Sunday, May 10

After breakfast, we drive down to St. Leu and visit the town hall, roofed with shingles made of tamarind wood.

Then we visit the pilgrimage church Notre Dame de la Salette, a beautiful church on the hillside that attracts countless pilgrims. We quickly light a few candles for the rest of our journey and head off to the next stop.

At Les Souffleurs, right by the road further south, we make a quick stop and marvel at the power of the surf, sending tall water fountains shooting up from the volcanic cliffs. Definitely worth a photo and a short break.

Around 4:00 PM, we set off on the breathtaking and only road to Cilaos, featuring over 400 curves — for us, one of the highlights of the trip! At first, the road runs alongside a river, flanked by rock walls several hundred meters high. Patched holes in the road only hint at the force with which boulders must have crashed down here during heavy rains. The steering lock of our Peugeot 206 is pushed to its limit multiple times, and when it's not quite enough, we reverse. You shouldn't be startled by unannounced, abrupt single-lane sections behind hairpin turns either, nor by oncoming traffic using your lane on the narrowest stretches. Brake, look, and hit the gas is the motto! Curves are often cut short — so watch out!

Twice we suddenly find ourselves in front of a single-lane tunnel — whoever arrives first and honks gets to go first, or the bolder one wins!

After 80 minutes of driving and much richer in driving experience, we reach Cilaos after an amazing ride and check into our hotel Le Vieux Cep. A wonderful place with an equally beautiful hotel at 1,200 m altitude, surrounded by towering mountains including the 3,070 m high Piton de Neiges. Simply fantastic... We end the day with a very sweet but also very delicious dark wine, a specialty of Cilaos. Along the roadside, you keep seeing vendors selling honey, homemade jams, and the wine, bottled in whisky bottles.

After arriving at our accommodation, we take a short tour through Cilaos. A few beautiful Creole houses line the main street, which we walk up to the church — by 6:00 PM, it was almost completely deserted. Time and again, we encounter the harmless, nearly palm-sized golden silk orb-weaver spider with its enormous webs.