During the night we sailed to Ajaccio, Corsica's capital, and in the morning we went north along the rugged coastline to take a nice walk into the marquis or, as it's sometimes called, the macchian. It is a habitat found all over the Mediterranean region and may well be better known for something else: the Liberation force during World War II used to disappear into the marquis, and later on the word was used to name the force in southern France.

Marquis is actually a result of impact by man. People have clear-cut the area and used it for herding sheep and goats. The grazers, along with regularly occurring fires, make it impossible for trees to reclaim the land. Instead you find a number of small plants and also bushes. Everything has thorns and spines to protect itself from any grazing. This helps the plants and bushes to survive!

In some areas, mostly places with limestone, you only find smaller plants. These areas are too dry for bushes. This type of habitat is called Garrique in French, the Tomillares in Spanish, the Phyrygana in Greek and the Batha in Levante.

In the afternoon we had two options: one to explore the interior of Corsica and the other to visit the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte. Ajaccio, with about 60,000 inhabitants, is the capital of Corsica and has a lot of shops and restaurants. It is also the major port for connections to the mainland.

The group that opted to explore the high mountains had some adventure. By switchback roads our bus driver took us up, first through chestnut tree forest, higher up among beech trees, and at about 1,800 feet among pine trees. At this altitude we took a walk along a small track. Vegetation was interesting but the bird activity small, maybe because it was in the late afternoon. Still this splendid tour gave us a good chance to see the rugged interior of Corsica. The walking tour ended in a small Corsican caf‚ with an open fire. Everyone enjoyed a glass of chestnut liquor and a cup of coffee.