Romantic Corsica, wanderings in Napoleon's isle; . ere is no Vesuviusto stand out proudly in the background, but Nature, Ithink, has been even kinder to Ajaccio than to the town is a lofty frame of snow-tipped moun-tains from which there slopes the vine-clad villas and drab cottages are sprinkled over thiswide expanse of restful green, out of which Ajaccio, awhite, gleaming city, the jewel of Corsica, glistens like adiamond powdered round about with the gold of orange-blossoms. Ajaccio is Naples in miniature, Naples with-out Vesuvius, without its bazaars and beg
Romantic Corsica, wanderings in Napoleon's isle; . ere is no Vesuviusto stand out proudly in the background, but Nature, Ithink, has been even kinder to Ajaccio than to the town is a lofty frame of snow-tipped moun-tains from which there slopes the vine-clad villas and drab cottages are sprinkled over thiswide expanse of restful green, out of which Ajaccio, awhite, gleaming city, the jewel of Corsica, glistens like adiamond powdered round about with the gold of orange-blossoms. Ajaccio is Naples in miniature, Naples with-out Vesuvius, without its bazaars and beggars, its scentand sentiment. An idyllic, quiet, harmless town, saidGregorovius of it sixty years ago, and so it is to-day. The town is shaped like a huge V. At the angle standsthe citadel, behind which clusters a maze of narrowstreets and high, dilapidated houses, the old part of Ajaccio also runs for a considerable distanceto the left (looking seaward) parallel to the Quai Napo-leon, but a newer order of things is gradually putting. AJAOCIO AND ITS SURROUNDINGS 23 a more modern face on this section of the old ancient buildings which once stood on the quayhave disappeared, to make room for shops and ware-houses. A little beyond, the Cours Napol6on, a wide,handsome street at its city end, and bright with gaycafes and attractive shops, has cut its way through thisold part of Ajaccio, and the dwellings of centuries agoare on either side gradually disappearing before thebuilders renovating hand. The other arm of the V isthe new town, a trio of pleasant boulevards—the CoursGrandval, the Boulevard des Etrangers and the BoulevardLantivy—running on the hillside on the northern shoreof the gulf. Ajaccio is fortunate in its streets. Short but proud isthe Place des Palmiers, running at right angles to theQuai Napoleon. As its name suggests, it is delightfullyshaded. On the little newspaper kiosk lie most of onesjournalistic friends from Paris, with news nearly t
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