November 2024 - Mauritius - Del II

 The second week we rented an apartment studio on the East Coast, in Trou D'eau Douce. We had the upper floor on one of the buildings, with two bedrooms, a living room/kitchen, a bathroom, and a garden-facing balcony. The complex offered some breakfast option at an additional cost, but we didn't know that when we arrived so we ended up making our own breakfast that week, mainly sandwiches, yoghurt with cereal, and fruit. While we had direct access to the beach, it had a lot of small boats close to the shore since it was one of the drop-off points going to/from Île aux Cerfs, an island just off the coast which was a very popular day trip destination. So we didn't go swimming there, but rather drove just five minutes North to Palmar public beach, a very long, pretty beach with pine trees and few tourists. 

Fried noodles at one of the local restaurants, chili and garlic sauce in the containers

Palmar beach, as well as a big part of the East Coast, has a reef off the coast where the waves break, which makes for calm and child friendly waters near the beach as well as excellent snorkeling opportunities. The size of the beach meant it was rarely crowded, though some parts of the area filled up with locals during the weekends. The locals often go for full days or even weekends by the beach, bringing tables, chairs, tents, barbecues and lots of food - and of course, all of their family and friends and music. It was really nice to see - generally, we found the East Coast to be less touristy, and it was a nice experience to feel like just that - a tourist and a visitor among the local population, rather than the population mainly consisting of tourists.

In our village there was a nice mix of restaurants and local food places, but for some reason many of them were closed on many of the days when we were there. Except for one or two restaurants that had their opening hours online, it seemed to be very random which ones were open on which days, and sometimes we had to go around looking for a long time or even go back to place we didn't really like just to get something to eat for dinner. We did manage to score some excellent ones though, and a lot of fish, fried noodles and boulettes.

This week we also took the opportunity to go on more excursions:

First we went to Sept Cascades also known as Tamarind Falls. This route consisted of a series of waterfalls, and was very popular among tourists who went on tours where they rappelled down. We went for the walking option and had a really nice time, and of course took a swim as well. As you might expect, the view was fantastic. The only lunch restaurant nearby that we could find had only set menus, which we were skeptical to first since it felt a bit much, but we got to try several local foods as well as a really nice dessert of coconut tapioca pudding with peach ice cream. We also went to Alexandra Falls, located in the Black River Gorges National Park where we were almost alone on the hike. We saw some monkeys as well in the forest by the parking lot, which was a fun addition.

The next day we went to Île aux Cerfs, which is the main tourist excursion to make from this area. The boat prices vary a lot even though it just takes 10 minutes; we opted to book from our hotel to ensure that we would be picked up and dropped off at the public beach near our accommodation. Once we arrived at the island, they tried to sell a range of activities, including glass bottom boats, water rings or paragliding, and a boat tour to the GRSE waterfall, all which we opted out of. We were more interested in finding a quiet spot on the beach, but we had to walk quite a bit to get away from the crowds. It was nice, but we found the beaches on mainland to be much prettier. Nothing special, definitely okay to miss. We also brought lunch with us which we bought in the village on mainland, since we had heard the food options on the island were few and expensive. We had roti with curries, where the tomato one was fantastic. We bought this for lunch on several occasions since it was very cheap, the only downside was that the carton packaging somewhat disintegrated during the day from the warm curries, so it was not super easy to eat. Still very good!

Then we visited Bras D'eau national park, a nature area with surprisingly few tourists. A walking trail in the forest, nice an calm and plenty of different landscapes. After a hike, we went to a local village where we saw a hindu temple, had lunch at a local food wagon and accidentally ordered a huge seafood platter (although it was very good). They also served sea urchins which seemed to be very popular among locals, although we didn't try it.

Our next excursion started with a visit to Grand Riviere South Est Falls (GRSE), the waterfall which is most often visited by boat from Île aux Cerfs tour. However, we drove and parked just 200m away, to walk and see it from above which I highly recommend. It was a really nice waterfall, and if we had known we probably would have brought swimwear and stayed a bit longer. There was also a family of monkeys jumping across which was a nice treat to see. We saw several boats below, waiting their turn to go to the front of the waterfall, and try to take their picture in the swaying boat while getting a light shower from the waterfall. And we were quite happy that we weren't one of them! After, we went to La Vallée de Ferney where we did quite a long hike. When we got back we bought some homemade juice drinks - passion fruit, and tamarind, which was a very nice way to cool off and replenish some energy.

The next day we did some more relaxing. We mainly stayed on the nearby beach, and just did a small visit to Mare La Chaux, Flacq, an old sugar mill in a nearby village. It was completely empty, and not much there really but it was a very photogenic space and we saw some pretty flamboyant trees. We also went to a local market, which seemed mostly empty except for a fruit/veg section, and a food section. We picked out some local juice, some roti with curry, and several deep fried snacks with different vegetables in, which was very good! The rest of the day was spent on the beach, and we got a nice treat finding several trees filled with flying foxes.

Our last excursion we saved for the final day of our trip. Our flight wasn't until the evening, so we did an early start and set out for the South West corner and Le Morne Brabant, one of Mauritius main tourist attractions. While we unfortunately couldn't hike to the top of the mountain and have a chance to see the famous underwater falls, we spent some time at the beach, and walked along a long beach filled with resorts to get a nice view of Le Morne. Then we drove onwards to Blue Bay Beach; it's also a quite touristy place but the location very close to the airport was very convenient for us. There are plenty of food options there, but unfortunately not so much shade except for the far corner of the beach, which we sought out to escape the heat. We spent last few hours there, did one last snorkeling and some relaxing before going to the airport and heading home.

Overall the way back went quite smoothly, A slept almost the whole first flight but was a bit restless during the second flight. And of course, a lot of hours to pass at Istanbul.

Generally we had a very nice vacation, I could definitely recommend to go - although as we have now been once, I don't feel it's a place we will return to. And that's all for this time!

November 2024 - Mauritius - Del I

 Time for a new destination and new adventures. As we find our priorities and planning for travelling changes a lot with a kid, Mauritius is probably not somewhere we'd pick just for the two of us - however, given the kind-of-reasonable travel time (3h + 10h flights), lack of tropical diseases, and small time difference (3h), this is where we ended up to get a dose of tropical-ness and escape from the Swedish almost-winter. And, I will say it was a good choice!

In total we spent two weeks on the island, and this first part will be for week one. Probably on the shorter side since we spent many days just relaxing on the beach or by the pool. This first week we had booked a small hotel in the North West part of the island, in the area Grand Baie. While not the most touristy area on the island, there were still plenty of hotels and a bunch of restaurants to choose from, while the local street food was slightly more sparse. Our hotel offered a nice breakfast with some local food options such as crêpe with smoked marlin, omelet with shallots and chili and fresh fruits and juices. We had a nice ocean view from our balcony, a warm swimming pool and a path directly down to the beach. Plenty of cute lizards and geckos and some curious birds visited our balcony (and sometimes room) along with the occasional cockroach and spider (much preferred the lizards, but they didn't really bother us so it was okay).

"our" beach

local birds very interested in our breakfast

the breakfast in question

During the first couple of days, the weather was a bit unstable (rainy and windy) due to a cyclone which luckily got downgraded to a storm before it passed a bit off the coast of the island. It was still good enough that we could spend mornings and afternoons at the beach and by the pool. While A had been unfortunate to catch a fever the day before we left, when she recovered she absolutely loved going swimming in the warm water (ocean around 26 degrees, pool slightly warmer) as well as playing on the beach, so it was easy to enjoy the days and take the opportunity to relax and get some well-needed rest.

For lunch we usually either went to the local super market to get fresh baguettes, cheese, fruit and vegetables (and some croissants from the bakery next door) to make sandwiches, or went over to the public beach to buy something from the local food wagons. Common street food dishes included fried noodles (mine frites), boiled noodles (mine bouille), fried rice, samosas, magic bowl (bol renverse - rice, meat and veg in gravy, and a fried egg placed in a bowl and then turned upside down onto a plate) and more, with seafood, egg, chicken and lamb being the most common types of protein (often in combination). Depending on the day of the week, sometimes other specialty food wagons would open up to serve boulettes ( kind of dumplings) and farata (roti/flatbread with some filling and rolled up). 

boulettes

bol renverse

As you can tell from the food names, the heritage from being a French colony is apparent in being one of the main languages spoken as well as some food items, while one of the main food influences stem from the big immigration of Indian population during the 1800s. As it was for a while a British colony as well, they are driving on the left side of the road which of course takes some getting used to.

During this first week we mainly did one excursion, to the Pamplemousses area where we visited the national botanical gardens, a big park with lots of different kinds of trees, as well as water lilies and lotuses. As with most nature areas trying to attract tourists on the island, there was also an enclosure for giant tortoises, once native to the island but now seemingly imported from Seychelles. While A appreciated any kind of animal we would show her, me and Valle were more excited about the (wild) chameleon which came walking across the path and we had the opportunity to admire briefly before it was unfortunately spotted by a guided group of tourists and then put on display on a stick.

Another rainy day, we drove along the North coast but didn't find any particularly amazing sights. We also spent an afternoon in the capital, Port Louis, where we went to the famous Central Market and walked around for a bit. The market was quite nice in that it felt like we were in South East Asia again with a very similar vibe. It did however feel like they sold almost exactly the same things, with the exception of all the dodo-related souvenirs as Mauritius is indeed the island where this bird existed once upon a time. When we walked around in the city, heading from the market up to the cathedral, there were a lot of local food places that looked very nice - if we hadn't already had lunch, we would have loved to explore these local eateries that felt much more authentic than the tourist oriented restaurants near the market and the waterfront.

For dinner in the evenings, we alternated between the available restaurants and had some very good Indian, Thai, and local food. We always opted for fish, seafood or vegetarian and had some really good curries.

That's about it for week one! Tune in for next post, where we did some more adventures and excursions being based on the East coast.

Januari 2024 - Teneriffa, Spanien - Del II

 On our transit day, we the spent the few hours in between check-out and check-in at Charco Verde. Our second accomodation was a cute little house in a village called El Palmar. It was much more spacious than the other place, perfect for A to crawl around and play, a very well-equipped kitchen, but then with a less cozy location and yard - not the lush and green of the finca. After having spent the first week in El Tanque and getting a bit familiar with the area, I think it would have been nice to spend the second week somewhere nearby or further east. El Tanque was the starting point for the highway on this side of the island and therefor a kind of gateway to all the beautiful places we had visited and wanted to see more of, like Anaga parque. With that said, we had a great week in El Palmar as well and there were certainly enough hiking trails nearby to keep us busy - including the one which turned out to be one of our favorites of the whole trip.

Our first day in El Palmar we went on a hike that started in the village and took us to another small village called Teno Alto. Once again we had spectacular views and very varying nature along the way. Teno Alto had two small restaurants, both filled with tourists hiking, cycling, or just driving there to look at the view from a bit further down the street. The one we picked turned out to also have some live music, which A loved. We tried escaldón, a chickpea stew with small pieces of meat, fries with fried egg, and the traditional smoked, fried cheese with mojos and blueberry jam. 

escaldón & smoked cheese

The next day was a bit cloudy and windy; we decided to do a hike which started in Teno Alto and ended by Punta de Teno, a rocky beach with a lighthouse, and a popular place to view the great cliffs of Los Gigantes. It is also possible to go there by bus, but you aren't allowed to drive yourself except early morning or late afternoon. I think we agreed that this was the least exciting hike - not at all a bad one, but not as exciting as the others - we were also a bit disappointed that we weren't able to get up close to the lighthouse, as it had been closed off. Perhaps on a less windy day, a swim here could have been nice.

Punta de Teno

Los Gigantes

Our third day, we drove to Buenavista del Norte, the closest larger village, by the coast, with plenty of charcos and beaches to choose from. We spent some time at a sandy beach for once for A to play a bit, but later moved to a rocky beach instead. The afternoon was cloudy as well, so we picked up some snacks before heading back to our house.

The next day we did one of the most, if not THE most, spectacular hikes of this trip. The hiking trail was on a ridge going out to a viewpoint on a mountain called Sima. The view both along the trail and at the viewpoint were indeed fantastic, and though we were very high up, we thought we could spot some dolphins as we saw the whale watching boat tours flock around spots where the water glittered just a bit more than anywhere else. On our way back, it looked like we could take another trail to arrive directly at a café, but the trail turned out to be overgrown and the sun had somehow become scorching, so we had to abandon that idea and get the car. Arriving at the café, Cruz de Hilda - a very popular spot for  tourists to look out over Masca Valley, we cooled off a bit with ice before heading back.

View from Cruz de Hilda

To rest our feet a bit, we took another day by the coast as we drove down to the Los Silos area and walked eastward. We stopped by some charcos for a dip in the water, but soon clouds filled the sky and we walked around the village waiting for a restaurant to open. It turned out to be a bit of a nicer place (although not too expensive), with many tables already reserved, especially the ones looking out over the water). We enjoyed (and A especially) croquettes and seafood paella, and the rain lasted about as long as our dinner.

Our last full day on Tenerife we drove to Cruz de Hilda to hike another ridge to another summit, Risco Verde. The temperature had dropped quite a bit and was around 14C and windy. We didn't mind much, but as we got close to the summit it quickly got very windy and cloudy, and unfortunately we only got a quick glance of the otherwise fantastic view all the way to the south coast. The way down to the car was cold, windy and rainy, so once we got back to the car we drove down to the coast to escape the rain. It was still quite windy, but we enjoyed watching the huge waves crash against the rocks for a while.

On the final day, we stopped for a quick walk in a pine forest before heading to the airport. In the forest, it was around 10C as the temperature had dropped further, but on the south side of the island near the airport it was sunny 25C. We were a bit out of luck as our flight got cancelled and we were crammed in on the plane to Oslo instead, where we had to go out into the snowy -15C to get to our next plane to Copenhagen, only to arrive with the message that the checked in bags had not made it. But, at least we got home only a few hours later than planned and our bag was delivered a few days later, so all in all, it went okay. A was not having a great time on the plane to Oslo (and therefore, neither was I) but we made it. 

And overall, we felt super happy with how the trip turned out. Fantastic nature, beautiful hikes and views, good food, and better weather than we expected on most days.