It is inevitably a significant moment of the torch relay in France. This Tuesday, May 14, the emblem of Olympism will be passing through Corsica and will drive from Ajaccio to Bastia during a day where splendid landscapes will inevitably be legion. If you want to attend this milestone moment in the build-up to the Paris 2024 Games, here are the places you should go.
A departure from Ajaccio
The route will start at Ajaccio, on the tip of Parata, at 7 a.m. The opportunity to present a natural and preserved landscape but also a place of history, with the Genoese tower, a vestige of the 16th century. The starting point will be at the Sanguinaires Islands car park and will take the Route des Sanguinaires. The next stage will take place in the city center of Ajaccio, from where the relay will leave at 8:15 a.m. from the memorial to Napoleon, who spent his childhood in the imperial city. The flame will pass through the Cours Général-Leclerc, the Miollis citadel, the Place Foch before a long straight line on the Cours Napoléon to finish its run on Rue des Cannes at 9:30 a.m.
She will then be taken to the sumptuous Bavella needles, where she will leave the Belvédère at 9:45 a.m. to disembark in front of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges at 10 a.m. Direction Ile-Rousse for the rest of the relay (10:15 a.m.-10:50 a.m.), which will start again from the Pietra Lighthouse before strolling through the city center and reaching Place Pascal Paoli.
A loop at the Viseo racecourse in Zonza is then scheduled from 11:10 a.m. to 11:25 a.m., before the flame stops at Corte (12:15 p.m.-1:5 p.m.). Meet at the Santos-Manfredi stadium for the resumption of the route, which will pass by the Statue of Pascal Paoli, the town hall, the Corsican Museum and finally the Belvédère de Corte, which will offer a sumptuous panorama of the city. The rest will take place in the villages of Campanawhere the torch will be visible in front of the church at 1:45 p.m., and Piedicroce. The relay will leave the ruins of the Orezza convent at 2:30 p.m. to reach the Church of Saint-Pierre and Saint-Paul at 2:50 p.m.
The Olympic cauldron will be lit at Place Saint-Nicolas in Bastia
If you live in Porto-Vecchio, the flame will arrive at 3:15 p.m. on the Cour Napoléon. It will pass by the Place de la République, the Porte Génoise, the Saint-Jean Baptiste Church before arriving at the Tourist Office at 3:40 p.m. Meet an hour later near Furiani, where a collective relay will be organized from 4:40 p.m. from the commemorative stele of May 5, 1992 to arrive at the station at 5:15 p.m., obviously passing through the Armand-Cesari stadium in Furiani. Activities will be organized in the enclosure to introduce football but also fit football, futnet, futsal, 5-a-side football and footgolf to as many people as possible.
Finally, the day will end at Bastia, near the Lupino multipurpose room, from 6:10 p.m. The relay will go to the Aldilonda promenade, the footbridge leading to the seafront, will pass in front of the Palace of the Governors and the Church of Saint-Charles Borromeo-San Carlu. It will finish its race in the Old Port and on Place Saint-Nicolas, where the Olympic cauldron will ignite at 7:20 p.m.
On the program of the festivities: activities organized by the communities, a show put on by the Sponsors of the Torch Relay. A giant screen, a host and a DJ will also be present to ensure the atmosphere in the streets of Bastia.
