Adventuring with MaryLou: 5 Corsica

Corsica— Sartène

Sartène is a medieval city in the southwest part of Corsica. It was almost 1½ hours to drive there. Sartène is interesting because it is truly built into the cliffs that overlook the Mediterranean. If you look at the map, you see that the streets are lots of vertical lines. These are built up and down so the you can imagine that we did a lot of stairs that day. We started in the lower town and worked our way up to the top.

We wandered through the streets and the shops. Lo and behold! They had exactly the same stuff as we saw at Porto Vecchio and Bonifacio! We did go to an old olive mill…is that what they’re called?— a mill? It was called “Moulin” something-or-other. Inside, we saw large “presses” where olive oil was made in the olden days. It was also the only place where I saw things made of olive wood for sale… trays and bowls and other cool stuff. That was worth going to. I didn’t see artisanal stuff in other tourist places.

Since this is a medieval town, many of the buildings have “bridges” between them. This is to keep them from falling down. The whole town is built up with many tall, tall buildings. It is rather strange to look at something built on such hills. I didn’t even get vertigo looking at it.

The most interesting thing I visited, was the church, Sainte-Marie. Although the church itself looked much like other churches in Corsica, they have a yearly event called “Catenacciu” which means something like the rise of Christ at Calvary. It is a special kind of procession that takes place on Good Friday, the Friday before Easter. It’s been around since the 13th century. The priest secretly chooses a penitent to act the part of Jesus Christ on his way to Calvary. Apparently this role is an honor and several people apply but the priest decides who is the most penitent. It is a complete secret with only the priest knowing his identity.

On Good Friday, the penitent wears a red robe and has a red hood covering his head and face. He carries a solid oak cross, weighing about 80 lbs, and with chains around his feet (35+ lbs), he drags the cross through the ups and downs of the old town while being followed by the priest and the people—huge crowds of people. Along the way, he falls 3 times. The people recite the “Our Father” and the “Hail Mary” before he rises up and continues on his way. After the second fall, a second penitent, dressed in white, helps him rise and then helps him carry the cross. He ends up at the church where he lies prostrate with the cross before a statue of Jesus Christ who appears to be lying down in a sarcophagus(?). The people then process through the church and kiss the feet of this statue. I didn’t actually see this happen, of course, but there was a rather graphic display, and with the help of google, I got the story. There were also several photos and I took pictures of some of them. Here you go….

These French Catholics really take their religion seriously. Wowzer!

Near the church, there is a kind of town square with fabulous views. Take a look…some are panoramic. Notice that the buildings are tall and built right on the “up.”

After all of our wandering, we again needed to find…ah-hem…the room. We went to the tourist office to ask about the public toilets and we were told that…. ok, I know you are going to believe this by now… there are no public toilets in Sartène! They even admitted it. We were told that we had to go to a cafe and buy a coffee to use the toilet there. So, that’s what we did. We found a large outdoor cafe in the square, and after ordering 2 bottles of water, we found the narrow winding stairs, behind a door with a “privé” (private) sign and a surprisingly short wait in line. The cost of the two bottles of water as the entrance fee to the toilet??????? €7 !!!!! (More than $3.50 each.)

After satisfying that need, we found a boulangerie so we could buy a sandwich for lunch. A lunch at a restaurant would have cost us over €20 so we decided to go cheap. We both chose a croque monsieur (cheese sandwich). Here it is….

It was, without a doubt, the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life in France. I had to throw it away. Fabi agreed with me.

Our final excursion in Sartène was to the Musée d’Archeologie de la Corse. This is where we encountered artifacts from prehistoric times—2000 years BC…or BCE, as the new designation is called. The view from the museum was spectacular. I took panorama views of it where you can see the Mediterranean but these pics don’t do it justice.