Tourism in Réunion

Tourism is an important part of the economy of Réunion, an island and French overseas departement in the Indian Ocean. Despite its many tourism assets, the island's tourist attractions are not well known.

History

The discovery of the island

The island has been inhabited since the 17th century. As a stop on the route des Indes, it was visited by sailors, diplomats and explorers. It was also popular with naturalists such as Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent. It was almost by accident that Charles Baudelaire stayed there for several weeks in 1841. Difficult to reach before the advent of commercial flight, it took a long time before being featuring on the tourist circuit. Travel was also difficult on the island itself. Before the Réunion railway was built in 1882, it took two days to cross the island from Saint-Denis to Saint-Pierre. Only intrepid hikers made the several-day expedition to see the active volcano Piton de la Fournaise.Creole families from the west explored the more accessible (but still wild) sites such as Bernica and the Saint-Gilles Ravine, as recorded in the poems of Leconte de Lisle. The painter Antoine Roussin published L'Album de l'île as a series of installments in 1857. He was Réunion by adoption and these paintings gave an idea of the landscape and the most popular sites on the island during the second half of the 19th century.

Réunion

Réunion (French: La Réunion, IPA: [la ʁeynjɔ̃]; previously Île Bourbon) is an insular region of France located in the Indian Ocean. It is situated east of Madagascar and about 175 kilometres (109 mi) southwest of Mauritius, the nearest island. As of 2014, its population numbered 844,994 inhabitants.

The island has been inhabited since the 17th century, when people from Europe (mostly France), Madagascar and Africa settled there. Slavery was abolished on 20 December 1848 (a date celebrated yearly on the island), after which indentured workers were brought from South India, among other places. The island became an overseas department of France in 1946.

The local language, spoken by the majority of the population, is Réunion Creole. The official language is French.

Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France. Like the other four overseas departments, it is also one of the 18 regions of France, with the modified status of overseas regions, and an integral part of the Republic with the same status as those situated on the European mainland. Réunion is an outermost region of the European Union and, as an overseas department of France, a part of the Eurozone.

Réunion (card game)

Réunion is a historical German 10-card point-trick game for three players using a 32-card French-suited piquet pack. Players who cannot follow suit must trump. Otherwise the game can be described as a simplified version of Skat, but is also reminiscent of Euchre.

Rules

Aces are high. The Jack of trumps is elevated to the highest rank and known as the right bower. The Jack of the other suit that is the same colour as the trump suit is also considered a member of the trump suit. It is the second highest trump and known as the left bower. The right and left bower are worth 12 card-points each. The two Jacks of the opposite colour stay in their normal suit and retain their normal ranks and card-point values. The last trick is worth another 10 points, resulting in a total 150 points in the deal.

After shuffling and cutting, the dealer turns up the bottom card to determine the trump suit. Each player receives 10 cards in batches of 3–4–3. The dealer also takes up the remaining two cards including the turn-up card, then discards two cards face-down. The dealer must not discard any aces or the left or right bower.