What to see at Palma, Valletta, Naples and Ajacio, Corsica

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I shall be on vacation taking a cruise to Mediteranean, visiting the ports of

What are the landmarks and scenics sports in these places ?

A search with Yahoo only come up with hotel and restaurants..

My photo equipment consists of



-- martin tai (martntai@accessv.com), May 26, 2002

Answers

Why don't you start with some good guidebooks? Check out the publications of Lonely Planet, Michelin, Frommer (or hundreds of others). I am sure that many contributors here can tell you things to see in all of these places (e.g.,rent a car, get out of Palma and visit Formentor and Figueras instead) but as with all cruises, port time is limited so it pays to read a bit beforehand and have some kind of itinerary. Check out Lonelyplanet.com while you are online.

-- Chris Henry (henryjc@concentric.net), May 26, 2002.
Martin, Corsicans are a very proud people. It's «Ajaccio, Corsica». In French (Corsicans are still French, until proven contrary) it's «Corse». :-) I'll be tin the vicinity of Ajaccio myself this summer on vacation. Corsica is said to be among the most beautiful places in the world, but don't limit yourself to the coast and the Mediterranean (yes, with two "R's") as gorgeous as they can be, go to the mountains. Have a good time, and happy shooting.

-- Olivier (olreiche@videotron.ca), May 26, 2002.
Corsica is incredibly beautiful, but to enjoy it fully you have to travel inside. Basically Corsica is a mountain surrounded by the sea. I was there 3/4 weeks ago: During one trip, I started sun- tanning on a beach to end-up my feet in the snow after a 1 hour trip!

I'm not sure that during your cruise you'll have much time to explore outside Ajaccio. Ajaccio is a small town (50,000?). The old part of the city is built around the harbor. Some parts are very nice (old harbor, rue Fesch) and can be done on foot in a few hours. If you have more time, try to make a trip to 'calanches de Piana'/Porto: Incredible red rock formations surrounded by beautiful forest and blue sea. It can be done in one day. There a many other trips possible (south: go to Bonifacio, incredibly spectacular city perched on a cliff, East: Porto Vecchio - City has not much interest, but the trip makes you cross steep mountains with spectacular views).

-- Xavier C. (xcolmant@powerir.com), May 27, 2002.

Forgot to tell something: If you plan a trip inside Corsica, do not rely on distances which can be short (especially if you're American). Some roads are so twisted and narrow that you can end-up travelling a 20 MPH. Even the main road (Ajaccio-Bastia) has very slow parts...

-- Xavier C. (xcolmant@powerir.com), May 27, 2002.
Xavier is absolutely true: in Corsica they always say "we don't count in Kms but in hours!" Corsica is wonderfull but needs days and not hours: at 10 Kms from Ajaccio, have a look on "Sanguinaires", small islands very nice on the evening lightening. This simple view, trip, needs 3 or 4 hours. For Bonifacio, count one long day ......

-- alain.besancon (alain.besancon@chu-dijon.fr), May 27, 2002.
Martin: You cerainly don't believe in travelling light. I haqve several suggestions. First, cut down on your equipment as you will have multiple airport inspections and grief not to mention alot of lower back pain from trudging this stuff around! Second, buy the Michelin green gudies as they are the best in my opinion and will not steer you wrong. Third, please realise that there has been a tremendous increase in petty crime and grand larceny in Corsica and Naples. In fact, there are certain quite picturesque areas of Naples that you CANNOT enter unless accompanied by a security team. I am not kidding. The Italians are very embarrassed by this but it is true. In Corsica, you go nowhere alone. Fourht, do not forget a polarizer!! Have fun but be careful!

-- Albert Knapp MD (albertknappmd@mac.com), May 28, 2002.
I suggest you do your research before you purchase your cruise. I`d bring more film and less hardware and I would avoid whatever is mentioned in travel guides, tourist bureaus etc.

-- Hans Berkhout (berkhout@cadvision.com), May 28, 2002.
I'm a bit surprised at Albert Knapp comments on Corsica. I've been going there regularily for a very long time (over 30 years): I can't remember one occurence of theft, and not even the impression of risking being robbed. I don't say crime doesn't exist, but the odds are very low.

-- Xavier C. (xcolmant@powerir.com), May 29, 2002.
And, make sure you ship your food ahead.

-- rob (rob@robertappleby.com), May 29, 2002.
Yes, ensure your safety with a polarizer. And as usual Albert forgot the most important travel advice: remember to bring your own showerwater ;-)

-- Niels H. S. Nielsen (nhsn@ruc.dk), May 29, 2002.
Friends, thanks for all the advices

I did some search on lonestar.com and other sites and have some idea what to see.

Cruise usually sells so call "excursions", for larger places such as Palma, Corsica, Naples, Malta, we may buy these excursions just for the sake of convenience and safty in a group.

I may cut down one 35mm camera and one 8x11 camera, however I am scare of camera kaput at the right time :( so I always bring backup, some times too much backup :)

Albert, thanks for your caution, I shall wear my Tilley jacket with 11 pockets to hide my passport, credit cards, and my Minoxes hope the weather is not that hot at June. I think Malta will be in the thirties celsius.

My travel agent told me that on land, the currency is euro, what about US$ ?

Xavier, what are the major Napolean sites on Corsica ? We want to visit one of them.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), May 29, 2002.

Our original travel plan was to visit China, Beijing, Xian, Quilin, Shanghai, SuZhou, in particular the waterway towns in southern china and take a lot of Leica/Minox pictures.

Package tours to China is most expensive these days, much more expensive then going to Europe and Japan, a total reverse from many years ago, when travel to China was quite cheap.

For some reason, there are huge bargains in Mediteranean cruises so we take the bargain, and save China trip later.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), May 29, 2002.

Malta is something of a mecca for scuba diving, so maybe it's time to add a Nikonos to your already heavy bag! Culturally, it's quite a fascinating country, having being conquered by just about every seafaring nation. There is a heavy British influence, with red postboxes, right-hand drive cars, and sadly a number of drunken sunburned football hooligan types fresh off charter flights from Luton Airport staggering through the streets of St Julian's Bay late at night. But you can also clearly see influences from the Moors, the Romans and even the Phoenicians (just take a look at their colourful fishing boats for the latter). There are so many churches - perhaps one of the highest numbers per capita around the world. Flash photography is not generally allowed in the churches, and most film sold locally is in the ISO 100 - 200 range, so take your own faster film if you want to do any available light photography indoors.

Valetta is definitely worth a walking tour, as are St Julian's Bay, Mdina and Rabat (all on the main island). You can get around easily by bus. Day-long jeep tours are offered to the island of Gozo, which do a good job of covering the island, but the guides zoom through the towns and leave the tourists for hour-long breaks at various beaches. If you have the time and inclination to explore Gozo, I would recommend renting a vehicle for the day and touring independently.

Have a great trip!

Cheers, Stuart

-- Stuart Dorman (stuart.dorman@us.pwcglobal.com), May 29, 2002.

Martin: Napoleon was born in Ajaccio. You can visit the house were he was born (Maison Bonaparte/Bonaparte House). To be honest, I never visited it as I'm not very fond of this precursor of Hitler, Stalin, ... Another interesting place in Musee Fesch which hosts interesting paintings (The Fesch in question refers to an uncle of Napoleon). To get more information, have a look at Aj accio's web pages (in English).

-- Xavier C. (xcolmant@powerir.com), May 30, 2002.
Xavier, since when did Naploeon, as a "precursor of Hitler,Stalin...", send millions and millions in death camps? Granted, he set Europe on fire with his never ending wars of conquest, but to assimilate that to two of the most horrible tyrans the world has ever known is a dangerously simplistic rethoric. Are you sure you didn't get carried away with this?

-- Olivier (olreiche@videotron.ca), May 31, 2002.
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