March 30 – Ajaccio, Corsica, France. We've been to Ajaccio before. It's the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte and you can see his home and the church where he was baptized and about umpty-dozen statues of him. We've already taken the all Napoleon tour so we have opted to visit the Greek village of Cargese. Wait, you say. This island is French and for centuries was in the hands of the Italians, what's the deal with a Greek village? Apparently during the incursions of the Moors into Europe they targeted some Greek islands. Several hundred Greeks on one island said, "Enough is enough." and took to the seas. They landed on Corsica and were given the right to form their own village along the coast north of Ajaccio in a very hilly rural area.
For years they were separate in their language and customs but the problems started when they wanted to build a Greek Orthodox Church. Italians, being very Roman Catholic, said NO! This caused quite a bit of tension until a compromise was reached. They could build their Orthodox church, but they also had to have an equal sized Roman Catholic Church in the village. Everyone said, "Undoxie" (spelled phonetically, it's Greek for OK). And that's what they did. Part of the reason for going to Cargese is the one hour ride north. We go through the San Bastiano Pass and drive along the seacoast most of the way.
The trip started up through the green hills surrounding Ajaccio eventually through the San Bastiano Pass and down along the seashore. The road through the pass had many switchbacks and was cut into the side of the mountain. The tour book said this trip was not recommended for those with vertigo or fear of heights and I can see why. The coastline is rugged and rocky for the most part with occasional sandy beaches thrown in. The ship was moving around a bit last night and you can see the rollers breaking onto the shore. The day is very cloudy and dark but it's not raining, at least not yet. For the first time since we left Malaga, Spain I took my jacket with me off the ship. Not because I thought it would be cold but because it's easier to handle than an umbrella. It lighting and the bus' speed did not make for optimal photo results.
Cargese is not a coastal village; it's up in the mountains overlooking the coast. Our bus couldn't stop in the village because the roads are to narrow so it drove up the hill and dropped us off at a construction site at the top. This was an advantage because it meant most of our walk would be downhill.
The first item of interest we encountered was a monument to the village casualties in WWI. For a small village it's an impressive memorial. It's a statue of a French infantryman looking wistfully out over the ocean. Most of the names on the monument were Italian. Our guide explained that when the Greeks got here, they were grateful to the Italians for giving them sanctuary. As a demonstration of this gratitude they Italianized their last names. Andrololis became Androli or Andriloli, etc. But the first names gave them away. I doubt many Italians name their sons Demetrious (Greek for James) or Constantine. Our guide said that most of the village's inhabitants are descended from the few hundred immigrants from the late 1700s.
At first the village's buildings obscured our view of the churches. First the Greek Orthodox Church came into view. It's not a large church but the village is isolated and it's not that large either. As you walk further down the street into the center of the village you discover that the Greek Church is built on the north slope of a valley. When you look to the south slope of the valley, there's the Roman church at exactly the same level and almost exactly the same shape and size. There are a few small architectural differences on the outside but not many. The major external difference is that the Roman church has a separate bell tower and the Greek Church has its bells in a tower in the middle of the front façade. The key thing is the positioning, facing each other at the same level across the valley. The first image that ran through my mind was the shootout in High Noon, adversaries facing each other at a short distance. According to our guide at first there was great animosity between the two but now the same priest hold service in both churches. Talk about burying the hatchet!
We were on the side with the Greek Church so we stopped in there first. Inside it was laid out like most small Greek Orthodox churches. It has high long and narrow windows that allow a fair amount of light to get in. It has two side altars and an iconostasis in front of the main altar. It was a simple but very pretty two tier iconostasis. The Holy Doors in the center give the priest access to the main altar. The annunciation was represented with Mary on one door and Gabriel on the other. The lower tier of icons had Mary and the child Jesus to the left of the Holy Doors and Jesus to the right. Next to Mary is the angel Gabriel and next to Jesus is the angel Michael. The third icon on each side was probably the local saint on one side and a church father on the other. I didn't recognize either one. As usual, above the Holy Doors is a picture of the Last Supper with a crucifix above that.
The side altars were simple affairs, a wooden alter built into a shallow, arched niche. The one on the left was dedicated to the Madonna and Child. The entire interior was covered in murals of saints and Bible events. One arched recess had the Baptism of Jesus by John, the Day of Pentecost in the Upper Room where the Apostles were receiving the Holy Spirit, and the Old Testament Trinity, when Abram was visited by the three men who announced that he would have a son. The Orthodox Church believes that these three men represent the three members of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They could be right, we don't know.
One of my favorite games to play in a church is 'Name the Bible Story or Person'. I'm pretty good at it in Roman Catholic and Protestant churches but the Orthodox gives me fits as they have traditions and heroes that are not in the other churches. In this church I was good with the events but not the as good with the people. I did see Elijah being fed by the ravens, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, Joseph and Mary presenting the young Jesus at the temple, the Transfiguration and the ascension of Jesus. The back wall of the church, above the choir loft was taken up with a large mural of the Judgment Day. Jesus is seen in heaven with the saints and angels. In front of him is a table with the Book of Life setting on it. Below him on the earth are the saints on his right and the sinners on his left. One little thing that many might not notice is that the sinners all have some sort of Muslim headgear, Persian hats and Arabian turbans. Seems like the Greek expatriates were making a statement about their attitude toward the Moors. The Last Judgment is a common theme in medieval church décor and right up to the Renaissance and beyond. In a small mural off to the side the Antichrist and the False Prophet are pictured in hell riding a red dragon.
Religion Note: It's only fairly recently that the church has deemphasized the judgment of God and only stresses God's love, a theologically unsupportable and very risky position to take.
The church is very nicely decorated and maintained. The tile on the floors is probably Spanish. It's beautiful.
Time to go over to the other side, both literally and theologically. We walked across the valley on a bridge and up to the Roman Catholic Church. On the outside it's a little more elaborate. It has a mission style front façade and the bell tower on the side gives it more architectural style. Inside is a different story. The church in nice inside but the much smaller high windows make it very dark and it's not nearly as appealing as the Greek Church.
The main altar is a fairly simple affair with a mural of the Last Supper on the Apse wall over it. It has two side altars, one dedicated to Mary and the other to St. Anthony. The thing that struck me about both churches is that the signs outside say simply 'Latin Church' and 'Greek Church' with no indication of to whom the churches are dedicated. I've never seen that before.
After our visits and a walk through the village we drove back along the seacoast and through the pass back to Ajaccio. On the way we stopped at Glacier Patisserie to sample some Corsican specialties. It was a plate with bread, two types of ham, one cured and the other smoked, sausage, pickles and half of a custard tart. I'm a sucker for cured ham and it almost doesn't matter how they do it, it's great!
Because the sea is so rough at the moment the evenings live performance was cancelled and they showed a movie instead.
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