Smart Travels: Saint Denis

Showing posts with label Saint Denis. Show all posts

Thursday, 8 October 2020

Sentier des Cordistes from Moulin Kader

Moulin Kader is a near-derelict old mill at La Montagne which was used for making fibre similar to sisal out of kader (also known as cader or choca) leaves. It's also the start of a hike known as the Sentier des Cordistes as the path (sentier) passes by the top of the gigantic netting that is used to stop rockfalls on the Route du Littoral. These nets are installed and maintained by cordistes (rope access technicians), hence the name of the path. The Route du Littoral, which currently runs at the base of the cliff we were walking on top of, is due to be replaced by a new offshore coastal highway within the next year or two. We had amazing birds-eye views of the road under construction from certain parts of the path.

old and new coastal highways

top of rockfall netting

fastenings at top of rockfall netting (source)

Although I'd walked to the Moulin Kader picnic spot at the start of the hike before, I'd never been any further. The overgrown path was cleared by a local family during Reunion's lockdown and is now much more accessible than it was before.

looking back

some parts of the path have rough steps

looking north-north-east

part of the path

another view looking back

looking out to sea

The hike can be done as a loop, and can be of varying lengths depending on how much of it you do (we only hiked 4 kilometres, for example). For more information on the time and distance see (in French):

Randopitons
Visorando: hike starts at Grande Chaloupe

me, striding forward!

Sunday, 30 April 2017

Sentier Littoral Nord

The Sentier Littoral Nord is a 21 km-long path that extends from the western edge of Saint-Denis to Sainte-Suzanne, passing through Sainte-Marie en route. I recently had the opportunity of doing a cultural and historical walk along part of the path, which I know well from having walked, ran or cycled it many times.

we started at La Mare and finished at Village Desprez

The meeting point was at the marina at La Mare, Sainte Marie which is at the eastern end of the airport runway.

At Sainte-Marie marina, looking back towards Saint-Denis and with the red and
white chimney of the old La Mare sugar factory in the middle of the photo

Barbary fig (aka prickly pear), which looks like a hand or foot with digits

Barbary fig budding flower

Barbary fig flower

I was interested to learn that seagrapes (raisins de mer) can be eaten when they're ripe.

Some not-quite-ripe seagrapes

side view of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption church, Sainte-Marie

When slavery was abolished in 1848 the area saw the arrival of numerous indentured workers from India to work on the sugarcane plantations and they were allowed to build temples near their living areas. They often built them near the sea in order to be able to wash statues for religious ceremonies.

side view of a small Indian temple

Looking out to sea; the temple in the previous photo is just out of shot to the left.
You can se the pile of logs being stored for a future firewalking

Weaver bird nests in bamboo

we saw a panther chameleon, known locally as an endormi

Small Saint-Expédit shrines are a common sight in Reunion, where the saint has a significant folk following. Stories about the origin of his veneration vary. Decapitated statues of the saint are often found, the defacement inflicted in anger for a request not carried out, or in order to break an existing curse.

a decapitated Saint-Expedit statue

statue of Ganesh, the elephant-headed Indian god, near the entrance to another temple

the invasive Madagascar day gecko

pedestrian tunnel underneath Sainte-Suzanne lighthouse

You can read more about a separate visit to Sainte-Suzanne lighthouse here. It is the only working lighthouse in Reunion.

We finished our very informative walk a little further on from the lighthouse at an area known as Le Bocage, where we able to have a well-deserved lunch before taking a bus back to La Mare where we had left our cars.

For this and other guided visits like this you can contact Geoffrey at http://www.visitereunion.re or Les Aventuriers de l'Est on Facebook, or write to him at aventuriersdelest@gmail.com.

Saturday, 29 March 2014

Some tasteless humour

The above photo was featured in the The Telegraph's Sign Language special photo gallery on toilet humour with the caption 'The world is your urinal'. 'Sign Language' is a picture gallery where readers send in amusing photos of strange signs and bizarre translations in the UK and around the world which are published each week. Pisse en l'air is a small waterfall on Reunion, in the cirque (natural amphitheatre) of Salazie, but ironically it's not the waterfall shown, which is actually 640m-high Cascade Blanche. Pisse en l'air literally means 'piss in the air' and it is another smaller waterfall renowned for falling from a cliff onto the road - and onto your car if you happen to be driving by underneath (make sure you keep your car windows closed!).

Something else that frequently amuses non-French visitors to Reunion is Le Tampon - this is the name of a town and municipality in the south of the island, not far from the volcano.

Le Tampon logo

While 'tampon' only has one meaning in English, in French it has several meanings, including 'buffer' or 'stamp', however in this particular case no one is exactly sure of the town name's origin. There are several theories:

- Tampony is a Malagasy word which means 'viewpoint', or 'summit that can be seen from afar';

- it could come from tampon de combat, or 'shot plug', a type of stopper used to seal a projectile hole in a ship's hull during combat, and/or tampon d'écubier, which was a 'hawse-plug' or 'buckler' (a block used to stop up a hawse hole at sea);

- documents dating from 1727 mention a small river gully known as the Ravine du Tampon, so known because a tampon de hublot, or 'porthole stopper', had been placed there as a landmark.

Keeping with the theme of toilet humour, I saw this sign in the lavatory on an Air Koryo flight when I was flying back to Beijing from Pyongyang (it also featured in The Telegraph’s ‘Sign Language’ photo gallery):

Hips don't fly

Still on matters of taste, what about this on a Delhi restaurant drinks menu:

Name your poison - toxic or tonic?

Back in Reunion a restaurant in Saint Denis has these offerings on its menu:

Drop in for dinner?

For those that don’t speak French the Crotin [sic] de Chèvre Chaud should be ‘Warm Goat’s Cheese’ in English and not ‘dung’! (These photos were also featured in The Telegraph’s ‘Sign Language’ ‘Best of January 2014′ photo gallery).

Here Souris [d'agneau] (knuckle of lamb) has been translated literally as ‘mouse’:

Puts a ro-dent in your appetite?

Things have improved however, as a few years ago filet was translated thoughout as ‘net’ instead of ‘fillet’, and cabot de fond (a type of fish) was translated as ‘dog bottom’!

Related links:

Sunday, 24 November 2013

La Vallée Heureuse, Le Brûlé

At an altitude of almost 1000 metres, in a part of St Denis known as Le Brûlé, you can find La Vallée Heureuse, a beautiful 6500m2 19th-century garden inscribed as a French Monument Historique (National Heritage Site).

entrance, La Vallée Heureuse

The owner, Pascale Boyer-Vidal, inherited the garden from her grandfather, and she organises visits twice a month.

La Vallée Heureuse literally means the 'Happy Valley'.

tree ferns

Pascale is passionate about the garden in particular and nature in general and this really shines through during the visit.

grapefruit tree leaves, note the two parts (small then large)

The garden consists of three different parts: a semicircular 'pleasure' garden with azaleas, camellias, hydrangeas and tea bushes; a 'practical' garden with bamboo, fruit trees and other useful plants; and an endemic garden with indigenous and endemic vegetation typical of that found in a mid-altitude forest.

footbridge in the pleasure garden

pond in the pleasure garden

azalea flower

path, pleasure garden

Throughout the visit emphasis is placed on nature, including the observation of birds and endemic insects. Pascale explains how she fights erosion and tries to restore the environment, and how she obtains endemic species to replant.

this species of yellow bamboo looks as if
someone threw a pot of green paint at it!

Pascale standing next to some (aptly-named) giant bamboo

toadstools growing at the foot of the giant bamboo

toadstool growing on a tree

The garden also has several Ginkgo bilobas, a tree that my husband and I got used to seeing when we lived in Seoul. Ginkgos are a very unusual genus of non-flowering plants that first appeared on earth 250 million years ago; Ginkgo bilobas are the only species of the genus left and are considered living fossils. They adapt well to urban environments, as they tolerate pollution and confined soil spaces. They rarely suffer disease problems, even in urban conditions, and are attacked by few insects. For all these reasons, as well as for their general beauty, they are excellent urban and shade trees, and are widely planted along many streets in Asia.

gingko tree leaves

camphor tree

unusually on this species of plant the flower grows directly from the stem

Jambrosades originated in South-East Asia but are commonly found in Reunion, having been introduced as fruit and ornamental trees. They are also known as 'rose apple', 'water apple' or 'plum rose' in English. As a non-native species they are currently present in the garden to provide shade, and will be chopped down once the endemic plants they are shading reach adulthood.

jambrosade flower

camellia flower

The visit lasts for about two hours, and afterwards you can share a cup of tea with Pascale and taste some of her delicious home-made jam (ambarella, Costa Rican guava …).

passion fruit flower

Practical information:

If you read or understand French take a look at the Vallée Heureuse Facebook Page which has beautiful photos and also contains some practical information about visits. Pascale also makes some handicrafts, which you can see here.