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From place St-Nicolas the main route into Terra Vecchia is rue Napoleon, a narrow street with some ancient offbeat shops and a pair of sumptuously decorated chapels on its east side. The first of these, the Oratoire de St-Roch , is a Genoese Baroque extravagance, reflecting the wealth of the rising bourgeoisie. Built in 1604, it has walls of finely carved wooden panelling and a magnificent gilt organ. A little further along stands the Oratoire de L'Immaculee Conception , built in 1611 as the showplace of the Genoese in Corsica, who used it for state occasions. Overlooking a pebble mosaic of a sun, the austere facade belies the flamboyant interior, where crimson velvet draperies, a gilt and marble ceiling, frescoes and crystal chandeliers create the ambience of an opera house. The sacristy houses a tiny museum (daily 9am-6pm; free) of minor religious works, of which the wooden statue of St Erasmus, a patron saint of fishermen, dating from 1788, is most arresting. If you cut back through the narrow steps beside the Oratoire de St-Roch, a two-minute walk will bring you to place de l'Hotel-de-Ville, commonly known as place du Marche after the half-hearted farmers' market that takes place here each morning. Shouldering the south end of the square is the church of St-Jean-Baptiste , an immense ochre edifice that dominates the Vieux Port. Its twin campaniles are Bastia's distinguishing feature, but the interior is less than impressive - built in 1636, the church was restored in the eighteenth century in a hideous Rococo overkill of multicoloured marble. Decorating the walls are a few unremarkable Italian paintings from Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch, an avid collector of Renaissance art . Around the church extends the oldest part of Bastia, a secretive zone of dark alleys, vaulted passageways and seven-storey houses. By turning right outside the church and following rue St-Jean you'll come to rue General-Carbuccia, the heart of Terra Vecchia. Corsican independence leader Pascal Paoli once lived here, at no. 7, and Balzac stayed briefly at no. 23 when his ship got stuck in Corsica on the way to Sardinia. Set in a small square at the end of the road is the church of St-Charles , a Jesuit chapel whose wide steps provide an evening meeting place for the locals; opposite stands the Maison de Caraffa , an elegant house with a strikingly graceful balcony. The Vieux Port is easily the most photogenic part of town: soaring houses seem to bend inwards towards the water and peeling plaster and boat hulls glint in the sun, while the south side remains in the shadow of the great rock that supports the citadel. Site of the original Roman settlement of Porto Cardo , the Vieux Port later bustled with Genoese traders, but since the building of the ferry terminal and commercial docks it has become a backwater. The most atmospheric time to come here is early evening, when huge flocks of swifts swirl in noisy clouds above the harbour. Things liven up after sunset, with the glow and noise from the waterside bars and restaurants, which continue round the north end of the port along the wide quai des Martyrs de la Liberation , where live bands clank out pop covers for the tourists in summer. A small "Cuncolta" sign above a door on the north side of the Vieux Port marks the spot where a car bomb exploded in July 1996, killing a prominent nationalist, and seriously injuring Charles Pieri, national secretary of A Cuncolta, the political front of the island's main paramilitary movement, the FLNC. Fourteen other people were hurt in the blast, which was the first time a bomb had been planted in a public place, in broad daylight, since the begining of the troubles in Corsica
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