Backdated Post - Trip to Ota

Today started out with a relaxed morning in the air bnb. I danced to jazz music, explored the yard with Wolfie and found a bird's nest, ate sandwiches made with amazing Corsican cheese (U Bel Fiurittu), and read my book on the hammock.

Beautiful view again.

Flowers on the lawn.

Bird's nest.

Wolfie in the hammock.

After lunch we set out for Ota because we wanted to see the gorge. The drive there was lovely but long because we had to keep stopping for things in the road: pigs, cows, goats, and even a small fallen tree.

Rustic-looking wood and wire fence and a lovely view of mountains.

Dolphin and some pigs.

Pig closeup.

Mountain view from the road.

Shack and mountains.

Me in the front passenger seat, sleeping Wolfie in the back. 

Goats in the road. 

More pretty mountain views - this one of a tiny town we drove through on the way to Ota.

The gorge was formed by the Spelunca river and it was GORGEous (heh heh). The path we followed was an old mule path and unfortunately after a short distance it became clear that the path was more difficult to traverse than we'd anticipated, so Dolphin had to take Wolfie back.

Everyone hiking.

The rest of us continued on for a bit until we hit a flooded crossway.

River.

Ferris, Feather, and me in front of the river.

Pretty trees.

View along the path. 

Hiking along.

More pictures of the path.

Feather looks at the view.

Me in front of some scenery.

Ferris on a river rock.

Me and Feather walking back.

Le Grand Monsieur walking back.

The River.

And now that you've seen the gorge, here's a random legend about the forest nearby, roughly translated:

A long time ago, in the forest, there was a terrible bat-winged snake that ate EVERYTHING that passed nearby. Finally, a brave young shepherd killed it. One year later, another shepherd came to its resting spot and hit the monster's body on its head. There was an incredibly loud noise and a gigantic bumblebee flew out and began its own reign of terror. Finally an old woman from Ota came and told the townspeople she would get rid of it if they would cede their rights to the forest. They agreed. She blocked her ears so she would not hear the noise of the bumblebee, and then took a giant flask made from a squash and filled it with honey. She approached the bee and it flew into the flask. She capped the flask and took the bee away to Ota where she threw it in a fire and it exploded. 


After visiting the gorge, we drove back the long way so we could make some stops. One of our stops was the Calanques de Piana so we could climb on the rocks:

Tête du Chien rock.

Ferris on a rock.

Mushrooms on a rock.

Feather and Wolfie on a rock.

The next stop was a nauseous toddler/bathroom/scenery break but I can't remember the name of the town.

The road with a sign telling you to remember the sheep.

Roadside photo.

Me in front of a church.

There are citrus trees here!

View of the town.

Family photo of Feather, Wolfie, and Dolphin.

Our last stop was a stop at Cargèse to see the sunset and eat dinner at Le St. Jean, chosen because they were kind enough to let me use their bathroom before they'd actually opened for dinner.

Start of the sunset with field and water and mountains.

Getting slightly more sunset-y.

Now it's getting purplish pinkish.

The sky in this photo is quite purple.

The sky in this one looks really pink and it picks up the flowers in the foreground.

Streaks of hot pink in the sky and a dark foreground.

After that we drove the rest of the way home and went to sleep.