Port Louis

Now it is slowly getting exhausting to squeeze all the activities we still want to do into the last days.

Schahaatz wants to dive, we all want to get a massage, a distillery still needs to be visited, and we have to see Port Louis and the Botanical Garden. Oh yes, and we also want to play Frisbee Golf. Total stress.

Good that clouds are gathering today, then we could tick off 3 points from our list.

In advance we reserve tables in both a-la-carte restaurants, schedule the massage for Thursday and arrange Schahaatz's dive.

Carefree we can set off for Port Louis.

The closer we get to the capital, the more strenuous the traffic becomes.

Micha is handling it great.

Arriving in the center, the search for parking begins. Not quite simple, especially since all cars, buses, trucks, mopeds, and pedestrians move in every direction, and it feels like there are only one-way streets. But those who search long will find, and we finally find a marked spot at the roadside without any signs. A sign refers to a maximum parking time of 2 hours. While Ira and I are still peeling ourselves out of the car, the guys are already gone and are assessing the situation. Ok, here you need so-called parking coupons, which are found in the cars. But where do you get them? We haven't seen anything like a parking meter yet. Micha asks in a shop and the guys are already on their way while we girls stand here looking dumbly around, like ordered and not picked up, observing the colorful hustle and bustle.

Eventually, the two come back with a block of 10 parking coupons.

To park for half an hour, you need a coupon, so 10 Rupees (0.20€). The coupons still have to be filled out, but how without a pen and knowing what to fill out. So back to the first store.

After the parking saga is behind us (and hoping our car will still be there later 😅) we mingle with the crowd.

The Central Market is supposed to be the crowd puller. Open Mo-Sa from 5:00-17:30. On the way here, we had already seen a covered area at the bus station. So, we dive into the hustle. Many stalls with clothes, but none with vegetables. Strange, the travel guide said that everything is available here. Shiva, please bless the inventor of Google Maps, because now we know that we are wandering in the wrong market. So we stroll through the streets of the area for bathroom fittings, spices,

Metal goods of all kinds, 

Clothes and much more towards the Central Market. The fruit and vegetable market offers a variety of familiar and unfamiliar.

In the other part, there is everything the tourist's heart desires. Clothes, baskets, shoes, spices and so on.

Bargaining is a must, I don’t think you can make any bargains here, but they can sell you things in 4 languages. Even in German, although the vocabulary is limited to the words “Come - Good day - good price - Germany good”, but at least it’s more than I can speak French.

Loaded up with a few souvenirs and overwhelmed by the many impressions we make our way back. 

Micha receives a stern reprimand from a local law enforcement officer on the way to the car for smoking in public. Because in Mauritius:

Smoking in vehicles and in public is subject to strict regulations. In case of violation, there are high fines or imprisonment.

Lucky us, there was only a reprimand. 

We actually wanted to play Frisbee Golf, but I think they don’t have floodlights here. So we drive to the Botanical Garden because it is right on our way home.

Facts:

The Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden, also known as Pamplemousses Botanical Garden, is a tourist attraction. It is named after the politician Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who led Mauritius to independence. In 1770, Pierre Poivre

established the garden. It is the oldest botanical garden in the southern hemisphere and covers an area of about 37 hectares. The garden is particularly known for its giant water lilies, talipot palms, and water lilies, but it also offers a large number of partly exotic spices, ebony trees, sugar cane, and 85 different types of palms from Central America, Asia, Africa, and other islands in the Indian Ocean. Some of the trees were brought to Mauritius as gifts by heads of state, including Princess Margaret (the youngest sister of Queen Elizabeth II), I. Gandhi, and F. Mitterrand.

300 Rs (6€) entrance per person, and 1 hour until the park closes. Right at the start, we encounter an Indian bride and groom who are here for a photo shoot. The bride wore a stunning sparkling green dress. And of course, none of us took a photo, we were so blinded.

The garden is beautifully designed, but the fat, asphalted paths are somewhat inappropriate.

Passing the pond with the giant water lilies, 

whose leaves can reach a diameter of up to one meter, we stroll through the park in search of the….tree. 

We haven't found that, but we found plenty of flying foxes.

Homeward bound, dinner and cocktails await us.