Greetings from the Indian Ocean. After two long and tiring days in Mauritius we had a shorter and easier time of it today on nearby Réunion Island. I’ll tell you all about it, but first a little background on Réunion.
Unlike Mauritius, which is an independent nation, similarly sized Réunion is considered so much a part of France that its citizens vote in French elections and use the euro as their official currency. Réunion’s population is a tad under a million, a little less than Mauritius, and the island has a very active volcano in its southeast corner, but otherwise the two islands are very much alike. We didn’t get down to the southern end of the island, but what we saw along its northern coast and central mountains was very nice, with well maintained roads and highways and pleasant towns and villages.
Before I describe our visit to Réunion let me explain why we had such a short day today. Our next port of call is Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where we’re scheduled to arrive on May 24 after three sea days. The distance between Réunion and Port Elizabeth is such that even an early departure from Réunion will mean that we have to maintain the unusually high speed of almost 25 knots per hour to arrive on schedule. Thus today’s all aboard time was 2:30 pm, with sail-away promptly at 3:00.
As a result we were already on our tour bus at 7:45 am and ready to head out to see the island. We were docked at the aptly named Le Port on Réunion’s northeast corner, and our route took us east along the coast on a beautiful new freeway, some of which extended out over the ocean to avoid the frequent rockfalls from the coastal cliff face. Our drive also took us through the capital, Saint-Denis, which I’ll say a bit more about below. We continued on along the coast until we reached the town of Saint Andre, where we turned inland and took a much smaller, winding road up into the mountains.
Our goal was an overlook of the Salazie Valley, another majestic vista reminiscent of those we saw on Mauritius. What made this one special was its view of several impressive waterfalls, whose waters originate in a rainforest out of sight beyond the mountains. We spent several minutes admiring the view and taking photos before boarding the bus and heading back down the mountain to Saint Andre. The town seemed quite nice, and while we didn’t stop we got a good look at a large Buddhist temple that we passed both coming and going.
We did have a stop to make in Saint Andre though, at the Plantation de la Vanille Roulof, one of Réunion’s important vanilla plantations. Ever wonder why genuine vanilla is so expensive? Well, I found out, and I can tell you that I’ll never complain about it in the future. Without going into detail, the plants take years to mature, bloom and have to be pollinated by hand in exactly one morning, and only produce for fifteen years. Réunion vanilla is said to be the finest in the world, and cannot even be purchased off the island. French chefs have to come here to purchase it for their restaurants. Michele bought a tiny bottle at the plantation shop, which we’ll wait to open until we get home.
Our stop included a walking tour of the plantation, including the net-covered growing vines and the indoor area where the vanilla is processed and prepared for sale. After the tour our hosts were offering free dixie cups of vanilla flavored coffee and a vanilla, coconut punch. No surprise, the coffee was very good, but the amusing surprise was the punch. We had no idea until we took a sip that it was a stiff rum punch. Delicious, but one dixie cup was definitely enough.
Our tour completed and fortified by a very nice rum punch, we clambered back onto the bus for the trip back to the ship, this time, diverting on the way for a driving tour of Saint-Denis, the capital. Given the island’s small size, Saint-Denis is surprisingly large, with a city population of 153,000, and twice that many when the full metropolitan area is included. The city has a heavy French influence, and has major streets named after Charles de Gaulle and the city of Paris. It’s a relaxed-looking place, and the tour was a pleasant diversion.
Back on the freeway, we made good time and returned to Le Port and the ship in time for a late lunch before watching us untie from the pier and begin our journey to South Africa almost on time just a few minutes after 3:00 pm. We have some exciting excursions planned there and I’m looking forward to seeing the African mainland, but I’m also looking forward to the next three sea days that will precede our arrival. They’ll allow us to catch up on sleep and deal with the usual miscellaneous details that we all experience every day. I’ll be back to tell you our visits to Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay and Cape Town, so stay tuned.
On the way to Salazie we passed this Hindu temple in Saint Andre.
The view of the Salazie Valley was impressive.
And the waterfalls were really amazing.
From the overlook.
I asked our guide where all the water was coming from, since it looks like it’s spilling right out of the top of the mountain. She said there’s a rainforest out of sight behind the mountains. I’d like to have visited that, but it wasn’t on our itinerary, and I don’t see any roads leading there on the map anyway.
Michele taking photos of other couples for them on their phones. We do a lot of that for each other.
At the vanilla plantation. The netting is to protect the vines from the sun, not from insects.
Closeup of vanilla beans on the vine.
Vanilla beans drying on racks.
These were laid out for display.
You can’t buy genuine Réunion vanilla anywhere but on the island. We bought a small bottle.
Wrapped vanilla in a display case.
We spotted a chameleon at the plantation.
The flowers were pretty too.
Us with our guide and friends Denny and Dianne, who live not too far from us across the river from Harrisburg.
We passed this church in Saint Andre.
On our driving tour of Saint-Denis, the capital. We passed several statues, and I never did find out who this one was dedicated to. Here’s a trivia fact, though. Roland Garros, the French hero for whom the French Open tennis stadium is named, was a native of Réunion.
One of the Main Street in Saint-Denis. The homes on either side were large, older, and very French in appearance.
Street sign. You can’t get more French than this.
Typical side street in Saint-Denis. The capital seems like a very nice city.
One last shot of Saint-Denis from the bus window. I really liked what I saw of Réunion, and wish we’d had more time there. Who knows, maybe someday…
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