Day 82, Tuesday, March 27, 2018 La Possession, Reunion

Today is the second of three sea days, between Reunion Island and Mapoto, so I guess I better catch y’all up on the going’s on and what we did on Reunion, which was wonderful, by the way. 

We found that everything that was missing on the Seychelles was here on Reunion, the beauty of the island, and the care the people have for their island. You can tell the influences of the EU. Not a big tourist island, but there working on it,,,, working, is the optimum word here, everyone was working and it was evident by all the work on the infrastructure, and we had one of the best meals we have had on the whole cruise.  Do you think we liked it? 

The tour we took, took us all the way around the island. We started in La Possession a tiny port on the north side of Reunion, was originally settled in the 1600s, the British used it as an entry point when they took over the island in 1810. Today it is known as the gateway to the Cirque de Mafate, the  ‘caldera’ ( collapse cone of a volcano) that was once a refuage for runaway slaves, and is now a mecca for hikers. One of the worlds most active volcanos, it last erupted in 2006. Lucky we didn’t see an eruption, but we did see a lot of the island. 

We went to a beautiful botanical garden, and this time I loved it, it was like what one migh have imagined the garden of Eaden might have been like, so serene and beautiful, not groomed and manicured, like the one on the Seychelles. 

 

Our guide, we had two, the one from the bus, who spoke English and the one from the garden who only spoke French, showed us what uncut looked like a small peach, but when you cut it, you have a nutmeg. We also saw the orchid that you get vanilla beans from, but they are not in season right

  

This was the most groomed path, the orchid that grows vanilla is way up in this tree

 

This was called a black widow orchid, not sure why, we never, heard the reason, I guess I will look it up when I have WiFi. 

Anyway then it was on to the volcano. 

 
It is hard to show the scope of the lava flow, it was a lot! 

Then on to lunch, and a beautiful place by the sea to eat. 

 

This was the back yard of the restaurant Etoile De Mer where we ate

  

This was our afternoon rest stop. 

 We arrived back at the ship in time for the sail away party, that the CEO of Holland America through for the whole ship, nothing like free drinks and live music to bring out the best in people, we all had a great time, reminded Ed and I of the New Years Cruise we took. 

Quote:  “ The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.”  - Sir Richard Francis Burton