Cirque de Salazie
Located about 45 kilometers from Reunion’s capital city of St-Denis, Cirque de Salazie is the largest and greenest of the island’s three natural amphitheatres. This cirque is both rugged and beautiful, best described as a long, deep canyon, lined with more than 100 magnificent waterfalls and full of hills and valleys ripe for exploration.One of the most breathtaking sites of this cirque is the towering waterfall known as Le Voile de la Mariée, its many trickles of water said to resemble the tulle fabric of a wedding gown. Get your camera ready as you’ll want to remember this sight for years to come!Once you’ve hiked the hills and gone canyoning through Cirque de Salazie’s steep gorges, you’ll want to make a stop at the cozy village of Hell-Bourg. Hell-Bourg has been the recipient of France’s coveted “most beautiful French villages” award. This enchanting little mountain town is Creole culture at its finest, boasting enchanting Creole houses and colourful flower gardens that simply delight the eye. Be sure to tour Mansion Folio, opened to the general public, and providing an excellent example of Creole architecture and Salazie lifestyle. This town was also once famous for its thermal springs, not unlike neighboring Cirque de Cilaos. Though the hot springs have disappeared, you can still visit the Hotel des Thermes in Hell-Bourg.Finding a good time to explore Cirque de Salazie can be difficult at times as the area is often covered with fog and mist. However, if your schedule is flexible and you can find a sunny day, you’ll be treated to some of the most amazing scenery on the island. As a matter of fact, most residents and seasoned travellers believe that this is indeed the most beautiful of all the cirques.
Located about 45 kilometers from Reunion’s capital city of St-Denis, Cirque de Salazie is the largest and greenest of the island’s three natural amphitheatres. This cirque is both rugged and beautiful, best described as a long, deep canyon, lined with more than 100 magnificent waterfalls and full of hills and valleys ripe for exploration.One of the most breathtaking sites of this cirque is the towering waterfall known as Le Voile de la Mariée, its many trickles of water said to resemble the tulle fabric of a wedding gown. Get your camera ready as you’ll want to remember this sight for years to come!Once you’ve hiked the hills and gone canyoning through Cirque de Salazie’s steep gorges, you’ll want to make a stop at the cozy village of Hell-Bourg. Hell-Bourg has been the recipient of France’s coveted “most beautiful French villages” award. This enchanting little mountain town is Creole culture at its finest, boasting enchanting Creole houses and colourful flower gardens that simply delight the eye. Be sure to tour Mansion Folio, opened to the general public, and providing an excellent example of Creole architecture and Salazie lifestyle. This town was also once famous for its thermal springs, not unlike neighboring Cirque de Cilaos. Though the hot springs have disappeared, you can still visit the Hotel des Thermes in Hell-Bourg.Finding a good time to explore Cirque de Salazie can be difficult at times as the area is often covered with fog and mist. However, if your schedule is flexible and you can find a sunny day, you’ll be treated to some of the most amazing scenery on the island. As a matter of fact, most residents and seasoned travellers believe that this is indeed the most beautiful of all the cirques.
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Mommy, Vivi, Seb, Gina, Steve and I all went to Salazie one fine morning. We had to wake up at 7, something very hard if you're used to waking up at 10, so we could leave at 8. Salazie is about 2hrs from our house so we didn't want to leave too late. The view along most of the drive is so beautiful as you're driving through the mountains and there are waterfalls everywhere. After arriving in Hell-Bourg we decided to walk around town as typical tourists. Everything is so cute and perfect. We also wanted to go to Mansion Folio so we thought we'd walk around, have lunch and then visit there before it closed at 5. Even though it was boiling hot we had fun walking around town taking pictures at whatever caught our fancy. Every time we passed through a woody or more plant covered area Vivi and I would get attacked by mosquitoes. It was really quite annoying. Thankfully we had brought some spray so we regularly doused ourselves and tried to ignore the pests. After all that fun walking we went to a cozy little diner to eat lunch. We ordered mostly Creole dishes and sipped our punch while we waited to be served. When the lady brought out the food we were so surprised at the quantity! Well, who's to say no when it's such good food? We ate and talked, and ate some more. When we finally had enough we asked her to put the leftover in a dogie-bag. We were having so much fun all talking together. Mommy, Gina, and I would act as translators between Seb/Vivi and Steve. Steve spoke English and they spoke French so there was a lot of back and forth. We had so much fun at the resto that we lost track of time and ended up being there till 4:40 and by then it was too late to go to Maison Folio--to bad!
Mommy, Vivi, Seb, Gina, Steve and I all went to Salazie one fine morning. We had to wake up at 7, something very hard if you're used to waking up at 10, so we could leave at 8. Salazie is about 2hrs from our house so we didn't want to leave too late. The view along most of the drive is so beautiful as you're driving through the mountains and there are waterfalls everywhere. After arriving in Hell-Bourg we decided to walk around town as typical tourists. Everything is so cute and perfect. We also wanted to go to Mansion Folio so we thought we'd walk around, have lunch and then visit there before it closed at 5. Even though it was boiling hot we had fun walking around town taking pictures at whatever caught our fancy. Every time we passed through a woody or more plant covered area Vivi and I would get attacked by mosquitoes. It was really quite annoying. Thankfully we had brought some spray so we regularly doused ourselves and tried to ignore the pests. After all that fun walking we went to a cozy little diner to eat lunch. We ordered mostly Creole dishes and sipped our punch while we waited to be served. When the lady brought out the food we were so surprised at the quantity! Well, who's to say no when it's such good food? We ate and talked, and ate some more. When we finally had enough we asked her to put the leftover in a dogie-bag. We were having so much fun all talking together. Mommy, Gina, and I would act as translators between Seb/Vivi and Steve. Steve spoke English and they spoke French so there was a lot of back and forth. We had so much fun at the resto that we lost track of time and ended up being there till 4:40 and by then it was too late to go to Maison Folio--to bad!
We stopped by the place just to make sure, but we were definitely too late. Oh well, we went to a little cathedral and further from the town we stopped at a lake. On the way home we passed by Cascade Niagara, a really awesome waterfall. I think even though we missed going to Maison Folio we had a fun time in Hell-Bourg. 
Voile de la Mariée
Voile de la Mariée
Waiting for cars to pass
Me and Steve in front of the Voile de la Mariée 
Me, Gina, and our sister Virginie (or Vivi). The barrier was a funny height and we had a hard time getting up to sit on it. Gina had a dress and Vivi had a semi-tight skirt so it was real funny to watch them climb and try to sit. But we managed to take the photos anyway.
Petit caz. Some of the cute houses we saw while walking through the town.
Gorgeous view of the surrounding mountain peaks. You just look up and they're all around surrounding the village.
Me and Gina--Happy to be alive and eating such wonderful food. French people love eating and drinking, just get used to it.
The fooooooood!!!
Cascade Niagara
2 comments:
whoa....it was like reading a Wikipedia entry:P
The pics look lovely, and the little creole village sounds beautiful! I love places like that!
La Reunion is like a little bit of Heaven...complete with angels/the Caroni's :D
Oh my, I'm so sorry. I didn't finish this post that's why it's abrupt and incomplete. I'll put more photos and fix it up.
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