Where the Mountains Meet the Sea

What a perfect setting! In the foreground, beautiful beaches ringed by golden sand with aquamarine water and in the background, huge, rugged mountains so steep that many beaches can only be reached by boat. To top all that, so many wineries that it is impossible to visit them all.


We headed from Corte to L’Ile Rousse and Calvi but both towns were packed out because of a Rock Festival, so we drove to St. Florent, which started life as a quiet fishing village but is now a superb holiday spot with its marina filled with billion dollar yachts.

We decided to swim at a quieter beach just out of town but stopped at several wineries along the way. Cap Corse is a significant wine producing region and we loved the delicate rose gris but were also able to try some of the specialty wines of the region – an unusual sweet red wine called rapu and vin d’orange, another dessert wine.

We finished the day with one of the best meals of our trip. St Florent has Michelin starred restaurants set between pizzerias and is well known to foodies. We particularly enjoyed a pork filet mignon and delicious veal in a mushroom cream sauce, all washed down with rose gris, just the drink for a summer evening.

                                       The harbour at St Florent with the evening light.