Dave McCandless' Returned to Majunga with his Bride Christiane
42 Years to the hour that they got married in Majunga Cathedral
on 1 October 1966

What the Papers Say - Cambridge Evening News 24 sep 08

St Ives Weekly News Artricle on Our Return - 12 Oct 08

Well I suppose I had to do it again one day and the day was my 42nd wedding anniversary - I returned with Christiane to Majunga, her home town, to be in the magnificent Cathedral at 1700 hrs exactly 42 years to the day and hour that Christiane and I got married there in 1966.

Whilst there I re-visited l'Hotel de France, (now almost derelict), Le Village Touristique (rebuilt 3 times and no longer sporting the Bandas or that that super beach we had to sleep on on 19 Mar 66) and The Flying Saucer at the airport (also derelict). For those that remember the large open-air public swimming pool just up the road out of town past the baobab tree (its still there) well that is now a big hotel (La Piscine) where we stayed a couple of nights (Bridal Suite of course) and enjoyed our 42nd Wedding Anniversary dinner, before spending 5 days at a new white beach resort an hour by 4x4 up the coast in an sea-air conditioned 'bungalow' with its own dip pool (a far cry from the bandas at le Village or the sweltering rooms along the corridors at l'Hotel de France in 1966).
That resort is Antsanitia have a look for yourself at it's website,... and yes, the sun is too bright to be able to use a laptop on the beach and as you can see from our photos of the Resort, we had a great time and was well looked after.

Also, Yes! Madame Chabau's was still there in town (but closed the day I passed by). I asked about 'Blunden's Folly' at the airport (where I was given a tour to take some pix in the ATC wagon) but it had been disposed of years ago. I took loads of pix of the town and have posted them for those who are intersted. Oh, Yes, and I regularly checked out Three Horses Beer to see if it has lost any of it's refreshing qualities - it had not though the local 'Pink' cigarettes are no longer in production, so that is saving quite a few hunred lives a year, I bet.

 

The weather was perfect all day every day we were there and midday temperatures in an azure blue cloudless sky were in the region of 35 degrees C - just perfect, especially when you have ur own swimming pool.

Regards
Dave

davidDOTmccandless@ntlworldDOTcom
(Anti spam email put real dots in when using pse)

Some memories below

The Kohinoor - Still with AZIZ at the helm as you can see below

Hotel De France - Now Derelict awaiting renovation