Corsican Calvi has a unique charm

42° 33′ 49.7556” N 8° 45′ 27.3384” E

12-16. April, 2017

If you are in Corsican Calvi on a Good Friday, then you should experience Granitola, the annual Easter parade where barefoot culprits wearing Ku Klux Klan masks carries three relics – a wooden cross, a recumbent sculpture of Jesus Christ and an upright sculpture of the Virgin Mary – down through Calvi city. The parade starts at the cathedral on top of the citadel and winds in long rows down to a church in the city. And then return to the cathedral again.

In front of the procession walks brothers from local churches with banners as they sing the hymns that are linked to the ritual. It is dark, there is a crowd of hundreds, it may seem strange in a the head of a rational nordic person, but you do feel that you witness something big and important.

Calvi is an exciting city. Allready in early April you sense how the city will explode into a true vacation paradise in the summer with its long sandy beaches, beach bars, sunbeds, boat rentals, playgrounds, diving excursions, anchorages and a town center where a good part of yt rises sharply on top of an ancient citadel.

The city is remarkably rich in shops and restaurants. “On a daily basis we live only 5,000 people in Calvi. But in the summer months increases the number to 45,000, “says a Danish-speaking employee at the tourist office. She is from Amager in DK but lives in Calvi, because her husband works in the Foreign Legion, which has large barracks outside the city.

If the city is overrun in the summer, then is is very accessible here in April. We are only three guesting boats in the harbour and we all get a visit by armed customs officers who want to see the ships documents and hear about our business in Calvi.

Calvi is outstandingly favoured by beautiful scenery. On both sides of the city’s you find bays. One bay has fine sandy beaches and dry, fragrant pine plantations. The other bay has blooming maquis and rocks. Hiking for every taste.

Facts: Calvi takes a high price for a berth in summer. But in low season the price is lowered to 25 euros per night, even with the addition that we can stay for free on Saturday and Sunday, when the port office has closed. “If you are gone by Monday morning at 9:00, then weekends are free,” more than suggests the helpsome girl at the port office.