Driving the curvy roads of Corsica
I spent 3 weeks on Corsica and I can say that the title of "Island of the Beauty" is simple correct. There is only 1 highway existing south of Bastia with a length of about 15 km.
Additionally there are very few overland connections which are straight forward. About more than 95% of all roads (I do NOT exaggerate!) follow the curves of the landscape without bridges or tunnels resulting in a curve every 100 meter or even more often. If you're driving responsibly you cannot reach a speed higher than 40 km/h on most of all roads.
Corsica has a population problem: Due to the lack of jobs many young people leave this island and come back when they are retired. So most of all farms have been abandoned and the animals have been released into the wild. So behind every bend on a street you can suddenly find yourself in the middle of a herd of half wild goats, sheep, donkeys, cows or pigs which is rather dangerous. Example: A mother cow which has to protect its calf can become really wild. Unfortunately I tested that and I can tell you: Sitting on a motorbike this was really an awkward situation.
Additional remark on the pavement of the streets: asphalt is a mixture of bitumen and gravel. Producing the asphalt for the street often the local stones have been grained resulting that the pavement of the street has three different colors: green, red or gray. There is a variety of the gray asphalt: When the workers used granite and if there is a clear sky the pavement glimmers as if the street is paved with billions of diamonds - an absolute fantastic experience which has the ability to distract you from the actual traffic.
Text provided by: Michael Spannlang (Austria)