Description: After our overnight stay in Antsirabe, we needed to eat through the miles and stay the evening in Fianar, so we could catch the train to the coast the following morning.
En-route we stopped off at the dusty and rather poor town of Ambosita, where we wandered into the Motel Violette. The town was in rather sharp contrast to the rural scenery on the plains outside of the town.
Although the outside of the motel was uninspiring, and located at the edge of a busy road, fortunately, things looked much better inside. The tables were dressed with nice white linen tablecloths (goodness knows how long that takes someone to keep clean in this land of no washing machines), and a nice bright airy dining room. The washrooms were slightly less welcoming, but although they were a little grubby and old they didn’t completely put me off my meal.
In contrast to the horribly busy main road, the rear terrace looked out over a peaceful paddy field.
As I was already tiring of the stock Madagascan fare (chicken & chips, cheese omelette, fish and chips or stew and rice), I was pleased to see they sold pizza. I actually had the top pizza of my Madagascar tour at the Motel Violette, as the base was very nice, although the tomato sauce tasted like it had come out of a jar, but the vegetables were fresh and plentiful, and it was very tasty overall (particularly with the addition of some very hot locally made chilli oil).
I inwardly groaned as a band started setting up in the corner of the restaurant, I just hate those places where the locals perform for the fat rich tourists, the music is usually fairly dire, and you feel like a sitting duck for a tip. In actual fact the music was very good, with the players using traditional local long stringed instruments. The end result sounded almost bluegrass, and I was quite happy they performed for us.
I can certainly recommend the motel as a good place to take a break, as the food is good, the music excellent and there didn’t look to be too much alternative choice in any case!
As usual, our meal hardly broke the bank at a standard £3 ($5) for the pizza, and a further £1.50 ($2.50) for a bottle of beer. That said, even the modest cost of the meal could probably keep the average Madagascan quite happy for a week or so!
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