Welcome to the A-listers' secret island - Mediterranean - Hôtel & Spa des Pêcheurs
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Date: 27 June 2015
Page: 30,31
Circulation: 399915
Readership: 1155000
Size (Cm2): 1717
AVE: 52334.16
Display Rate: (£/cm2): 30.48
Mediterranean
Welcome to
the A-listers’
secret island
The isle of Cavallo
off Corsica has
lovely beaches, great
diving and one chic
hotel. No wonder
Beyoncé loves it,
says Sean Thomas
boat from Figari airport in Corsica) yet
P
iece together your perfect feels like it is on the other side of the globe:
island. It might have French in a yearned-for world where there isn’t
cooking, Italian grace and much to do, in the nicest possible way.
styling or perhaps a hint of And we’re here to do just that.
Spanish sexiness. What else? On our first morning at the Hotel & Spa
How about a clear, warm, des Pêcheurs (the only going concern on
Seychellois sea that unrolls its Cavallo, apart from a smattering of villas
lacy waves on to gleaming deserted that can be rented from time to time
beaches: because this island is private. and a couple of independent eateries),
It’s just a dream, of course. Or is it? Let me I approach Giuseppe. He’s head barman at
introduce you to Cavallo — sometimes the hotel’s Shore Club, an agreeably affable
called the Mustique of the Med — a flat, place, with its bowered sunbeds and its
rocky, sunny, myrtle and rosemary- tables pitched so close to the waves that
perfumed island off southern Corsica. you can practically eat your salad niçoise
Owned by a syndicate of Italian billion- while you paddle.
aires, this jagged, mile-wide chunk of “So what shall we do this afternoon,
demi-paradise is a mere two hours from Giuseppe? What do you suggest?”
Heathrow (and half an hour by taxi and Th h i Gi h H
)
Copyright Newspaper Licensing Agency. For internal use only. Not for reproduction.
Date: 27 June 2015
Page: 30,31
Circulation: 399915
Readership: 1155000
Size (Cm2): 1717
AVE: 52334.16
Display Rate: (£/cm2): 30.48
The charming Giuseppe shrugs. He derstand. Groupers are
looks at the jade-meets-sapphire sea. big fish, maybe a metre
“Ahhh. You can swim? Maybe you can long. A school of them is
dive.” Another shrug. “Then maybe swim an impressive sight.
again.” Moreover, in the
“Apart from that?” coral-fringed under-
“Eat is good here.” water canyons of
He’s right. Eat is good here. The Shore Merouville, they are so
Club has an Italian ambience as well as a plentiful and so tame
faint Ibizan buzz. Think chillout music and that they swim up and
nude sunbathing in the next cove along. In headbutt your goggles.
this mix, though, the attitude to food is Don’t despair if you can’t
distinctly French. On Giuseppe’s advice scuba — the snorkelling is
I have a simple carpaccio of fresh fish with also excellent. The water is
so clear that visibility is up
to 60 metres, so it’s rather
a glass of chilled Corsican rosé. It’s
delicious.
The seafood should be excellent because
like swimming in a vast pool of vodka. In
the surrounding seas are special. Cavallo
the shallows the little fish dance around
(part of France) is one of the islands of the
your hands, making you feel like an under-
Lavezzi archipelago, and lies in a protected
water medieval saint, gifted with the
marine environment, shared with nearby
language of sticklebacks.
Sardinia (part of Italy). No further
Swimming, diving, snorkelling and eat-
development is allowed on Cavallo itself
ing splendid seafood. What else? Well, the
(Corsican nationalists firebombed a villa
spa is jolly nice. While I am partying with
in the 1990s as a protest against invaders).
the groupers my girlfriend has a “really
On the surrounding islands, no settlement
enjoyable” hot-stone massage, with an
is allowed at all.
emphasis on local stones.
Add in the absence of polluting industry,
That may not sound so amazing, but —
a stiff and cleansing current through the
like the seas around Cavallo — those ubi-
Strait of Bonifacio and a
quitous rocks beneath your sandalled feet
ban on large-scale
are special. Soft and rounded, they resem-
fishing, and you have
ble the rocks of the Seychelles. What’s
some of the clearest
more, at the Hotel des Pêcheurs, where all
waters in the Med
of the large, soothing rooms have glorious
iterranean,
balconies with sea views, some of the
with some
larger boulders are used as features in the
of the most
rooms, right next to the minibar.
amazing aquat-
The rocks of Cavallo also played a role in
ic life. I’m in-
the island’s history. The Romans came in
troduced to
the second century AD to quarry granite.
that life by Sil-
You can still see traces of the picks and
vio, who runs
shovels wielded by slaves. After the
the hotel diving
Romans left, Cavallo was left to snooze
under the Mediterranean sun right up to
centre. From June to September Silvio the 1970s, when a Paris nightlife mogul
lives in Cavallo; the rest of the time he turned it into a retreat for celebrities.
is in Thailand (“I don’t like winter”). Sil- In its heyday as a hideaway, practically
vio has dived in some of the most iconic everyone who was anyone took the ten-
scuba sites on the globe and rates Cavallo minute boat ride from the Corsican main-
in the top ten. Why?
“Groupers!” he says. I’m yet to be per-
suaded, mainly because I have no
idea what a grouper is. Then, land to little Cavallo. Marcello Mastroian-
when we scooch our dinghy ni, Catherine Deneuve and Petula Clark
to a spot of blue water a kilo- summered here (Clark called Cavallo a
metre offshore and dive to heaven on Earth, and said, “we lived like
20 metres, I begin to un- gypsies and washed in the sea”). Exiled
d
Copyright Newspaper Licensing Agency. For internal use only. Not for reproduction.
Date: 27 June 2015
Page: 30,31
Circulation: 399915
Readership: 1155000
Size (Cm2): 1717
AVE: 52334.16
Display Rate: (£/cm2): 30.48
princes and incognito artists came too. sharing, and including
Now Cavallo is being revived. The hotel accommodation,
and villas are being refurbished and the flights, transfers, and
celebs are, accordingly, drifting back. two nights’ in-villa
Some of the Monaco royal family have chef service.
bought properties and Giuseppe tells me
that Alicia Keys and Beyoncé have been
spotted.
Naturally, this rockrose has a thorn.
Corsica is an expensive place, and Cavallo
is pricier still. Whether you eat at the hotel
or the excellent Italian restaurant near the
island’s tiny marina, you can pay three
figures for a modest dinner. Hiring snor-
kels or renting golf buggies — the best way
of tootling around — is similarly costly.
Then again, what price an empty mind?
Because that is what Cavallo delivers.
After two days, my cares fall away. I turn
off my phone; I shove my laptop in its case.
Strolling to the next empty beach I stare at
the sea and the sky, and I think: what shall
I do next? Then I realise that the silence is
everything. The aimlessness is perfect.
Maybe I’ll take another swim. Or maybe I’ll
sit in the sun, where the air is scented with
wild rosemary, and wait happily for nothing
to happen.
Need to
know
Sean Thomas was a
guest of Simpson Travel
(020 8003 6557,
simpsontravel.com),
which has a week at
the Hotel & Spa des
Pêcheurs from £2,146pp
in September, rising to
£4,496pp in August.
This includes half-board
accommodation,
flights on the weekly
Simpson British Airways
charter into Corsica, and
connections to Cavallo.
Simpson also features
villas on Cavallo, starting
at £865pp in September
rising to £1,750pp in
August, based on ten
Copyright Newspaper Licensing Agency. For internal use only. Not for reproduction.
Date: 27 June 2015
Page: 30,31
Circulation: 399915
Readership: 1155000
Size (Cm2): 1717
AVE: 52334.16
Display Rate: (£/cm2): 30.48
Five great deals for island breaks in Europe
Sicily, Italy Details A seven-night B&B stay Sill, which floats on pontoons. The hotel
Stay for seven nights at Hotel costs from £417pp departing from is made up of six two-storey houses
Capotaormina and save up to £149 per Gatwick on July 15, with transfers with compact, modern rooms. The
person. The hotel is in a dramatic spot included (0845 6040035, Scandinavian specialist Taber Holidays
on a headland with a private beach maltadirect.com) has put together a fly-drive package
overlooking the Bay of Naxos, plus a that includes four nights on the island
cliff-top pool. Rooms are spacious and Lanzarote, Canary Islands and three in the city of Gothenburg.
modern. The hotel has three restaurants Seven nights’ all-inclusive for less than Details A week’s B&B with four nights at
and three bars, and is close to the £550 in July at a sporty hotel with three Salt & Sill on Kladesholmen and three in
historic town of Taormina. pools, and a wellness centre with a Gothenburg is from £1,095pp with
Details A seven-night B&B stay costs sauna and hot tub sounds tempting. flights from Heathrow and car hire for
from £750pp, including return flights to That’s the latest offer at Barceló five days, for travel up to August 31
Catania and private transfers, for travel Lanzarote Resort hotel in the Costa (01274 875199, taberhols.co.uk)
from September 4 to October 24; you Teguise area of Lanzarote. The family-
must book by June 30 (020 7838 5892, friendly hotel also has a climbing wall, Kefalonia, Greece
wexas.com) water slides and a mini golf course. The Relax on the picturesque island of
price in July is £270 per couple off the Kefalonia staying at the Lourdas Beach
Malta rate published in the brochure. Apartments on its southern shore. The 12
There are some great deals in Malta this Details Seven-nights’ all-inclusive costs apartments are set around a big infinity
summer, particularly from the specialist from £542pp departing from Gatwick on pool facing the sea. They are close to a
tour operator Malta Direct. Some of the July 14, with transfers included (0871 beach and several tavernas, if you want
best are to be had at the Qawra resort, 2007799, firstchoice.co.uk) a break from cooking for yourself.
by St Paul’s Bay, staying at the four-star Details A week’s self-catering costs from
Santana Hotel, which is 300m from the Kladesholmen, Sweden £489pp, 23 per cent off the usual price,
beach. The hotel has a rooftop pool, Kladesholmen is a small island departing on July 11 from Gatwick,
indoor pool, and a spa with a sauna. connected to mainland Sweden including transfers (020 8758 4758,
Rooms have a simple, elegant style. It’s by a road bridge. It’s a peaceful place sunvil.co.uk)
close to restaurants, bars and shops. with a rather unusual hotel, the Salt & Tom Chesshyre
Copyright Newspaper Licensing Agency. For internal use only. Not for reproduction.
Date: 27 June 2015
Page: 30,31
Circulation: 399915
Readership: 1155000
Size (Cm2): 1717
AVE: 52334.16
Display Rate: (£/cm2): 30.48
Beyoncé, left, and Alicia Keys
Copyright Newspaper Licensing Agency. For internal use only. Not for reproduction.
Date: 27 June 2015
Page: 30,31
Circulation: 399915
Readership: 1155000
Size (Cm2): 1717
AVE: 52334.16
Display Rate: (£/cm2): 30.48
Copyright Newspaper Licensing Agency. For internal use only. Not for reproduction.Date: 27 June 2015
Page: 30,31
Circulation: 399915
Readership: 1155000
Size (Cm2): 1717
AVE: 52334.16
Display Rate: (£/cm2): 30.48
5 miles
CORSICA
Porto
Vecchio
t Tyrrhenian
Sea
Bonifacio Cavallo
SARDINIA
Copyright Newspaper Licensing Agency. For internal use only. Not for reproduction.Date: 27 June 2015
Page: 30,31
Circulation: 399915
Readership: 1155000
Size (Cm2): 1717
AVE: 52334.16
Display Rate: (£/cm2): 30.48
One of the bays on the island of Cavallo, l
above; a patio and a bedroom at the t
Hotel & Spa des Pêcheurs, right y
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