Reunion

Reunion

29^th March 2014

Today we docked near to St. Denis on the north coast of this French island.  Our eight hour tour was entitled Volcanic Experience.

Our journey began with a drive along the west coast of the island, with views over the coastline on one side and views of the mountains on the other. 

At St. Pierre we turned inland and slowly climbed up the valley towards the volcano, noting the change in landscape as we progressed.

In the middle of the island we turned on to a narrow road and climbed for 10 kilometres around many 180 degree hairpin bends through thick misty conditions, climbing to 2500 metres, where we had our first sight of the Piton de la Fournaise, a relatively young volcano – only 60,000 years old, which last erupted in 2007. 

We then drove across the crater floor to a further viewing point, where we could view the very top of the crater, which unfortunately was shrouded in cloud.  We saw many hikers walking in the crater before they were obscured by cloud that had drifted in.  We then retraced our tracks back down along the winding road to a restaurant, where we were treated to a typical Creole lunch, which consisted of a starter of palm hearts, which were really delicious, followed by spicy beef and/or fish curry, with kidney beans and rice along with a bottle of red wine.  All very tasty.

Reluctantly we rejoined the coach to drive back down to the east coast of the island.  En route we stopped to view a forest of Tasmanian Tree Ferns, quite an amazing sight.

Our guide, who was French and spoke little English kept us amused throughout the journey with his anecdotes.  He decided we had time to call in to St. Denis on the way back to walk through the town and see its historical buildings.  On the final journey to the port the guide gave us a rendition of Reunion’s National Anthem.  However, he slightly misjudged the time and we arrived late back at ship as they were dismantling the gangway ready for departure.

An excellent day.