Saint-Denis (Réunion)

Saint-Denis is the prefecture (administrative seat) of the French island of Réunion. The island lies between Mauritius and Madagascar and has the status of a French Overseas Department and is officially an administrative division of France. The General Council and Regional Council, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Chamber of Trades and Craft Industry, the rectorate, the state university, the employment office, and the customs authority are to be found in the commune of Saint-Denis.
Saint-Denis was named in 1669 by Étienne Régnault, who later became governor of Réunion from 1665 to 1671. The settlement was named after the ship "Saint-Denis", which in 1664, as part of a fleet sailing under the flag of the French India Company, was sent to Réunion Island and then on to India. Governor Régnault arrived with the fleet from France, and established a resupply outpost on the coast at Saint-Paul, the first capital of the island.
The small 60-ton ship "Saint-Denis", which had been separated from the fleet at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, still managed to find its own way to the island, arriving in 1667. The captain of the ship, named Chanlette, was a good friend of Régnault, so the bay, the harbor, and later the city, were named "Saint-Denis" in honor of return of the lost ship. The ship was, in turn, named after Saint Denis, a third century bishop and missionary to Gaul, who was martyred with his companions Rusticus and Elentère in what would become modern-day France.
Under Mahé de Labourdonnais, then Governor of the East India Company and an important figure in the history of the island, the town of Saint-Denis replaced the former capital of Saint-Paul due to the general quality and favorable location of its harbor. Though the small settlement had just 2166 inhabitants, it had become the capital of the island and seat of the colonial government of the whole of the Mascarene islands.
In the year 1743, the first church and the new governor's palace (the modern Prefecture) were built. In 1771, a formal plan for the city was instituted. This followed the typical colonial grid pattern, with 12 streets in the east-west direction and 7 running north-south.

The administrative headquarters and warehouse of the French East India Company was established in 1773. It was built in the typical French colonial vernacular style and was later the official residence of the Governor and Prefect. In 1790, Saint Denis was incorporated as a commune, and Jean Baptiste Delestrac became its first mayor.
Saint-Denis remained only a small town, trailing behind Saint-Paul in population and Saint-Pierre in economic power. At the turn the 19th century, the city was little more than a boring bureaucratic backwater, where the most exciting activity was still taking a walk. By mid-century, however, sugar barons had begun pouring money into the local economy, and Saint-Denis blossomed into an important cultural and commercial center. In 1852, both the colonial bank and the natural history museum were founded in the city.
By the 20th century, political and economic life on the island had become directly tied to the fortunes of the capital: two world wars, malaria epidemics, and increasing cultivation of the sugar beet in Europe all lead to an economic recession in the city and on the island in general, from which it has emerged with subsidies from Paris and the European Union.
The primary ethnic groups of the city are European immigrants, former slaves, Chinese and Muslim Indian immigrants and their descendants, and créoles. The demographics are highly mixed, and ghettos of any particular ethnicity do not exist.
Well-known people from Saint-Denis include French aviation pioneer Roland Garros (1886 – 1918), the writer Marius Leblond (1877 – 1953), French politician Raymond Barre (1924 – 2007), and handballer Daniel Narcisse (1979-).

By plane

• Roland Garros AirportThe airport has daily connections to Paris and other destinations in France via Air France and Air Austral, the official airline of Réunion. Direct flights from other European destinations are not available, but there are connecting flights from Mauritius and other regional hubs.

The international airport for Réunion is Roland Garros.
The airport has a shuttle bus service that takes passengers directly to the main bus station, L'Ocean Terminal, in central Saint-Denis. Travel time is roughly 20 minutes.
Visitors can also travel by (expensive) taxi service or by renting a car from one of the several providers serving the airport.
There is another airport on Réunion, Pierrefonds Airport, near Saint-Pierre in the south of the island, offering flights to regional destinations in Mauritius and Madagascar.

By car

• The Route du Littoral, RN1, opened in 1976, connecting Saint Denis to the southwest of the island along the steep north coast. The route is subject to frequent rock slides, and remains hazardous, despite the protective barriers and safety nets.
• Route RN2 runs from Saint-Denis along the east coast of Réunion.

By bus

The city of Saint-Denis is the terminus for several bus routes.

• Route A, A1 (Express), and B: Saint-Denis - Saint-Paul - Saint-Gilles-Les-Bains - Saint-Leu - Saint-Louis - Saint-Pierre. Follows RN1 along the west coast. Approximately 90 minutes, €4.20.
• Route B1, C1, and E: Similar to route A on the west coast, but terminating instead at Saint-Leu.
• Route F (Express) and G: Saint-Denis - Sainte-Marie - Saint-Benoit. Follows RN2 on the north coast.

The buses run from around 04:30 on weekday mornings, but much later on Sundays and holidays, until 18:00, at hourly intervals.
The island's bus service is known as Car Jaune (Yellow Car, for their official color scheme). The central bus station of Saint-Denis is L'Océan Terminal. It is located by the beach, just a few meters east from the Barachois waterfront.

By boat

The small harbor of Saint-Denis has no significant tourist interest. The international harbor serving the island is in Le Port.

The city center is very compact and can be toured easily on foot. The central zone extends from Barachois near the coast, along the Avenue de La Victoire and its extension, Rue de Paris, until the Jardin de L'Etat. The pedestrian zone (Carré Piéton) is in the area around Rue Marchel Leclérc.
During business hours, traffic in central Saint-Denis can be chaotic, and parking places may be scarce, whereas on Sundays, the city may seem nearly deserted, with many businesses closed and shuttered.

The important sights all lie along the axis of Avenue de La Victoire and Rue de Paris and are very compact to one another, so it is recommend to go on foot. In the city center, brand new buildings are often interspersed with decaying ones. Along side the many properly well-appointed and the most representative buildings of the colonial style, there those with little more to interest the tourist than their "historical patina", often immediately next door.

Churches, mosques, and temples

• Cathedral of Saint-Denis Saint-Sauveur

  address: On Rue de la Victoire, at the corner of Rue Alexis de Villeneuve
  Catholic. Built between 1829 and 1832 as designed by Jean-Baptiste Dumas. Became the cathedral in 1850. Expanded between 1856 and 1860.

• Chapelle de l'Immaculée Conception

  address: 10 Rue Sainte-Anne
  Catholic. Consecrated February 6, 1869.

• Église Notre Dame de La Délivrance

  address: Place de La Deliverance
  Catholic. Built between 1893 and 1898 in neo-gothic style.

• Église Notre Dame de l'Assomption

  address: On the corner of Général de Gaulle and Rue Jean Chatel.

• Grand Mosque Noor al Islam

  address: Rue du Marechal Leclerc
  Built in 1990. Open to men and women, outside of prayer hours, from 09:00-12:00, and 14:00-16:00. No shoes permitted.

• Pagoda Lisi Tong

  address: Rue Sainte-Anne
  Built in 1896

• Pagoda Guan Di

  address: Near the corner of Rue du Marechal Leclerc and Rue Sainte-Anne

Significant buildings

• L'ancien Hôtel de Ville

  address: 2 Avenue de la Victoire
  Built between 1846 and 1860 (with interruptions due to lack of funds)

• Hôtel de la Préfecture

  address: 4 Avenue de la Victoire
  Originated as the warehouses of the French East India Company, and is the both one of the first large public buildings built on the island, and its oldest extant structure.

• University of Réunion

  address: 9 Avenue de la Victoire

• Banque de La Réunion

  address: 27 Rue Jean Chatel
  The oldest operating enterprise on the island. The bank is a prestigious villa in the colonial vernacular style, completed in 1858.

• Palais Rontaunay

  address: 5 Rue Rontaunay
  This prestigious villa was built in the early 19th century in the créole vernacular style, and was the residence of Julien Rontaunay Gaultier, which later became the location of the government and Consul General of the island.

• Villa du Général

  address: 49 Rue du Paris
  An excellent example of villa in the créole vernacular style.

• Villa Mas

  address: 18 Rue de Paris
  A colonial-style villa with an exemplary portico. built from 1973 to 1804 for Baptiste Lestrac, the first mayor of Saint-Denis. Now serves as the home of the Ministry of Culture.

• Villa Déramond-Barre

  address: 15 Rue de Paris
  Another outstanding example of the colonial vernacular style. This villa has been home to several important locals, such as painter and poet Leon Dierx.

Monuments

• Monument aux Morts

  address: At the intersection of Avenue de la Victoire and Rue de la Compangie

Museums

• Léon Dierx Museum

  phone: +262 262 20 24 82
  address: 28 rue de Paris
  The museum was founded in 1911 and occupies the colonial-style Villa Manès, which had been the official bishop's residence. One can see works from local artists together with those of Picasso, Renoir, Gauguin, Vlaminck, Bourdelle, and Jean Le Gac. The museum's namesake, Léon Dierx, was a local painter and poet who died in the year 1912.

• Artothèque

  phone: +262 262 41 75 00
  address: 26 Rue de Paris
  Exhibitions change bimonthly.

• Muséum Histoire Naturelle

  address: 1 Rue Poivre

• Brewery Museum

  address: 60 Quay Ouest
  A museum to the islands omnipresent Bière Dodo (which is owned by Heineken), that opened in 2005. 1-hour guided tours by appointment only.

Parks

• La BarachoisThis waterfront promenade with its distinctive cannons is located where Avenue de La Victoire meets the sea. The name can roughly be translated as "little harbor", and the cannon date from the early 19th century when the island was threatened with British invasion during the Napoleonic wars. Also at La Barachois are monuments to aviation pioneer and native Réunionnais Roland Garros (after whom the city's airport is also named), to prominent Governor of the French East India Company Mahé de la Bourdonnais, and to General Charles de Gaulle.

• Jardin de l'EtatHistoric botanical garden built from 1767 to 1773 and containing roughly 5 hectares of open space, located at the southern terminus of the Rue de Paris. The Natural History Museum is also within the grounds of the park.

• Jardin de Cendrillon

  address: 48 route des Palmiers
  A crėole garden with flowers, fruit trees and spices in La Montagne.

• Casino Saint-Denis

  phone: +262 262 41 33 33
  address: Barachois Place Sarda Garriga
  Gaming casino, hotel, bar, and restaurant adjacent to La Barachois

• Cinéma Plaza

  phone: +262 262 21 04 36
  address: 79 rue Pasteur
  Movie theater.

• Cinéma Ritz

  phone: +262 262 20 09 52
  address: 53 rue Juliette Dodu
  Movie theater.

• Golf Club du Colorado

  phone: +262 262 23 79 50
  address: Parc de Loisirs du Colorado, La Montange
  9-hole golf course located in the La Montagne district.

• Guan Di FestivalA colorful festival held each August celebrating the birthday of the Chinese god of war.

• TCF

  phone: +262 262 41 93 00
  address: 2 rue du Théâtre

• Théâtre Le Grand Marché

  phone: +262 262 20 33 99
  address: 2 rue du Maréchal Leclerc

• Théâtre Vollard

  phone: +262 262 41 93 00
  address: 2 Avenue Andre Malraux
  Theater group that performs both on the island and internationally. Named after Reunionais publisher and art dealer Ambrosius Vollard.

• Parc du ColoradoA sports and recreation complex southwest of Saint-Denis with opportunities for jogging, golf, hiking, mountain biking, and picnicking.

The main shopping district of Saint-Denis is in the pedestrian zone around Rue Marechal Leclerc, with plenty of small shops, as well as the large public market. The wide range of goods exhibited in the shops reflects the diverse cultural heritage of the island.

• PMU Barachois

  phone: +262 262 20 34 66
  address: 3 avenue de la Victoire
  Newspapers and periodicals, with some international selection.

• Entrepot

  phone: +262 262 20 94 94
  address: 82-88 rue Juliette Dodu
  The largest bookstore in the city.

• Le Mahal

  phone: +262 262 41 63 98
  address: 50 rue Maréchal Leclerc
  Artisanal handcrafts and souveniers.

• Arts et Lumière

  phone: +262 262 53 46 22
  address: 11 rue de Paris
  Art gallery.

Markets

• Grand Marché

  address: 3 Rue Maréchal Leclerc
  A covered open market hall. Goods available in this location include fruits and vegetables, spices, textiles and wood carvings from Madagascar, and other various souvenirs from the Indian Ocean region.

• Petit Marche

  address: corner of rue Maréchal Leclerc and rue Sainte-Anne
  Primarily offering food and flowers.

• Marché des Camélias

  address: Avenue des Cocotiers
  Artisanal crafts, vegetables, meat and fish (it has been relocated to nearby Boulevard Sud due to construction).

• Marché du Chaudron

  address: Place Nelson Mandela
  An annual fair in the Chaudron District with over 400 stalls, featuring seafood, fish, meat, and vegetables.

For a quick bite, there are a number of snack shacks at La Barschois, with a variety flavors represented (including McDonald's).

• La Récré

  address: 21 Avenue de la Victoire
  Créole cuisine, salads, fish and meat dishes from the grill.

• La Renaissance

  address: 2 rue Doret

• Club 138

  phone: +262 262 21 07 45
  address: 7 Rue Amiral Lacaze

• Jazzy Bar

  phone: +262 262 21 85 01
  address: 20 Rue Labourdonnais

• Le First

  phone: +262 262 41 68 25
  address: 8 Avenue de la Victoire

• Hotel Le Mascareignes

  phone: +262 21 15 28
  address: 3 rue Laferierre

• Hotel Mercure Creolia

  phone: +262 94 26 26
  address: 14 rue du Stade Montgaillard

• Hotel Le Saint-Denis

  phone: +262 21 80 20
  address: 2 rue Doret

• Office de Tourisme Intercommunal du Nord

  phone: +262 56 65 72
  address: Maison Carrère, 14 rue de Paris

• Ile de La Réunion Tourisme IRT

  phone: +262 21 00 41
  address: 1 Rue Jean Chatel

• Maison de la Montagne

  phone: +262 90 78 78
  address: 5 rue Rontaunay
  Reservation agency for mountain cabins.

• PTT

  address: 60 Rue du Maréchal Leclerc.

• Saint-Gilles (Reunion)
• Piton de la Fournaise