Local time: January 27, 2014
The first sightseeing of the day is a helicopter tour.
あらかじめ予約していた「HELILAGON」という会社のサービス。
It is not difficult to go to the helipad in the northeast of the island by myself because I rented a car, but it takes one hour from the hotel to the helipad because I took a hotel without researching well first.
The reservation was at 9 am, so we left the hotel after 7 am. We had breakfast at a gas station along the motorway. As in the case of mainland France, I guessed that they would have croissants, pain au chocolat and coffee.
To get to the heliport, turn off the ramp to Saint-Gilles-les-Bains and go in the opposite direction to Saint-Gilles-les-Bains.
However, from the middle of the road, there was no paving at all and it was a big bare stone road. We were very worried whether there was really a helipad here or not, but there was a proper helipad without any problem and we could arrive safely even though it was a little difficult to drive.
Now, there is a nice office at the heliport in Heliragon where we booked.
I showed them the PDF file that was issued after I made my reservation and started boarding… Unfortunately, I was told that I couldn’t see the main attractions, the valley of Sillaus and the volcano of Piton de la Fournaise, due to bad weather.
It was too bad, so I asked if I could change the date, and he said yes, so I decided to postpone it to two days later, on the 29th at 8:00.
As for the weather in the mountains, it’s all about luck. The weather in the area where the heliport is located is very nice, though.
So I woke up early, but I didn’t have enough time to do anything, so I headed to the town of Saint-Gilles-les-Bains, where I planned to go after the helicopter.
At this point, the temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius and the sun was shining strongly, so even if you walked around the city normally, you would soon be sweating.
The town of Saint-Gilles-les-Bains is the best resort on Reunion Island, but well, it’s about time Reunion is not as good a resort as its neighbor Mauritius. Instead, it has some attractive spots: three valleys, a 3000m mountain, and an active volcano.
But it’s still a bit plain…
Speaking of Saint-Gilles-les-Bains, I thought it was a beach, but I wasn’t prepared to swim at the beach, so I decided to go to the aquarium I found while wandering around in the car.
But what a day off on Monday….
It was so hot that I didn’t feel like going out, so I took a break and drank a cola at a cafe right in front of the aquarium.
After this I bought a swimsuit here at a shop in town. I don’t swim in the sea, but there is a pool in the hotel, because I wanted to swim here. Let’s go in as soon as I get back.
As it was 12 o’clock while we were relaxing in the cafe, shopping and exploring, we decided to have lunch here.
We had Creole food again on this day. But it is like a basic curry.
Today we had chicken curry. It was cooked very crudely (in short, full of bones), but it was very tasty.
We were exhausted from the heavy travel on the first day and the difference in temperature between Tokyo and Tokyo, which was probably more than 20 degrees Celsius, so we left Saint-Gilles-les-Bains at around 14:00 and returned to Saint-Pierre, where our hotel was located, after 15:00.
After napping for about an hour and a half, I changed into the swimsuit I had just bought, swam in the hotel pool, and opened my Mac by the pool to organize the photos I had taken.
After that, I took a nap to heal my fatigue again.
We didn’t go out that night, but stayed in the hotel room and had a beer and some snacks from the supermarket in Saint-Gilles-les-Bains.
The local beer, Fischer, was very good. The only thing that bothered me was the picture of a child drinking out of a beer mug. It might not be possible in Japan.
Then I went to bed around 11pm. I was able to sleep well because I exercised lightly at the pool.
I also took a nap after a long day of sightseeing, so I think I was able to get enough tiredness.
さて、翌日は、レユニオンでも人気スポットのシラオスに行く予定。天気はどうなるのか。(続き)
