Island Tour

A shot of Le Morne from the "other" side

From our boat tour of the east side of the island, we wanted to see more, so we chartered a tour to go more "inland."  Our driver was extremely knowledgable about his home and very proud to be Mauritian.  Needless to say we learned a lot and experienced some great "off the beaten tourist path" places.

A captivating higher view of the coast of the island where we spent most of our time

Coffee beans!  Reminded me of the coffee tour we took in Kauai: Island Coffee

An old volcano that is now an open gorge with the Chamarel waterfall

The Seven Colored Earth(s) is a natural wonder; the different colors may have been a consequence of molten volcanic rock cooling down at different temperatures

Visitors used to be able to walk on the colored earth, but too many people were taking "samples" home with them, so you can now view the area from the fenced in area

Look closely and you can see the pineapple growing, I never knew how pineapple grew until now!

A quick stop at the Rhumerie de Chamarel (rum factory)

These little guys are everywhere and absolutely stunning in color

Unfortunately the factory was not in operation this day, but it was still interesting to see the equipment

Another stunning vista

Guess what this is?  A vanilla bean, again seeing how things I enjoy grow for the first time.

I bought some dried vanilla beans from this little farm, and will be posting later how to make homemade vanilla extract from them

I couldn't resist showing some more sunset photos, truly stunning and I love how each night is different from the previous one

A very special place, very fortunate to have experienced Mauritius

Ile Aux Cerfs

The clear but choppy waters on the east coast of Mauritius

Rather then just be absolute lazy tourists and stay on the resort, we decided to venture out and explore more of Mauritius.  On the recommendation of the conceirge we chartered a small speed boat to explore the east coat of the island.  Because the weather was not really cooperating, we decided to keep close to the coast and more specifically the Ile aux Cerfs (or Deer Island.)  Part of the boat tour was to have a picnic lunch on the beach.  But to my delight I was surprised by what kind of picnic was prepared for us.  One of my favorite activities on a holiday ever!

Very fitting that the name of our boat was "Dolce Vita"

A waterfall that our speed boat had to carefully sneak around rocks to get close to

The beach where we had our picnic lunch

Even though the day was overcast we still had wonderful views

Upon arrival we were served Mauritian coffee...

First course of the "picnic" grilled local fish

Second course lobster...I have never had a picnic lunch like this!

For my vegetarian husband, a pilaf, still very tasty

Mauritius Magnific

Now that our jumping off point is the UK, we decided to take advantage of our proximity to island destinations not so easy to reach from North America.  Thus our decision to holiday in Mauritius over the Easter break.  The Republic of Mauritius is an island nation just off the southeast coast of Africa, (east of Madagascar.)  Not at all what I expected, first from the 10 hour plane trip to the extremely diverse culture we found, (ethnicities range from African, Indian, French and Chinese descent.) It all felt oddly familiar from the Creole cuisine to almost Indonesian influences I seemed to feel and see.  An island uninhabited and initially discovered by Arab sailors, rule passed from Dutch to French and later English.  An amazing feeling for me to be so south of the equator and close to Africa. 

Entrance to our resort, located on the very southwest tip of Mauritius

The UNESCO world heritage site of 'Le Morne' can be seen in the background

The beginning of a beautiful sunset 

Tucking into a Bloody Mary cocktail, getting ready for the "show"

I learned every sunset here has a unique character, and plays out like carefully planned coursed meal, with the viewer needing to savour and reflect on each one

Borough Market

 

On our past weekend in London, we finally made it to Borough Market.  An eclectic food market, I loved that you could try things "tapas" style.  Buying a drink or snack here and there.  My first purchase was a cup of mulled wine as it satisfied both my need for warmth (as this is England it is ALWAYS cold) and since it was Saturday my need for wine.  My husband found a stand where a couple of Italian guys were cooking fresh pasta, (which was a great idea for Italian fast food.)  We did not leave either hungry or empty handed.  

Borough market is split up into sections, this was a hall connecting a few of them

One of the first stands we saw upon entering

I ate one of these delicious cookies!

Graphic artwork on display in the Underground

Marina Mercato

Friday's are mercato days in Marina di Massa.  While the mercato also has clothing, shoes and other products one half is dedicated to fresh foods, (certo questo mercato Italiano.)  There is another mercato in Forte dei Marmi that I also love (this is on Wednesdays.)  You can see it here: Mercato di Forte dei Marmi  This day while it was still chilly, the beautiful sun was shining making our walk quite wonderful.

Fresh produce for sale

Mmm....cheese

Fresh seafood caught right off the shores

Baccalá, cod that is salted and dried, I am not a fan, but the large flat pieces are impressive

My favorite treat, we always get a few potato fritters to eat as we stroll

The mountains where Carrara marble is found