In the early hours of the day, a little before sunrise, Corsica ("Island of beauty") can sometimes be seen, to the southeast of the French Riviera. Magic moments. We suspect a mirage, an unknown land ... Corsica is also unveiled, even more rarely during the day, usually when the north wind clears the sky. Some explanations and pictures.
Corsica visible from Toulon to the Italian Riviera
The Scottish writer and traveler Stevenson passing through Menton describes the appearance of Kalyste with these words: "... from time to time about sundown, Corsica would swim for a little into view - farther, it would seem, and softer than a star, fainter and more immaterial than a cloud. ... "Thanks, by the way, to Richard Dury for bringing us this quote.
Many speak of mirage to describe these appearances. Light refraction occurs in part for observations made at very low altitude. This refraction deflects the light rays following the earth curvature between Corsica and the Riviera. Indeed the roundness of the globe prohibits all clear observations from the seaside.
The visible band from the main seaside town (Nice, Antibes, Cannes, Monaco, Menton, etc.) only represents the Corsican mountains located at more than 1500 meters of altitude over a length of 60 kilometers. The rest of the island of Beauty is hidden under the horizon. To admire it on a greater width, it is necessary to climb, for example, towards the summit of the Authion, with the Bald Mountain, on the large ledge or towards the Baou de Saint Jeannet. We offer at the bottom of this page an image of Corsica over its entire length seen from the Mercantour. Peaks (identified by C Raybaud) appear as a caption on the panoramic picture in high definition.
HD panorama and identification of Corsican peaks
Fullscreen picture https://www.irresistible-riviera.fr/images/hd/ir-corse-vdc-o.html
More images and details available on the blog Ovalp.com: the researches of Geodesist Paul Helbronner, the wind turbines but also the hole of Tafunatu barely visible from the mainland, the lighthouse of the islet of Giraglia to Cape Corsica, the weather required for the observation of Corsica from the continent etc ... 