Built along a rocky promontory 10km north of Bastia, the small port of ERBALUNGA is the highlight of the east coast, with aged, pale buildings stacked like crooked boxes behind a small harbour and ruined Genoese watchtower. A little colony of French artists lived here in the 1920s, and the village has drawn a steady stream of admirers ever since. It attracts a fair number of tourists throughout the year, and come summer it's transformed into something of a cultural enclave, with concerts and art events adding a spark to local nightlife. the town is most famous, however, for its Good Friday procession, known as the Cerca (Search), which evolved from an ancient fertility rite. Hooded penitents, recruited from the ranks of a local religious brotherhood, form a spiral known as a Granitola, or snail, which unwinds as the candlelit procession moves into the village square.