Bastia is the capital of Haute-Corse and there are about 40,000 people living in the important port city, which is located in the northeast of the island. The heart of the city is the new port, where the many car ferries dock.
This is where Place Saint-Nicolas adjoins. Here you will find the cultural life of the island with many restaurants and cafes. Older people play boules or you just stroll along the harbor. The old town of Terra Vecchia is directly adjacent, where you walk through narrow streets and tall houses. In the old town you will also find the Place du Marché with the baroque church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste and the old town hall. Other buildings to visit in Bastia include the Opera, the Saint-Roche Chapel, the Citadel and the Governor’s Palace.
Cap Corse sticks out like a finger in the north of the island. This part of the island is not so heavily inhabited and therefore the infrastructure is not so well developed. The west impresses above all with its steep coast, which can be easily traveled on the D 80. The coast is very rugged and very bayed and you have a good view of the Gulf of Saint-Florent. From about the town of Rogliano, the landscape becomes greener again, cultivated with chestnuts, olives and vineyards in the east of Cap Corse. Here, as in almost all areas of Corsica, you will find many old watchtowers.
The Nebbio, in the north of the island, is a fertile cultivated land consisting of a valley basin and terraces and is located on the Gulf of Saint-Florent, the capital of the Nebbio of the same name. Wine, olives and fruit are still grown on the terraces. The coastal town of Saint-Florent is overlooked by a citadel, like so many towns on the island. You should also visit the church of Santa Maria Assunta. On a drive through the Nebbio, you will pass the wine village of Patrimonio and the village of Oletta with its great view of the Nebbio. The landscape is quite green, but in many places you can see fire damage here as well.
