Читать книгу The Island Adventure - part 3 - Sue Iverson-Taylor - Страница 1

Yet another Crazy Gang adventure is upon us…

After several years of hard-core tours, with tough days, many miles, different hotels every night and the only way to rest being to ride off-road, this year we hope for a more relaxing time.

Last year was, for some of us, the longest distance tour yet, covering more than 3,500 miles and crossing seven countries. In total we stayed in fifteen hotels – and slept on a ferry as well! This year we will make a tour and have a holiday at the same time – just two islands and only five hotels. That means the chance for late starts and lazy rides. Maybe we'll even find time to use the swimming pools for a change!

We will start and finish in Nice, on France's Cote d'Azur but most of the tour will take place on the twin islands of Corsica and Sardinia. The islands promise beautiful scenery, great roads and fabulous food and wine. There should be plenty to see and do. The two islands have a fantastic mixture of terrain – from beaches to mountains – and both have the reputation of being excellent biking destinations.

The hotels also offer a real mix, ranging from Grand hotels on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, through self-catering apartments on Sardinia, to a fabulous country hotel in the mountains of northern Corsica. One island (Corsica) is French; the other (Sardinia) is Italian, so there will be plenty of great things to eat and drink.

The last big difference this year is that, because we will stay in the same place for several nights in each location, everybody will have the chance to plan and lead a ride. That is bound to lead to some fun, somewhere along the road and the clown is washed and ready…

Once again the trip plan has been (mainly) devised by The Tour Devil.

Once again the hotel plan has been (mainly) devised by Sue – and TripAdvisor!

A Little Bit About Corsica…

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to France. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland and north of the Italian island of Sardinia. Mountains make up two-thirds of the island. It is 183 kilometres (114 mi) long at longest, 83 kilometres (52 mi) wide at widest, has 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of coastline and more than 200 beaches.

Corsica is one of the 27 régions of France, although the island is separated from the continental mainland by the Ligurian Sea and is closer to Italy than to the French mainland.

Corsica is split into two departments, Haute-Corse (Upper Corsica) and Corse-du-Sud (Southern Corsica).

After a brief occupation by the Carthaginians, colonization by the ancient Greeks, and an only slightly longer occupation by the Etruscans, it became a province of the Roman Empire.

After rule from the Republic of Genoa starting in 1282, Corsica was briefly an independent Republic from 1755 until its conquest by France in 1769. The French emperor Napoléon Bonaparte was born in 1769 in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio. His ancestral home, Casa Buonaparte, is today used as a museum. The northern town of Calvi claims to be the birthplace of the explorer Christopher Columbus.

In 1814, near the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the island was briefly occupied by British troops. The Treaty of Bastia gave the British Crown sovereignty over the island but it was later repudiated by Lord Castlereagh, who insisted that the island should be returned to a restored French monarchy.

Following the collapse of France in 1940, Corsica was occupied by Italian and German forces but after the Italian armistice in September 1943, Italian and Free French Forces pushed the Germans out of the island, making of Corsica the first French Department to be freed. Subsequently, the US military established 17 airfields, nicknamed "USS Corsica", which served as bases for American tactical bomber groups attacking targets in German-occupied Italy.

During the May 1958 crisis, French paratroopers landed on Corsica on 24 May, garrisoning the French island in a bloodless action called "Operation Corse".

Between the late fifties and the seventies tensions grew between the inhabitants and the French government. Rising tension marked the beginning of the armed struggle of the Nationalists against the French government. Ever since, Corsican nationalism has been a feature of the island's politics, with calls for greater autonomy and protection for Corsican culture and the Corsican language and flares of raids and killings, culminating with the assassination of Prefect Claude Érignac in 1998.

In 2013, Corsica hosted the first three stages of the 100th Tour de France, which passed through the island for the first time in the event's history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsica

A Little Bit About Sardinia…

Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and before Cyprus) and an autonomous region of Italy, with its capital in the largest city, Cagliari. It is about three times the size (area) of Corsica.

The coasts of Sardinia are generally high and rocky, with long, relatively straight stretches of coastline, many outstanding headlands, a few wide, deep bays, many inlets and with various smaller islands off the coast. The island has an ancient geoformation and unlike Sicily and mainland Italy, is not earthquake-prone. The mountain ranges and plateaux are separated by wide valleys and flatlands.

In 238 BC, the Carthaginians surrendered Corsica and Sardinia to Rome, and together they became a Roman province. Roman domination of Sardinia lasted 694 years. Over the following centuries, the island was ruled by the Vandals (Germans), the Moors and the Spanish.

In 1708, the rule of the Kingdom of Sardinia passed from King Philip V of Spain into the hands of the Austrians, who occupied the island. In 1718, with the Treaty of London, Sardinia was handed over to the House of Savoy.

In 1799, as a consequence of the Napoleonic Wars in Italy, the Dukes of Savoy left Turin and took refuge in Cagliari for some fifteen years.

In 1861, when Italy was finally united into a single country, the parliament of Sardinia decided to join the Kingdom of Italy.

During the Second World War, Sardinia was an important air and naval base and was heavily bombed by the Allies, especially the city of Cagliari. German troops left the island on 8 September 1943 and retired to Corsica without fighting and bloodshed.

In 1946 Italy became a republic, with Sardinia administered by a special statute of autonomy. By 1951 malaria was successfully eliminated, which facilitated the commencement of the Sardinian tourist boom, mainly focused on beach holidays and luxury tourism.

In the 1970s the economic crisis, aggravated the crime rate, with increasing kidnappings and political subversion, and ended only in the 1990s.

In 1983 a militant was elected president of the regional parliament and several independence movements were born. Some of them became political parties. In 1999 the local languages (Sardinian, Sassarese, Gallurese, Algherese and Tabarchino) received official status together with Italian. The 35th G8 summit was held in Sardinia, in July 2009 and today Sardinia is a European Union region, with a diversified economy, focused on tourism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinia