Monday/Tuesday, Oct 13 – 14, 2014 —
What do we like about Calvi, along with their great pizza? The laundromat! A good, accessible laundry was a welcome find. Figuring out the instructions in French was another challenge. We finally figured out that the machine provided the soap and not to add more, and the coins go into a slot on the opposite wall with a number coordinated to the machine selected. While the dryer ran we took a walk through the citadel. Back to the pizza. The pizza was done in a wood fired brick oven and cooked perfectly. 
Bob went into the kitchen to look things over and meet the pizza chef. He came back to the table looking quite satisfied and perhaps a little melancholy over missing his own pizza oven!
A concert for the evening was scheduled at the basilica at the top of the hill in the citadel. It was advertised as “The Music of Corsica”. Not having a clue what it would be we bought tickets. Europe seems to orient their waking day later than the U.S. The concert did not start until 9:30 pm. The group, Alba, was made up of five men, four of whom sang. The sound is a bit haunting and warbling; a combination of India, North Africa, and Mediterranean, called polyphonic and primarily performed as a cappella. 
It can be spiritual or secular. Traditionally it is only sung by men. Brotherhoods of polyphonic singers date back to the 12th century. The music had nearly disappeared, but was revived in the 1970s. It is now a central part of Corsican national identity. We really enjoyed the music, and at that hour, the very uncomfortable benches in the 13th century church helped keep us awake.
After all of these 13th and 16th century towns and buildings we have been in, our 1740 home in Andover is starting to seem modern!
As we headed back to the boat in the following afternoon we noticed smoke rising from the mountains along the side of the bay. Within a few minutes a full forest fire was spreading out and moving quickly up the side of the mountain. Unfortunately the winds were blowing 20-25 knots fanning it along. The pockets of flames seemed to jump spreading it further. Two hours later it was still very active with two airplanes and a helicopter flying around it, apparently monitoring it. No water was being dropped. That evening it was still burning out of control and had moved around to the back side of the mountain. It created an eerie red smoke rising from the area. In the morning there was very light smoke and no sign of an active fire. Hopefully the cooler night and now lack of wind had helped get it under control. A heavy rain would have been nice. Not having television service on the boat we did not have “film at 11” available to keep us apprised of the cause and result. Hopefully it was away from homes and did not cause any major damage.