THE MAGIC JOURNEY

[Music] Kousaka the traveler arriving from the French mainland discovers best year's day breaks nestling at the foot of the Corsican Pete [Music] all the streets in Bastyr point like a finger across the Mediterranean to the island of Elba [Music] streets that lead directly to the ancient port [Music] for me and ER about before the encounter the straight avenues of the new section [Music] and before they reached the waterside a boat trip from neith's on the French Riviera takes about nine hours [Music] and so we begin our magical journey [Music] this romantic undiscovered land Sonia yet so mysterious has all the beauty of thick-set European forests with tourists ringing out in the still air [Music] and the atmosphere of Africa flooded with dazzling lights the shimmering sea reflects the caressing rays of the Sun [Music] here you can journey into the past from the Nigerians and Etruscans to the Genoese and the Barbary pirates all cossack as neighbours struggled to establish their might in this island fortress for 2,000 years they came but none of them ever mastered the island the wave of conquerors chosen their lair the cliffs overlooking the sea the backcountry domain of the Costigan's were up against the chain of watchtowers in sexing the island making it a prison the poet Giovanni sings touchingly of the collar which shaped the proud Cossack and spirit these ancient towers of roughly cut granite run all along the Cape rooms that cause against themselves is that it the coastline and took refuge in the highlands there hidden in the perfumed Mackay they don't impregnable citizens the greatest of these fortified towns is cocktail the old capital which so arrogantly dominates the plain the atmosphere of its heroic past lingers on in the coolness of its staircase treatments just beyond the Ament Valley a solitude of stone enclosed between high mountains the remote gorges of Center Regina red splashes on the stones marked the climbers trail [Music] then the new lo Valley wild and beautiful a gay torrent races along its winding path [Music] this is the heartland of old Kousaka faithful to old customs in September open-air massive and religious protection [Music] attended by barefooted worship [Music] country fairs where local peasants and Mountaineers happily bargain their project in Kousaka there remains the sweetness and the misery of age-old bureau ties yet ancient tradition accepts with ease the contribution of modern times handsome Rhodes and America's each day heavy aircraft to take to the skies in the interior little diesel trains cross the tomb spangled countryside among the cypress traditional tree of the Dead each Corsican longs for burial on the land his family possesses and here many aged people return happily home to in their days [Music] crossing the visible forest we come to Ajax you [Music] the city suddenly appears snowy white in the depths of a bluegill birthplace of Napoleon [Music] the sanguinary aisle once a medieval leper colony are thrashed by the Seawind the bay is alive with Whitecaps blue white mountains studied with bizarre rocks swathe in a light veil of midst [Music] [Applause] in the zones of a lay the mist creeps for refuge under the spreading chestnut tree at the Bhavana pass the fog weaves it spells at 9,000 feet the wind whistled through the slim trunk of the great fir tree a parasol pine standing apart from the others spreads open like an umbrella against the wind [Music] twisted trees like those in Japanese gardens act as standard mirrors for the forest host behind [Music] now and again one comes across a drove of domestic animals wandering at will in winter they'll be guided into Valley pen [Music] and from the perfumed meki a scent of metal and laurel gilded by the glowing Sun floats across mountain and plane and out over the sea the Summer Sun warms and dries the friction after the beef rains of the equinox the Mackay recovered its supremacy over the Corsican mountain [Music] September and October are the islands most glorious month the friendly Sun decorates the great brown net stretched along the coast and splashes reflections on the calm waters of Vltava Keo Bay another contrast the chalky pallor of the great clips at Bonifacio built on a spur of the mountain the ancient town hangs over the sea [Music] in olden days a single dog gave access to the redoubtable citadel and on the mountains other side a corridor carved out by nature into the stone serves as port on the white mountain a handful of houses jeans whiter still [Music] while in the bathing Cove of piana below the September Sun warms a forest of mow granite figures [Music] little bells [Music] animals [Music] column [Music] jagged peaks and unexpectedly the Gulf of Pato [Music] the landscape loses its rugged look [Music] Kelvin its mighty fortress now just a romantic monument [Music] Kousaka is beautiful but its greatest beauty is the sense of escape from the humdrum chores of daily life from glamorous streets here are palm trees and bomb a shaded streets at ill hosts the gentle sea sweeps colored stones into the powdery Beach [Music] safflower is the epitome of tranquil peace [Music] the angelus chimes out in pet Ramona's old church tower and echoes over the neighbouring vineyard young women enjoy gathering the grapes and they have for centuries past [Music] in the forest the hunters hurry towards the village cheated against the brief my old winter [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] here the fire crackles there the flowers best for a cat noses in the January son [Music] in the sea a few hundred feet down swimmers leisurely take their morning dip [Music] Kousaka which the wonders of progress have brought within one hour of the mainland warm beaches even in winter cool mountains even in summer where hospitality to strangers is a centuries-old tradition the most picturesque the most individual of all French provinces [Music]