase so I wound up taking it with me for the day.

This is where you go to catch your ferry.

My (GIANT) ferry.

I walked into town past some men selling fresh sea urchins. If I wasn't a vegetarian I would have been curious enough to try them since I've never seen anyone eating sea urchins and the people near the stall seemed to like them a lot.

Sea urchins.

When I got to the Hotel De Ville there was a concert going on. I don't have photographs but I will tell you that there were singers doing Corsican polyphony and the music was gorgeous. Here's a clip of Corsican polyphony I found online so you can hear what I'm talking about:

After watching the concert, I looked around the square and saw multiple people selling candles and rosaries and icons in front of a building labeled "Madunuccia." When I asked about it I was told that today was the feast for Ajaccio's patron saint - Madonna of Mercy. I made a mental note to go to church in time for the service.

Some of the candles.

The building in question, with Mary statue and flower arch.

Then I spent some time wandering around the town.

Pretty red tree.

Tiny liberty turtle graffiti.

Pretty moss-covered old building.

Another pretty crumbling building.

Mary statue over a door. There are lots of these in Corsica.

Lantivy Palace, built in 1826. The prefecture has been housed here since 1838.
It also houses the Southern Corsica Developmental Counsel and the counsel chamber.

At this point I was excited to find a boulangerie near Lantivy Palace that was open despite it being Sunday. I bought myself a quiche for lunch and a bunch of canistrelli for the boat ride.

Mmmmm... Quiche!

Me smiling and holding up a bag of canistrelli.

After I ate, I hung out for a bit around Place Général de Gaulle. The most noteworthy features of the area are a carousel, a large open space to run about in, lots of pigeons and seagulls, and a monument of Napoleon with four of his brothers. The monument was inaugurated in 1865 and it originally faced towards the ocean. In 1969, on the bicentennial of Napoleon's birth, it was turned around to face the city.

Me in front of the monument.

Closer up view of the monument.

Side view of the monument.

The ocean is at the edge of the area with the monument, so I spent a while sitting there and watching the sea.

Me in front of the ocean.

Pigeon, palm trees, sea, and sky.

The coastline.

Sea and sand.

The ocean and the clouds.

At this point it was time for church. I made my way back to Ajaccio Cathedral and arrived just as things were getting started so I crossed myself with holy water, lit a candle by the statue of Mary on the side of the church, and grabbed a seat towards the back. We prayed the rosary a BUNCH of times, the priests came to the front of the church and said some blessings, and then it was time for the procession. Various monks, nuns, and religious orders led the group, and the center of the parade was a large statue of Mary of Mercy covered with flowers and hoisted in the air by a group of men. Luckily for me, I'm quick at learning music so I was able to sing along as I joined the gigantic crowd in a procession around the city. No photos of the prayer service since that would be disrespectful. Instead I took a photo of the outside of the church, one of the statue and candles after the service, and a bunch of photos of the procession since everyone in the city was taking photos of that part.

Outside of the cathedral. You might recognize it from my last post in Ajaccio.

Mary statue with flowers.

Prayer candles.

Procession starting in the church.

Isn't it gorgeous?

More of the procession.

The women in blue are in the Confrérie de la Miséricorde.

More procession.

Mary held up by 12 men.

Me in the crowd once we reached the town square.

Crowd shot of the square - you can see Mary in the middle.

After the procession, I decided I should eat before getting on the boat so I stopped at one of the very few open restaurants for dinner. Then I made my way back to Quay l'Herminier for boarding. As you could probably guess from the photo of it earlier in this post, my boat was HUGE. It had multiple floors, multiple restaurants, multiple bathrooms, a play space for kids, and actual bedrooms for us since it was an overnight ferry. I'm guessing this is what cruise ships are like?

I started my trip on the deck since I tend to prefer being outside, but the rain and hail that started up once we got underway drove me back to the interior. That was ok, though, since I realized one of the restaurants actually had a piano bar! I decided to spend the rest of my evening drinking fruity mixed drinks and chatting with my fellow passengers while listening to some jazz piano. Not bad.