#TRAVEL My Weekly Powerup | #club100 | A creole village that is worth a visit – La Réunion | #steemexclusive / 20 photos

If there is one village worth a visit on this Indian Ocean island, it has to be Hell-Bourg. The village with its many beautiful Creole buildings is located in the middle of Cirque Salazie, at an altitude of more than a 1000 metres. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains. Hell-Bourg has been on the list of the most beautiful villages in France since 1998. The island is an overseas French department. This rather small island is mountanious, which makes it a dream destination to hikers. I went to La Réunion for the third time in April this year. On my previous visits, my priorities were longer walks and the bigger cities. This time I wanted to include Hell-Bourg. That gave me an oportunity to walk around the village both in the afternoon and early morning. The best way to visit is to walk around. The streets are narrow and many are one way streets only. By walking it's easy to make stops to enjoy this charming village.

When we passed by the tourist office, we read that they organize guided tours to several of the old Creole houses. Later, when we walked around ourselves, we saw houses with this small sign on the wall. Several of the more cultural visits may include Maison Folio, which is a Creole villa. We did pass by on Sunday morning, but it was closed. However, a photo at the entrance showed that this is a magnificent building with a beauful, landscaped garden.

Hell-Bourg was founded as a spa-town, because of the discovery of hot springs. These springs had a temperature of 32 C and a fast flow of water. Soon the hot springs became known for beeing able to cure people for a variety of health problems. The thermal establisment was founded in 1852. It was at this time the creole houses were built. These baths became known outside Réunion. People came for treatment from South Africa and countries along the east coast of Africa. Unfortunatly this did not last, due to a drop of temperature in the water. From 1948 the village lost its attraction, because of this. I also read somewhere that a landslide caused by a cyclone did some damage as well. We knew that there should be ruins of this old complex and did follow the trail leading to it. At the beginning we saw some ruined walls and thought this was it. But it was not. Later I saw photos of the ruined baths. We did not see them. I think we should have continues along the trail.

Besides enjoying walking the streets, looking at the 19th century creole houses, we also went to the small church. Since it was a sunday, a service was going on, so we did not go inside the church. Instead we took a walk around the colorful cemetary, checking out names on the graves. Just in case we would find some people of importance here. (We did not).

Hell-Bourg is located in the middle of the Cirque Salazie, surrounded by mountains, as you can see on the photos. The village is therefore a good starting point for a number of trips of varying lengths and degrees of difficulty. The island's highest peak is Piton de la Neiges at 3.070 m. above sea level. From the village one can do the hike to the top as a two day hike. Then you can overnight at a mountain hut near the top and return the next day. Or you can continue to Cilaos which is located in the Cirque Cilaos. 25 years ago I did that hike to Piton de la Neiges, but as a return tour from Cilaos. This time I didn't do the hike. Just enjoyed the look at it from the streets of Hell-Bourg.

CC @patjewell

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All the photoes are mine, Ulla Jensen (flickr, Instagram and facebook)

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