City of Papeete

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We already find our way around in Papeete, capital of Tahiti! With it's 200 000 inhabitants it is quite lively and has considerable traffic. After some expensive taxi rides we hired our own car and got even more engaged with the local life :-)

On Thursday we headed for the famous Papeete Market. Fresh fish, woven handbags, paeros, vanilla oil, wood carvings and sea shell necklaces are all offered in a colourful mix next to each other. First thing we got us was our first ever served-right-from-the-ice-cold-coconut-with-a-straw coconut water. Of course there are so many nice things that we (especially Clara) would like to have - but how to get them home??

Papeete's one big product are the black pearls. We never heard about that before but you can really hardly miss all the shops in each and every street. And everybody seems to take part in the business: "Show this code/name and they will give you a 20% discount/an extra pearl for free/a free ride home/ tax reduction. And I get a provision." Hmm, maybe later...

After some refreshments at a street café we explored the colonial style city hall. Even more fascinating than the building itself is the fantastic background of the island's mountains that you easily forget when wandering that streets. But than all of a sudden they are there again.

In the down town church we got all fascinated by the colour full windows with motives rather unknown in our home regions: palm trees, carved statues, a ukulele, canoes and a lot of water.

In the evening we took a walk along the marina and had some food at the Roulottes. The whole marketplace filled up with vans at night that were made into kitchens. Just add some chairs and tables and you have a mobile restaurant! Or in this case a dozen. The food is surprisingly good and we returned to the place even the next day.

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