Day 15 The Cap Course

We drove the Cap Course today and got out to explore whenever the narrow roads would allow. Perched above the hamlet of Centuri was a windmill. It is so out of place, but marks the Northern Most tip of Cap Course Penninsula. As we hiked up, we joked that maybe there was a hotdog stand at the top. I was really bummed to find that the inside of the windmill was used to sell T-shirts and incense. Oh well, the surrounding views were stunning. The wind on the other hand was another matter. As I made my way further out the point to Mary’s Shrine, I thought I was going to blow right off the cliffs. I could barely keep my camera still due to the high winds.

There were many tiny hamlets above in the higher mountains and below on the water, but the camper could not access them. In order to visit Nonza, we had to park ½ mile outside the village and walk in on the narrow road. We explored the small village and the Genoese Tower it is centered around. From the tower we witnessed a tour bus show-down as they tried to pass each other on a road barely wide enough for a normal car. The busses are ridiculous. There is no parking for campers let alone busses, so they stop in the middle of road and occupy more than half the road as a massive flood of tourist pour from the doors. I can hardly imagine what it is like in summer. In my humble opinion, the busses should only be allowed to travel in a counter-clockwise direction that would avoid the dangerous show-downs. There is only one main road that circles the peninsula and at times it seems like only small vespas should be allowed access.

Below the tower was a beach. On it’s shores were hundreds of shapes and names made with rocks, all facing the villages’ direction. I have no idea how this started. With a storm quickly approaching from the mountains, we made our way back to the camper and breathed a sigh of relief that it was still there in one piece. South of Nonza on the coast, we found a nice campsite in St. Florentine. They rent vespas and we looked into renting one built for two so that we could do the circuit again and have access to all the little villages, but that did not pan out. The beach is supposedly 500 meters in some direction, but it’s dark, so that will have to be discovered tomorrow. The owner here is Italian and has 4 Great Danes. If I understood him correctly, the dogs speak German, he speaks Italian and everyone else speaks French.