Today we are in Reunion and what a beautiful place this is. It’s interesting that our table mates said that they thought Mauritius was a big letdown. They went to the main part of the island where we went to the other side of the island that has all the beautiful blue lagoons with white sand and 5 star hotels.
Reunion was a big surprise. Our guide said that most people come to Reunion for the mountains. We went on our tour to the volcano which is still active and last erupted in 2010. The scenery was amazing and a bit like walking on the moon. It was an early start with us having to meet our bus at 7.20am dockside. We headed for St Pierre and then on to the volcano, Piton de la Fournaise which is in Pas de Bellecombe . This is over 8,000 feet above sea level. It was not far as far as kilometres but took about 2 hours as the road up into the mountains has continual hairpin bends which is quite slow going in a large bus plus quite hairy and exciting at times. We had a picture perfect day with the temperature around 24 degrees at the volcano and blue skies. The temperature back at the port at 3pm was around 28 degrees. I would highly recommend a helicopter ride over the volcano if anyone is planning on going there. I know our friends Ken and Wendy would have done the helicopter and thought of you guys when we saw a number of flights when we were at the lookout. Ken, you would have got some amazing photos.
After the volcano we headed back to a little village to a local restaurant for a creole lunch. It was interesting that when we got back to the village we had previously passed through the whole area was blanketed in a thick fog which extended much of the way down the mountain. Our lunch was a sit down three course meal which was a nice change to a buffet. The usual rum punch was included as was French wine which was very nice but put most people to sleep for our journey back to the ship. We drove back the opposite direction to the way we went so pretty much covered most areas of the island. It was a truly beautiful island and would love to go back there for an extended stay. We sailed away from Reunion around 4pm while sitting on a balcony enjoying a cold drink and enjoying a slight sea breeze. A very enjoyable day.
Some facts about Reunion:
French is the official language
Sugar accounts for 85% of all exports
Rice is imported
115 miles southwest of Mauritius
Part of France
700,000 population (similar to Newcastle)
Currency is euro
High unemployment rate
Hazards are occasional volcanic eruptions and severe batterings from passing cyclones
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