BALADE EN VILLE

In Diego, whether in the warmth of the morning or the softness of the late afternoon, you have to relearn how to stroll... Flooded with sunshine, the streets of the city center are lined with colonial houses with faded facades in pastel shades of blue, pink, sienna or green. Traces of history, the beauty of buildings, the elegance of a drape, the fire of a look - there's so much to contemplate! The most successful example of colonial architecture is the string of colonnades on rue Colbert. Starting at Place Foch and following this artery, you'll find a succession of colonial-style buildings, with their flower-filled balconies and verandas. Take particular note of the beautiful Alliance française building. Rue Colbert ends in Rue Richelieu. At the intersection of these streets, you'll find an imposing colonial-style residence surrounded by ravenalas, the governor's residence in colonial times. Today, it is the seat of a territorial administration. Further on, frozen in oblivion, an imposing ochre-colored building, the ex-Hôtel de la Marine, a luxury establishment from the colonial period, lines its porticoes, arcades and arabesques. Overgrown with trees, this ghost of the past faces the immense, wind-swept bay. It exudes a strange atmosphere. The call to prayer echoes from the small white mosque nearby. In Diego, Chinese temples, churches and mosques are good neighbors. Continuing on to Place Clemenceau, you come to the bandstand. White columns lining the bay of Antsiranana bear witness to a bygone era. Further on, at the end of Rue Gourand, Place de l'Amiral Ronarch, adorned with a statue of Marshal Joffre, offers another perspective on the great harbor. In the foreground are mountains of containers, shipyard cranes and cargo ships awaiting unloading, while on the horizon, the jagged ridges of the creeks reveal themselves. This is where the most important port facilities begin. Diego offers a variety of atmospheres: elegant Sakalava women, old Comorian men in babouches, wearing fez and djellaba... A stroll through the popular Tanambao district is a must, with its stores of all kinds, its houses of wood and tin. At the end of boulevard Sylvain Roux, at the corner of the roads leading either to Ramena or to the airport, the Commonwealth military cemetery is a moving site where British, Indian and African soldiers lie buried, victims of the fighting against the Petainist administration in 1942. Their sacrifice enabled Mada to join Free France.