THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS! HIVA OA

This morning, departure at 6:30am from the Pension to the airport of Tahiti Faa’a.

The journey to the Marquesas will be very long: about 4 hours by plane!

Actually, the French Polynesia is as vast as Europe. If you put Tahiti in the place of France, then the Marquesas Islands are in the place of Finland!

So, first we had a journey from Papeete to Nuku Hiva with a plane of Air Tahiti which was quite big. Then, we took another plane (very small: 20 persons) to go from Nuku Hiva to Hiva Oa!!! During this second journey (about 15mn time flight) we had rather a bumpy ride!!!

Here is the picture of the first plane:

Here is the picture of the second plane:

HIVA OA... is the island of the Marquesas whch had been chosen by Paul Gauguin and Jacques Brel to spend the rest of their life... Wonderful... And we know the reason why...

We stayed at Temetiu Village. Gaby and Félicienne are two friendly and welcoming hosts. The bungalows are very comfy and the view is amazing...

Gaby drove us to the village of Atuona so that we can visit the Museum Gauguin, the Museum Jacques Brel and also the cemetery where they are buried... We will come back to the Pension by walk...

Here is the view from my bungalow:

Here are some pictures of Hiva Oa:

Here is the grave of Jacques Brel:

Here is the grave of Paul Gauguin:

Gaby and Félicienne cooked a gastronomic dinner for us: raw tuna, marinated tuna with coconut milk, basmati rice, breadfruit, Marquesas goat curry (yummy!!!), coconut pie... Yummy... I didn’t know yet but I was about to become very addicted to the Marquesas goat curry...

It’s time to go to bed... See you tomorrow...