Dialog - Réunion

Our vacation on Réunion island.

Starting at Karlsruhe main station, taking the TGV to Paris from where our flight left (which was faster than flying from Frankfurt!). After an 11 hour overnight flight we landed safely on Réunion, picked up our rental car and headed towards La Saline-les-Bains on the island's west coast where we had our apartment.

Our first exhibition lead us southwards towards Saint-Pierre and from there via the only road to cross the island over the mountain pass, down via the Plaine des Palmistes to Saint-Benoît and back home, passing Le Grand Brûlé (where lava flows from Réunion's active volcano into the Indian ocean) and lots of small villafes along the island's south coast.

In the Takamaka valley, famous for its waterfalls down the more than 800 meters high vertical walls covered with green vegetation.

A small trip to a series of three basins near St. Gilles les Bains. The hiking paths go alongside aqueducts, one of them leading throught tunnels! On our way back we caught a glimpse of the paille en queue bird.

In Saint-Gilles-les Bains, the next bigger town, for souvenir shopping.

Driving down south to the Cap Méchant ("the malicious cape") in cloudy and windy (but nonetheless warm) weather. On the way back, we thought of visiting Entre-Deux but turned around after landing in a rain shower (and decided to come back later).

Hiking from Entre-Deux down towards the "Bras de la Plaine" river, where our travel guide advertised a natural arch made of lava stone we never saw. On the way back, we learned the meaning of rain in "rain forest", but also that most showers don't take long.

Spending a day at the beach in La Saline-les-Bains, relaxing, reading and preparing for our big trip to the "Piton de la Fournaise" volcano the next day.

One of the most exciting trips was our day's excursion to the Piton de la Fournaise (or just: "le Volcan":-)). Having gotten up early in the morning, we arrived at the parking space at the end of the "Rue de Volcan" at 10 o'clock and hiked through fog until we reached the "Cratère Dolomieu" and the sun started breaking through. If you look at satellite imagery, it all looks black and gray, but in real it's a bit more colorful.

At the "Pointe des Trois-Bassins" beach, a surfing location, with some shady places underneath trees, relaxing from our exhausting six hours hike the day before.

In the first of the cirques (collapsed former calderas) we visited, Salazie, we hiked up a very steep path to some waterfalls which didn't turn out as spectacular as we thought, and then took route 52 west towards a mountain pass where one can look down into the cirque de Mafate

The third cirque we visited was Cilaos - the trip there via N5, a road curving up the hilly region in as much as 426 serpentines, being as spectacular as the area itself.

We went to revisit the Cormorans waterfalls to experience them in nicer weather and with less people around earlier in the morning. We wanted to climb the Maïdo later that day but unfortunately weren't able to access it - a forest fire had devasted part of its surroundings two weeks earlier and the area was still closed down to the public.

After having handed back the apartment to the landlord, we walked down to beach in La Saline Les Bains once more, and headed back to the airport where our flight was scheduled for the evening. On our way we visited the reminder of the Chemin de fer de La Réunion and Saint-Denis' downtown area and waterfront walk.