Thousands of years of building ships and houses have denuded the landscape of this enormous basin, the Mediterranean. Thousands of years ago uninterrupted forests covered all the lands adjacent to the Roman's Mare Nostrum, leaving horribly eroded landscapes, or, more commonly, a Garrigue or a Maquis. But one exception to this tale exists today: The Calanche of Corsica. Due to the quite difficult terrain, this part of the Mediterranean was left uncut, and today contains the only real piece of Mediterranean Forest left. Part of this forest is a Maquis, with very fragrant plants like oregano, rosemary, thyme and marjoram. The trees are mostly oaks, with quite a few different pine species, and the madrone or strawberry tree, plus the arboreal heath.
We had the opportunity of visiting one of the most typically lovely Corsican towns, Piana, and to walk along part of the way along the road to Porto. Traffic was quite intense, as the road is barely two small vehicles wide, and many buses were vying for space along this road. La Calanche is an enormous mass of red granite, eroded into fantastic forms and figures, and helped by the steep walls of these cliffs, with imagination it can become a nightmare. Many other small plants were to be seen, such as poisonous shrub Euphorbias, wild honeysuckle, wild fig trees, and lovely cyclamens. A great amount of precipitation keeps this forest green, and around 40 rivers flowing.
