Coucou from les Saintes!

A very shaky ferry crossing took us on Monday from Pointe-a-Pitre to the cute island group Les Saintes. The islands were named Los Santos by Christopher Columbus, who arrived there on All Saints' Day of 1493. The first French settlers arrived here in 1648. Because of their strategically important position, the Îles des Saintes were fought over by the French and the British in the Battle of the Saintes; they have remained under French control since 1816.

The archipel consists of 2 inhabited islands: Terre-de-Haut (High Land) and Terre-de-Bas (Low Land) and 7 non-inhabited islands. The local population is 2850 people at a total surface of 13 km². On Terre-de-Haut Island one can also visit the Fort de Napoleon, which was distroyed by the British in and then rebuilt during the Napoleonic Era, but never saw use in battle, and was instead used as a prison.

On the way to the UCPA (the French sport association we are staying with) we met some of the most famous local: the iguana. The young ones have green colours, while the adult ones are grey-white ones. Another island inhabitant is the brown pelican, they like to relax on the boats of the fishermen in the harbour.

Next blog entry will be with some underwater images, yesterday was the first dive and it was very relaxing and beautiful under the sea surface.

La maison du cacao, Pointe-Noire

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DEDICATED to my parents: the biggest chocolate lovers and cacao addicts I know:-)

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Once in the garden of the "Maison de cacao/ House of the cacao" I was truly amazed. The cacao trees (cacaoyers in French) looked almost unreal (and so perfectly beautiful): covered from top till bottom with cocoa fruits in different colours (from green to orange or pink). Did you know that its scientific name "theoboma cocoa" means "food of God"?

Imported from Amazonia and Central America the cacao tree is indeed a special tree that not only grows in hot and humid areas, but lives in the shade of other trees. The cocoa has been produced in the French Antilles for almost 2 centuries, but now no more big plantations are left.

In the "Maison du cacao", in between the lovely cacao trees garden the cycle of cocoa production is displayed: from the cutting of the ripe fruits from the trunk with an axe, through the fermenting of the seeds in the sun and the drying process till the ready cacao paste.

We enjoyed the most the cacao-tasting session at the end of our visit. It included tasting of a fresh cacao bean, then a dried one and ending up with the best chocolate drink (cacao paste melted in water plus cane sugar) I ever had…Last but not least we tried also the "liqueur au chocolat"(mix of rhum and cocoa paste) and plenty of other home specialties.

From this Monday onwards (14-21.12) we are for a week on the archipelago Les Saintes for some diving and exploration:-)

First Caribbean impressions from sunny Guadeloupe!

It takes whole 7000 km from Europe (Paris) to get to the Caribbean (sea)! And we needed 2 more hours drive to arrive at our first accommodation: the private property "Sous le vent" with cute creole style bungalows, on the hill at the west side of Guadeloupe, next to the village Bouillante. For breakfast we were greeted by plenty of curious colourful honey suckers (colibris in French and Bulgarian) flying around in the beautiful garden with exotic plants.

Jet-lagged and with headaches we headed for some morning shopping of exotic fruits (fresh papaya, bananas, pineapple, avocado) and relaxed later on the balcony with a sweet home pet (the cat was used to the hammock already). The delicious creole lunch (on the picture: grilled fish and 2 different gratin of local vegetables) was followed by another siesta on the beach Melandure (from where the picture of the local girl comes from).

Even if it rained 3 times in the night, it got really hot already by 10am and the refreshing wind close to the coast was more than welcome. Due to the high air humidity the 28-30 degrees feel like 35-38…but we are not complaining:-)

...almost ready for the Caribbean sun in the French Antilles: Guadeloupe + Les Saintes:-)

On Friday (11.12.2009) its time for the departure to Guadeloupe: a 3,5-hour train to Paris and then a 8,5-hour-flight will take us to Pointe-a-Pitre, the capital of the "Butterfly island".

Guadeloupe has this funny nickname because of its shape of a .... butterfly. The programme includes 1 week diving at the little archipelago Les Saintes, then 9 days of sightseeing in Bouillante (next to the National Parc of Guadeloupe) and one week relaxing on/around the beaches of Saint-Francois and Sainte Anne.

Martinique, Guadeloupe and the half of the island of Saint Martin are 3 islands which are overseas French departments, in French the so called DOM: département d'outre-mer.

Below I would like to share with you some shots from my stay in Martnique in 2005. The sea colour is a dream, the underwater world is sooo amazing and all this is rounded up by the friendly local creole population and plenty of delicious local rhums (made by the natural fermentation of the sugar cane juice).

Christmas is in the air...in Munich, Bavaria!

There is something magical in the colourful decoration which lighten up the shop windows and the rest of Munich as of end of November every year. Next to some 20 Christmas markets (the famous German "Weihnachtsmärkte") the smell of cinnamon and "Glühwein"(warm spices scented wine) help your nose and mind get into the mood for the coming Christms holidays.

To be used with moderation though as the Christkindlmarkt on Marienplatz tends to get really crowded, but then some smaller and cozier like the Haidhausener weihnachtsmark offers a good alternative...

A walk in the evening in the pedestrian street (Neuhauser strasse and Theatiner strasse) is one of the best ways to discover and enjoy the beautiful lights perfomances turning the city in a real "Wintermärchen"/winter fairy tale:-)

Above you can enjoy the view at Marienplatz and it famous Christkindlmarkt from the restaurant Glockenspiel.