High on the caldera

After a relaxing night, the alarm goes off at 7:30 a.m. Yes, you read that right, in the middle of the night. But if you want to see something of the country and its people, you have to get up early. At 8:00 a delicious national breakfast awaits us in the sunshine on the terrace. Everything is homemade, from the bread and jams (pineapple, guava and papaya) to the yogurt. Fresh juice and chopped fruit round off our vitamin cure. Add a delicious coffee and the day can begin. At 11:30 we finally ride from the farm in our Renaults towards Salazie. Today the first of the three valleys is on our program.

The Cirque de Salazie.

Facts:

It is the largest of the three valleys around the Piton des Neiges and also the greenest with dense and lush nature. It rains frequently here and the valley is criss-crossed by streams and waterfalls. The valley, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is about six kilometers long and seven kilometers wide.

We want to hike, which is what everyone does here. Thanks to detailed studies in the Rother hiking guide, there are 3 hiking routes to choose from: one takes at least 4 hours, one 6.30 hours and one 4 days, and all of them involve at least 700 meters of elevation gain. And if you remember, my poor preparation for being a mountain goat made me a little worried. That's why the 3 tours were immediately ruled out. The decision was made to go for an easy introductory tour around a lake.

Sea at Poule d'Eau

The hike was initially very rocky with a slight incline (I would say comparable to our road at home).

Thank God we accidentally walked in the opposite direction to the one described, because walking up this stone path is easier than walking down.

Since the probability that we will come here again is very low, we drove the only serpentine road (there is no other one) that leads into the Cirque de Salazie, to the end, to the village - Hell Bourg

Facts:

A small village in the municipality of Salazie, the village is located about 930 meters above sea level in the caldera of the Cirque de Salazie. It was named after the former admiral and island governor. Hell-Bourg has been one of the 150 most beautiful municipalities in France since 1999.

In the 1830s, Europeans discovered thermal springs near the future village and so Hell-Bourg was founded as a small but prosperous spa town and thrived as such for more than a hundred years.

In 1890, the village finally received access to a road. Then, around 1920, the water temperature dropped, so that the water had to be artificially heated using stoves. Finally, in 1948, a cyclone caused a landslide that blocked the thermal springs (as well as the roads leading to Hell-Bourg). An attempt to clear the springs using explosives failed catastrophically and led to a partial collapse of the spa. Thus, the spa became history (source Wikipedia).

The journey home was a bit tiring. The winding roads in the dark and the strange driving of the French were a challenge.

We end the evening with typical Creole food in the restaurant Le Reflet des Iles.