Discovering Europe
Toursim - Snow and fire in the tropics
It is hard to believe that so few people were prepared to settle in Réunion when it was first colonised because it was considered an unviable place to live and of little interest. How different is the opinion of today’s visitors to the island who don’t hesitate for a second to use ‘tourist-like’ descriptions such as 'paradise' and 'country of contrasts.' And these are no exaggeration.
Réunion resembles a circle, with a circumference of around 200 kilometres. It boasts curved beaches and inlets, often with pools protected from the waves by rocks. Several hundred metres away, majestic waves test the courage and skills of even the most experienced surfers. Away from the sea and deep into the mountains you can feel a chill in the wind blowing through the foliage of a temperate country. And although it only snows once every 20 years, when it does, it falls on the Piton des Neiges – ‘the Snow Peak’ The last time it snowed, a year ago, it almost started a stampede as people took the day off to go and see the white covering, only to be turned away by the police who feared landslides.
The Peak of Burning Fire
There is fire as well as snow in the mountains. The Piton de la Fournaise (the Peak of the Burning Fire) is an active volcano and the lava from the last eruption – around two years ago – still glows in some places. Visitors must not miss out on a visit to the church of Saint Rose which is surrounded by a huge flow of lava from an eruption in 1977 that miraculously failed to destroy it. Today, in commemoration of the event, the hardened lava has been conserved to provide a place of prayer for pilgrims.
Every corner of Réunion is worth visiting, starting with the capital, Saint-Denis. It has a mix of French, Indian and Creole influences competing for attention in the same view. There are beautiful Creole cases (houses), gingerbread-style villas, elegant buildings and magnificent places of worship, including mosques, Tamil temples, Chinese temples and churches. The ’Hauts de St-Denis’ (up the hill) is full of quiet little streets tucked away between stylish buildings – like the university – dominating the waterfront.
Along the 'Côte sous le vent’, the west coast, picturesque rural areas seem to be sheltered from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Saint Paul, a village with a watermill is a place where time seems to have stood still. Further along the road are beautiful stretches of beach, Saint-Gilles-Les-Bains being one of the most popular. Head to the highlands to find yourself enveloped by the scent of geraniums. If you keep climbing, you reach the three peaks that make up the ’Pitons des Neiges’ with their many waterfalls like the Voile de la Mariée. Visitors should take the time to admire Sainte-Suzanne with its sugar-cane fields stretched out in the shadows of the exquisite Tamil temples before the mist and rain sweep in from Salazie.
Fantasia
If you are looking for vanilla the Bourbon variety is said to be the best in the world - you have to go to the south-east of the island around Basse Vallée. And on the way there, you can take advantage of the opportunity to see the region’s many lava flows in the region. The beautiful scents and colours of nature are to be found almost everywhere. There is a fantasia of tiny pink and white flowers of antigone, all types of fern, vetiver, hibiscus – which includes vanilla – not forgetting the magical, captivating aroma of ylang-ylang.
All this travelling around will leave you with a good appetite and for culinary specialities, you can stop in Saint-Paul, near to the mill, and try tenrec, a relative of the hedgehog. This is cooked in a stew or served as a curry, accompanied by local wine from the hillsides of Cilaos, or mineral water from the same area. The tibars (small bars) along the road are of a very high standard and clean and well worth a visit. Another original curry is bichiques, a round-mouthed fish that produces the Réunion equivalent of caviar and – although quite expensive – a must to sample.
