Port Louis, Mauritius - December 2011

Port Louis in Mauritius doesn't feature on a lot of tourist brochures for the tiny island nation, its a somewhat gritty city. A lot of the workers commute down to the city from up on the cooler Central Plateau meaning that the large city only has a resident population of 155,700 people. The picture postcard beaches that you see in the glossy brochures about Mauritius seem to be almost everywhere else on the island but near Port Louis. We were staying at a small beach side town to the south of the city called Flic en Flac but wanted to have a bit of a poke around the capital to see what it had to offer, so after arranging for a driver I shoehorned myself into the car next to the somewhat surprised driver and we headed off early on another balmy morning into the traffic. Australia's fairly egalitarian ways aren't always practised in a lot of countries and I quite often get surprised looks when wanting to jump in the front seat with the driver (or maybe they're thinking 'I hope this fat bastard doesn't want to sit beside me') or have a chat with the workers at the hotel.

Port Louis traffic.

Our first stop in Port Louis was the old citadel of Fort Adelaide which was actually built by the British, it sits high on a the crest of a hill and gave us a panoramic view over down town Port Louis and its harbour. With the reasonably humid weather I was happy enough to have driven up here and not walked from town as once out of the car we were already sweating up a storm. Apart from the CBD and the port the other site that stood out was the Hippodrome or as its known by its official name, the Champ de Mars Racecourse. The racecourse dates back to 1812 which apparently makes it the second oldest racecourse in the world, the Mauritian's apparently don't mind a punt.

Sam at Fort Adelaide.

The view from the citadel back towards the CBD and the harbour.

The Hippodrome, the second oldest racecourse in the world.

Next up we headed slightly north of the city to the extensive Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden in Pamplemousses, I think my spell check has gone into meltdown mode after typing that sentence! The botanical gardens are named after the first prime minister of Mauritius and was constructed in the 1770's by Pierre Poiure which makes them the oldest botanical gardens in the Southern Hemisphere. After arranging to be picked up in a couple of hours we were left to wander around the large mainly tropical gardens, apart from the typical tropical palms and other trees the gardens are famous for their great water lilies. We eventually made our way to the large ponds swatting away the squadrons of ferocious mosquitoes on the way, where Sam took some nice photos of the huge water lilies while I kept a watchful eye on a the local dogs that seemed to have free range of the gardens. 

An old building in the botanical gardens.

The botanical gardens in Port Louis are famous for there water lilies.

After making our way back to the entrance gate we jumped back into the air-conditioned car and headed back into town to the Caudan Waterfront precinct. The waterfront has a bit of a 'Disney Land' feel to it with its shiny boutiques, cafes, casino and cinemas, after having a bit of a look around we found a nice spot to have some lunch while taking in the passing parade of people. The waterfront appears to be the place that the tourists visit the most in town and feels very safe but also a bit to sanitised for my tastes, unfortunately on this visit we didn't get a chance to check to some of the less polished parts of town. Next time we come back I'll try and get away from the crowds of European tourists and check out a bit more of how the locals live.

The Caudan Waterfront.

On of the many restaurants in the waterfront precinct.

The Dirt.

We enjoyed our day in Port Louis but in hindsight would have liked to check out a few of the less polished (touristy) area's. The city has a bit of a reputation for being a bit rough around the edges but we never felt unsafe, although that may have been due to the area's we visited. We organised a driver for the day and while I can't remember the exact cost it was not overly expensive (remember the blog was years away). We stayed in the whimsically named Flic en Flac, a small town to the south of Port Louis on a typical picture postcard white sand beach.

Despite the overcast looking conditions it was quite a warm day.

The beach in front of our hotel at Flic en Flac.

The overcast skies cleared in time for another stunning sunset from our room.