|
|
 EN
BREF.... #3
Everything you never knew you
needed to know about the Corsican Open.... |
À BIENTÔT, ÎLE-ROUSSE...
 Can
you believe that the tournament is ending today? Went like a
shot, I tell you.
So, yes, time to go, and a last look to the town/village. Town,
big enough to find everything you need. Village, because
everybody knows you, and you are part of the family.
Arriving by "Rue Louis Philippe", the blue of the sea lightening
the horizon. Beautiful. Just simply beautiful.
Two churches as I wend down from the club. One big, all white,
all height. "Eglise des Moines". A bit further down, a bit out
of the way, well hidden by trees, "Eglise de la Miséricorde".
Don't you just luuuuve the 2CV in front???
 I
stop for two seconds, and look at the colons of the market
Paoli. Two streets surrounded it.
I chose "rue Notre-Dame", this time, plenty of shops and
cafés/restaurants. |
 |
|
 |
A very nice "café glacier", ice cream café,
all for it. It's called, "l'Escale". The French windows open on
the sea, can't beat that really. ...
 At
the end of the street, "La
Tour de Sel", "the Salt Tower", and you have reached the sea.
And the beach...
A few Italian tourists are making sure that everybody knows they
are both, tourists and Italian, bless them.
Kids enjoying the sea, the sand, a few kitchen sink colour
tourists are trying desperately to become as red as possible,
doing a great job of it too.
Cute.
A nice statue,
peaceful.
Time to go back. Finals are starting soon. One day, I'll
actually take the time and truly, truly, enjoy the great places
I'm going to... |
TCHOO TCHOO TCHOO...
Some of you may have noticed that in my En Brefs, I like coming
back on the past years. I like finding old photos of the places
the PSA/WSA/WSF tour takes us. Because, isn't that the purpose
of it all really? Is squash restricted to venues and an empty
aquarium where humans run around after little white balls?
Or is squash supposed to carry/represent true values, and allow
people to discover each other's cultures/past/history for maybe
one day, leave side by side without hating each other's guts?
Sorry, little rant. But the strong emergence of extremism of all
kind in all areas of our lives/world scares the heck out of me.
Moving on.
I've mentionned those train tracks that pass through the city,
so I made a few quick research, and found some nice photos of
the trains, the way they used to be. And what's amazing, is that
the train line is still running nowadays.
And like buses that always run no matter what, here you have a
little train, that will take you
from Calvi to Bastia (via
Ile-Rousse), twice a day. Thanks to Corsica to have kept
those little trains, soul of our country, that have been
scrapped elsewhere, thanks to the "Profit Race"....
And to help with my research, Jean-Louis Guidoni and his wife
Corinne took me to one of the best restaurants of the town, "La
Siesta", with "les pieds dans l'eau", "feet in the water" style
of restaurant, where the sand is so fine it feels like
velvet.... Well, yes it was for research, it's next to the
tracks, ain't it....
 |
 |
|
 |
|
YOU HAVE THREE GUESSES...
THAT'S A...?
 |
 |
YES...
THAT'S A SUPERMARKET...
 At
less than 10m walk from the club, you have a pharmacy, phone
shops, and a "Magasin Leclerc", bit like a Sainsbury for the UK.
I know, only a shop, but hey, have you seen the building? And
the view??? Lovely café inside, they also run a charity that
feed the stray dogs and cats around, large alleys, no bumbing
into each other caddies here.
Sorry if I'm rumbling a bit, but I just cannot get over the view.
And we thanks Leclerc as well, as they helped this event to come
to life... Thanks guys....Plus that view... That coast line,
 |
|
When the girls went to enjoy the
scenery with Jean-Louis - and got a litte too much sun... |
EN
BREF.... #2
Everything you never knew you
needed to know about the Corsican Open.... |
|
 |
SUIVEZ LE GUIDE....
"Follow the guide"... Yes,
I can hear you, after my first en brefs. All very nice to show us
the town, but the venue, Fram, what does it look like?
First, the club is a bit higher than the seaside, on the road to
Calvi. I would say that it would take you what, 15m walk
right from the beach. Walking my pace, as in not that fast
thanks to those Squash Dodgy Knees. Very
accessible to say the least. By car, about 3m.
 One
of the main advantage of the club, in my opinion, is that it's all
comprehensive. I mean, ground floor, the three courts, a large
class room, large mirrors, etc, a gym, changing rooms (the
ladies one, you feel right at home, cosy and all).
That's at the parking level, where they also do the traditional
"concours de boules".
Ah, also, the three courts are equipped with air con. Very
important in those parts of the world...
First floor. Two corridors to come in/out of the club itself,
large open space in front of the bar, allowing an easy
circulation of people, crucial during the tournament.
 Along
the windows - view on the sea, lots of little seats that allow
people to sit, rest, chat, and even sleep between matches.
All around the courts, you have galleries that allow spectators
to watch matches from all angles!
Also, a very large room at that level, where bikes for classes
are installed, plus a table tennis table, plus a racing car
circuit for the competitions Jean-Louis organise. And a screen
to allow all to watch France loose 2/0 against Sweden in
Football. Blesssssss.
Out of that room, and you find yourself outside. A large
terrace, lots of out of the sun areas, with a little breeze that
allows us to refresh our tired bodies. From there, you have
stairs that go round the club down to the parking space. Or up,
to the flats right above. |
 |
 |
 And
those flats, that's the real winner for the club/tournament. I'm
losing so much time normally from the hotel to the venue....
Whereas here, whatever the time we start/finish, I only have to
go up - or down - a bit looking like a duck, same knees as
above....
The flats - all Dupleix,
are for rent all year long, and of course, when the
tournament is on.
And that's where I was offered accommodation, yet again, even
with my name of the door. Awhhhhhhhhh. The one in the middle,
right up from the club/bar/Livebox, which allows me to connect
and work from the flat..
 Too
nice that flat, I promise you. It's cool (you have air con if
you want, but the North/South situation allows you to have a
breeze through the rooms.
High ceilings, the kitchen is an open plan to the living room,
where you have 2 sofas/extra beds, TV, CD reader, great terrace
onto the sea, a dream.....
Up the stairs, a large room, again, plenty of breeze, large bed
plus small bed, lots of storage space.
And now, let's talk women's talk.
YOU HAVE EVERYTHING. I mean it. Kettle, coffee machine, washing
machine, micro-wave, fridge of course, with freezer, toaster,
and all the pans/plates/cutlery
you can think of, along with towels, and basics.
Girls, believe me when I tell you that every time to need
something, you put your hand to find it... And it's there. You
even have books, games, etc.
So there you are. Maybe soon, you'll see all that for yourself,
and will be amazed that I didn't embellish anything...
|
EN
BREF.... #1
Everything you never knew you
needed to know about the Corsican Open.... |
|
 |
|
WELCOME TO ILE-ROUSSE
 My
bet is that you've never been to this fantastic island of
Corsica and to the God Given little town, "Ile-Rousse", "Red
Hair Island", Isula Rossa in Corsica.
Let's be clear. Ile-Rousse is only a town, not an island. I
know, it's confusing.
You may have heard of
Corsica, though, "Corse" in French, as it was the place a
certain Napoleon Bonaparte was born - although here, a
gentleman Pascal Paoli is more popular on the Island,
will do something about him in one of my next edition.
 Situated about
10km from Sardinia and 80km from Tuscany, no wonder Corsica
was an Italian territory for years.
1769 is a fatidic year for Corsica. First, it becomes a French
territory. And second, Napolean is born. Imagine, a few month
earlier, and the Master of the Word would have been Italian!!!!
Perish the thought....
We have a not too big airport very close - less than 30m) - in
Calvi, with frequent daily flights to Paris, Nice or
Marseille, but you have three others on the island, Bastia
(direct to London, Stanstead and Manchester I believe), Ajaccio (Napoleon's
hometown) and Figari (south). And of course, so many
ferries from France, Italy, etc where you can board with or
without your car.
Coming here is really not the problem. The problem is to tear
yourself away from here. You wouldn't believe the number of "tourists",
French or else, that came for a few days, and bought a place
around here.
As we say in French "to try it is to love it".
 |
Tourism
Board
Corsica is an French
Mediterranean Island
The island : we are north west
(close to Nice, 35m flight) |
|
Tis a
dog's life for Saxo, Clarinette and Lilou at the Ile-Rousse
Squash Club |
|
 |
A LITTLE
STROLL
 Let me take you by the hand and show you around the town
for your first visit ...
Let start from the
Isula
Rossa Hotel, one of the two tournament hotels (with
the Splendid,
where the closing party will be held) right on the harbour, less
than five minutes' walk from the centre of town.
I stayed in both
and both are really lovely, with nice outside space to enjoy
your breakfast for example!
From Isula Rossa, you are a few yards away from the train
station that takes you to Calvi (airport), and more connections
for the island and the mainland.
 You cross the road in front on the hotel, and you are on the
seaside.
Take on the right, pass by the "scooters to rent",
reminded me of Bermuda. A little turn on the left, cross the
rail road track, there is "back to the Future" feel to it I
must say...
There you have a little square for small kids, "Tino Rossi
Square", and you take a little road, where the max speed is
10km/h (5mph roughly), Joe Di Fangio drivers, stay away, with
dozens of shops of all kind.
And you arrive to the Marché Paoli, named after Pascal
Paoli, of course. There, the Market, typical South of France
market, gorgeous food and items. Surrounded with colonnes, it's
an impressive site, both day and night.
 An immense square, with "Platanes", The Provence/Corsica tree
king, keeping the place fresh from the scorching sun.
You can
park there, well, not many spaces to be honest, I suggest
walking as I did.
Lots of restaurants. Plenty of choice, with all the style/prices...
Just a look at the beach, about 200 yards from the
square, fine white sand, tourists love it,
mostly Italians bless them, not the best behaved on the road I
have to admit.
This morning, the Post Office car was blocking
the way for what, 30 seconds, and some Italian idiot was using his horn as if
the King was waiting for him.
"Test your lights now, the horn is
working," I shouted. He stopped.
So many little cafés, so many little streets, the atmosphere of
a hard working town, but drowned in that "holiday feel".
Do I make sense...??? |
|
 |
|
