Four small granite islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Ajaccio, about 12 km west of the city. The name — "blood islands" — comes from the red-orange glow they take on at sunset, when the light catches the pink granite and the scrubby maquis. The writer Alphonse Daudet spent time at the lighthouse on the largest island and wrote about it in his Lettres de mon moulin. Boat trips run from the Ajaccio port in summer; the drive along the Route des Sanguinaires is worth taking for the coastal views alone.
Îles Sanguinaires
red-glowing granite islands at sunset, Daudet's inspiration