Saturday Market in L’Île-Rousse

And so our last morning in L’Île-Rousse, Corsica had finally arrived. Our group woke up extra early to get a good start on the last day of racing. So we were lucky enough to enjoy a beautiful breakfast with a view of the sunrise and the sea before we hit the road. Look at this beautiful spread with the sun shinning down on it, perfect way to start your day no?

Following a most delicious breakfast with a view, it was time to leave the hotel and head towards our vehicles. As I was walking towards the other hotel where our vehicles were parked, which was only a short walking distance away, I literally stumbled upon a pop-up open air Saturday Market in L’Île-Rousse. As it was completely by coincidence that I stumbled upon this market on my way to the car and I was alone, you will notice in the pictures below that there are no pictures of myself– only the beautiful produce and goodies the vendors had to offer. So of course, I decided to take a short detour to see what the market was all about.

  

 

As I began to walk through the market, to my surprise and delight I soon discovered that all of the products sold there that day were local– everything was from Corsica! Unlike most other islands in the Mediterranean that import all of their food products from mainland Europe, including Ibiza, Corsica stands out because they grow their own livestock and products all on the island themselves and are completely self-sustaining. As such, all of the food has its own special flavor– from meats, to cheeses, local breads, and fruits.

   

Seeing all of these fresh local ingredients greatly excited my inner amateur chef! All I wanted do was grab some eggplants (aubergines), peppers, spices, and of course some meats and cheese to snack on, and run to a kitchen to start cooking. For a foodie like me, there is nothing better than local organic produce straight from the farm to the table! It was very inspiring.

   

       

The entire experience at the Saturday Market was a complete unexpected yet pleasant surprise. As I continued to walk through the market, the variety of the products sold there was astounding to me. To be completely honest, I was not expecting a market in a little town in Corsica to display such varied and good quality local products. Most of all , I was very surprised to see fresh spices in the market- I even found fresh cinnamon which you can see in the pictures below. I asked if all of the spices were all from Corsica to which the vendor replied to me, but of course they are all from Corsica!

  

After the lovely detour in the L’Île-Rousse Market, it was time to forget my fantasies of cooking and hit the road for one final day. As you can see in the map below, our journey took us from the north of the island, all the way back to the starting point, Porto-Vecchio all the way in the south of the island. Hope you enjoyed the personalized walking tour of the Saturday Market in L’Île-Rousse with me.

 

Porsche everywhere….

On the road again….