Bastia is not especially large, and all its sights can easily be seen in a day without the use of a car. The spacious place St-Nicolas is the obvious place to get your bearings: open to the sea and lined with shady trees and cafés, it's the main focus of town life. Running parallel to it on the landward side are boulevard Paoli and rue César-Campinchi, the two main shopping streets, but all Bastia's historic sights lie within Terra Vecchia, the old quarter immediately south of place St-Nicolas, and Terra Nova, the area surrounding the Citadelle. Tucked away below the imposing, honey-coloured bastion is the much-photographed Vieux Port, with its boat-choked marina and crumbling eighteenth-century tenement buildings. By contrast, the Nouveau Port, north of the place, is bland and modern, with little of note other than restaurants, bars and self-service laundry.
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