Are we in Europe?

Day 41 - Mahebourg (Mauritius) to Saint-Gilles (Réunion)

We had an early afternoon flight so M explored Mahebourg before we left for the airport, checking out the waterfront promenade as well as the lively local market. 

The flight to Réunion was 50 minutes, we spent more time at the airport than in the air, though we we were able to take advantage of the Air Mauritius lounge which was modern and a relaxing place to wait.

On our arrival into Roland Garros airport we went to pick up our hire car. The girl serving us had just spent a year in Australia and was interested in know what we were doing in Réunion.

We drove to a nearby shopping centre to get a sim card, what a cultural shock! We felt like we'd been transported to Europe. It was very modern and the supermarket was one of the largest we'd ever seen. K when shopping for bearnaise sauce, her go-to purchase whenever she's in Europe. We found the supermarket so busy that it was quite overwhelming. As we still had a 40 minute drive ahead of us and we didn't want to arrive in a new place in the dark we left to get to Saint Gilles.

We were very surprised by the size and condition of the roads  and the modern buildings. We had expected Réunion to be like Mauritius but it appeared very different. We took the Nouvelle Route du Littoral (New Coastal Road) which was over the water and parallel to the coast, quite an impressive road (and Melbourne can't even get a train from the airport to the city!).

We arrived into Saint Gilles at dusk after negotiating narrow, one way streets and a carpark designed for matchbox cars. We checked in and decided to have a quick look around, we turned right from our hotel to find that we were staying right next to a delightful marina with lots of bridges, restaurants and bars. 

We chose a low key place near the water where the menu specials included kangaroo! Using google translate K explained to the waitress that in Australia it's not something we eat ourselves, instead we feed  it to our pets!

The sun setting over the ocean and the pretty twinkling marina lights were a beautiful setting for the best pasta carbonara that K had ever tasted. We felt that we had stumbled upon a tiny pocket of the French Riviera.