Discovering Mauritius by Car, Part 1

Through “sweet” fields and green mountains

After one week my colleagues (zum deutschen Blog) have left after we have visited and partly hiked on the neighborly island of La Réunion and some parts of Mauritius. I extent my stay in Mauritius and my husband Dirk arrives.

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By car

Despite the well-intentioned warnings of friends and acquaintances who have been here before, we rented a small car. Although we are both registered as a driver, I think I’ll let my husband go first as he is a lot more relaxed. Traffic lights and road signs are taken at best as a friendly note, but the police is really present everywhere and likes to stop too confident and headstrong driving people.

In these 10 days here we want to stay in four different hotels, that means on each side of the island a few days. We start in the north, in the Hotel Lux Grand Gaube. The bay is wonderful for swimming, especially in the early evening, when all the other guests prepare themselves for dinner or order the first aperitif at the bar. Splendidly quiet, it is then. Unfortunately our farewell is delayed, because our car has a flat tire and Dirk needs to change the flat tire.

Driving in the North

We drive on small country roads, again and again through tiny villages and through countless sugarcane fields that grow in some cases up to the streets. Previously the first settlers have cleared the heavily wooded island for the most part and there cultivated the sugarcane.

Finally we arrive at Turtle Bay in the west of the island. Our next hotel here is the Westin Turtle Bay. In the large open hall, we get greeted with a cool drink and after registration somebody brings us with the golf cart to our room. We look over the infinity pool directly on the sea. Here I stay, at least for the next four days.

We do not only enjoy the good food and the great service here, we also want to visit some interesting locations. Today we drive to

Port Louis

We park our car at the Waterfront, the first destination for almost all tourists and the cruise ships that dock here from time to time. The rain has cleared, the mountains that surround the capital of the island are still covered a little bashful in white fog.

So we start in the market hall that is not far away. Here life pulsates on the streets in front of the halls. We see people of any skin color, everything is colorful and loud. The countless mopeds honk and meander through the haggling people.

Barely have we entered the market hall, several men offer themselves as guides. We do not need them. We want to rummage alone, try things here and there, buy fresh fruit and just let the unfamiliar smells and images affect us.

A guide is not necessary here, people are very friendly and with some French or English you get going, as almost everyone speaks two languages. Even in German we get addressed now and again.

We can hardly get enough of the many different fruits and vegetables with their bold colors, in the next hall, I even find a fantastic sun hat, which finally corresponds to my blog logo. What more do I want?

Although the sky has cleared briefly and for a few minutes we can enjoy the surrounding peaks and the baby blue sky, the next rain clouds already wait in the distance.

We stroll around the streets and by the waterfront for a little while, then we decide to drive on.

Via Bagatelle, where we make a short detour to the Mall of Mauritius, we drive to

Eureka House

which is just a few minutes away near Moka. It is an old Creole villa from the year 1830. In this museum, life seems to stand still.

The wood-built villa is equipped with old objects and furniture. A warm breeze moves through the wide-open window. It is pleasant here, a natural air conditioning.

We go through the large garden with ancient trees, to the path leading to the waterfalls at the bottom of the valley. The trail is narrow and slippery, leads over mossy rocks and tree roots. Again and again we hear it rushing or lapping softly. Due to the dense vegetation it is not possible to see how far it is to the bottom.

At last I see a little water. Finally we are down. Several small waterfalls feed the little river. Crystal clear is the water, small frogs feign death, so larger animals do not see them. Uphill we are faster. As soon as we reach our car, a downpour starts.Hardly could we have managed the path uphill after this rain. Now it’s back to the Westin Hotel to a delicious and spicy dinner, as here are a lot of dishes and perhaps we even see one of the glowing red sunsets.

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Here, you´ll find some more about Mauritius.

By the way, did you know that Mauritius earned the 7th place of the world´s most beautiful islands in 2016 at Tripadvisor?