Corsica: France's Hidden Gem
I grew up with the privilage of being exposed to French culture. As a child, I spent several summers flying alone to Trinidad to stay with my grandmother, a French woman who brought that world vividly to life for me. During those visits, I attended summer programs at the Alliance Française, where she taught lessons and I learned French sentence structure, watched French films, and experienced what an immersion school might feel like.
At her home, we’d enjoy a homemade ratatouille for dinner and cherry clafoutis with ice cream for dessert. If I was staying during Bastille day, we’d head to the annual fête at the French Embassy. Much of my extended family still lives in the mountains around Nice and on the island of La Réunion, part of the Mascarene Islands, which has kept that connection alive. Later on, working for a French brand and communicating regularly with employees in French Canadian provinces, has allowed me to continue nurturing that side of my identity.
In recent years, I’ve been lucky enough to discover one of France’s hidden gems, that my family and I had never explored before: Corsica.
Some destinations feel beautiful the moment you arrive, and Corsica is one of them… though it reveals itself in layers. At first, it surprises you.
The island is rugged and mountainous, with sharp peaks cutting through its center. The mountains then descend into the most stunning Mediterranean beaches and coves. Though it belongs to France, Corsica truly feels like it has this strong sense of independence with a perfect mix of Italian influence, local French dialect, and the slow pace of the Spanish Medetteranian.
On both trips, we’ve made sure to carve out an entire day for sailing. One of the things I love most about Europe (especially the smaller Mediterranean islands) is how easy it is to privately charter a boat for the day with a local skipper. You step on their boat as strangers, and by the end of the day, you’ve shared stories, learned something new, and glimpsed another way of life. For many skippers, their boat is both home and livelihood.
On our first sailing trip in Corsica, we met a young couple who lived on their boat as often as they could. They were a true team.
He steered while she prepared simple but delicious snacks. He navigated us along the coastline while she prepped the boat to anchor. He chatted with my dad in fast French while she told my mom and I stories about their life at Sea together. Sailing takes real skill and coordination, yet they made it all look so effortless.
Going from sailing and cove-hopping to a windy drive back through the mountains was the perfect way to gain new perspectives on the island during both stays. It’s been such a gift to have those experiences.
Corsica is now a place I hold close! Each visit allows reconnection to a part of my culture that I’m still discovering, and being there made something click for me when it comes to traveling more broadly.
Those summer visits in Trinidad at a young age have certainly influenced how I move through new places now. Corsica felt unfamilair on the surface, but not disorienting. It made me realize that early exposure to culture of any kind doesn’t stay tied to one place, instead it completley carries over… allowing a destination to feel both new and strangely familair at the same time.