reunioncurios
reunion curios 2008
PRICES in Euros:
-gas: 1.5 €/liter
-room in a bed & breakfast: 40€/double room
-dinner for 2: 30€
-rent a car: 300€/week
-AirAustral: Paris to Saint-Denis 722€ with very decent service
-Both flights to Saint-Denis and back are at night (~12 hr long)
-Reunion island was "discovered" in the 16th century and until then had been uninhabited.
-The archipelago, named mascarenhas is comprised by reunion, mauritius and rodrigues islands .
-most of the people are white french: in Saint-Denis we saw more variety.
-The Chinese minority is very invisible
-The whole Island is made for hikers
-the client is NEVER right -smoking is very pervasive -artisan french baguettes, croissants and pain au chocolate taste like those in the metropole -the coffee is as bland as in the USA
-the Barechois in Saint-Denis has some decent roulottes to eat outdoors, but nothing beats the waterfront in Papete (Tahiti).
-creole cuisine was a very nice surprise: a degustation menu consisted of duck with roasted sauce, saussice with another roasted sauce with tomato and fish with still another sauce. Side dish was lentils and rice. We added the rougail sauce to spice up the rice!
-credit card system is patchy: the same card may or may not work in the same establishment on two consecutive days -tourists are essentially french -traffic is heavy in the west coast -the mountain slopes close to the coast are densely populated -the only dodo found in the island is the local beer bottle label
-based on our experience regarding tropical islands go to reunion if you want mountains to hike, go to tahiti if you want rainforest and go to kauai if you want it all easy (including an starbucks)