All roads in L'Île Rousse lead to place Paoli, a shady square that's open to the sea and has as its focal point a fountain surmounted by a bust of "U Babbu di u Patria" (Father of the Nation), one of many local tributes to Pascal Paoli. There's a Frenchified covered market at the entrance to the square, which hosts a popular artisan-cum-antiques sale on Saturday mornings, while on the west side rises the grim facade of the church of the Immaculate Conception.To reach the Île de la Pietra, the islet that gives the town its name, continue north, passing the station on your left. Once over the causeway connecting the islet to the mainland, you can walk through the crumbling mass of red granite as far as the lighthouse at the far end, from where the view of the town is spectacular, especially at sundown, when you get the full effect of the red glow of the rocks. Immediately in front of the promenade, the town beach is a crowded Côte d'Azur-style strand, blocked by ranks of sun loungers and parasols belonging to the row of lookalike café-restaurants behind it. With your own transport, you're better off heading 3km west up the N197, where a signpost pointing right off the main road (next to the turning for Camping Bodri) leads 300m downhill to a fee-charging municipal car park (€5 for the day; no shade) from where you can walk to two of the most beautiful beaches on the north coast. To your right as you face the sea, Plage de Botre is the more sheltered, backed by soft white dunes in which is nestled a smart but overpriced paillote (beach bar). The sand is clean and the water crystal clear, but from late-June onwards this normally isolated cove is swamped by campers from the nearby campsite. A short walk further west around the rocky Punta di Ginebre, Baie de Giunchetu is a larger, though less picturesque beach. Note that you can reach both of these by train: just behind Plage de Botre is a little request stop at which you can ask to be dropped by any of the services running between L'Île Rousse and Calvi.
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