A trip on the island of Réunion

26 June 2013

Update by our guest Victoria Nordhagen:
“Saturday 22th we spent in Réunion. A number of us wanted to visit a mountain area on the island. A trip was arranged by Frédéric, one of our voyage crew members from Réunion. We hired a minivan and set course for the mountains. The mountain areas of Réunion are in the shape of circles. This is because there were once mountains that collapsed onto themselves and now they appear as circles in the shape of deep ravines and gorges surrounded by high mountains. The highest mountain on the island of Réunion is more than 3000m high!
The destination of our trip was the town of Cilaos. It is situated in the middle of the southernmost of the mountain circles. There is only one way in and out of the town, so to get there we had to drive all around the south coast before heading into the mountains. The mountain road was absolutely breathtaking: more than 500 turns through steep and rocky landscape and very narrow. The climax of the car ride was when we entered the mountain circle. After driving upwards into the mountains we came out of a tunnel in the mountain pass and a wonderful sight showed itself to us. On the other side of an enormous ravine the town was lying on the top of a large plateau in the middle of the mountain circle. The sun was breaking through the clouds and one could also see the enormous mountain emerging from the clouds as well. Having been at sea for a few days we were awestruck and stood for a long time just taking pictures and pointing at the wonderful sight. After a nice lunch in Cilaos, we went further into the circle to the end of the road, taking pictures along the way.
Back on the ship a very nice Creole meal awaited us and the rest of the crew, put together by our other Réunion voyage crew member, Sohini, and her mother. The rest of the night we had a great time together with some of the crew from the ‘Europa’, celebrating the last night ashore for a very long time to come.”