Reunion
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Tue 27 Oct 2015 22:34
| Reunion is nowadays a French Départment Outre-Mer; fully French and part of the EU like Martinique. It has 800 000 people and appalling traffic. The islanders grow sugar cane and many vegetables but it cannot be economically viable. Pictures taken as recently as the 1960s show it looking rather like Vanuatu - dirt poor. It seems like that it is EU money which is responsible for its current renaissance and although still poor by comparison with metropolitan France it is noticeably better off than Mauritius. About 35% of the population are white, most of the rest Creole and with significant Indian and Malagasy minorities. A real melting pot - a point made by several (white) French people that we met who had moved to the island because they actively preferred the multicultural environment in which to bring up their kids. They thought they were growing up more open minded and easy going than their contemporaries back in European France. Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope for the world? But Reunion, though a volcanic island, is utterly different to Mauritius. It is about the same size, but is much younger - at most 3 million years. It has spectacular mountains rising to over 3000m and, in the Piton de la Furnaise, one of the world’s most active volcanos. There are over 1000km of well maintained walking trails (that’s over a 1000km more than Mauritius) and on the upper part of the island the native forests have escaped destruction so the botany is very interesting. VS arrived at Le Port. Here we are in the new marina. In the background is the French Polar Institute’s supply vessel-cum-cruise ship. France claims only a tiny sliver of Antarctica, but has a huge oceanic territory created by its ownership of several small islands in the Southern Ocean.  The capital is Saint Denis in the north. Here it is, or more accurately, here are a shots of the few nice old buildings that have survived:   The first is a merchant’s house; the island prospered with sugar. On the right is the result - a huge bank, needed because there was a big economy, a long long way away from the central bank in France. And below, the Prefecture, just like any other French Departement:  And the Town Hall and First World War memorial, and lastly the tourist office:   Sadly that was about it for nice old buildings. This being real France though meant that things in short supply across the Indian Ocean were readily available - real croissants, crêpes with genuine Normandy cider, etc, etc. Civilisation again. But the main reason most tourists come here is the mountains - see next entry. |