Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 5.30am-5.30pm Mon-Sat, to 11.30pm Sun)
Port Louis' rightly famous Central Market, the
centre of the local economy since Victorian times, was cleaned up considerably in a 2004
renovation. Many comment that it's lost much of its dirty charm and atmosphere (you're
far less likely to see rats, although it's possible), but it's still a good place to get a feel for
the everyday life of many locals, watch the hawkers at work and buy some souvenirs.
Most authentic are the fruit and vegetable sections (including Chinese herbal medicines
and aphrodisiacs).
Place d'Armes
The city's most imposing boulevard, Place d'Armes is lined with royal palms and leads up
ture dating from 1738. Outside there's a typically solemn
statue of Queen Victoria
in full 'we
d'Armes)
at the quayside end of the avenue has become Port Louis' emblem throughout
Mauritius.
SQUARE
Jardins de la Compagnie
(Company Gardens; 6am-8pm Oct-Mar, 6am-7pm Apr-Sep)
Jardins de la Compagnie is by far the
most attractive garden in the city, with its vast banyan trees, huge number of statues, quiet
benches and fountains. During the day it's perfectly safe, but you should avoid it at night
when it becomes the city's favoured hangout for prostitutes and drug addicts. In early co-
lonial times, the gardens were the vegetable patch of the French East India Company.
Today, it's best known for its statues of local sculptor Prosper d'Épinay and the much-
loved musician Ti-Frère.
GARDENS
Natural History Museum
& Mauritius Institute
MUSEUM
( 212 0639; La Chaussée St; 9am-4pm Mon, Tue, Thu & Fri, to noon Sat)
The major attraction
at this small but proud museum is the famous (though somewhat grubby) reconstruction
of a dodo. Scottish scientists assembled the curious-looking bird in the late 19th century,
using the only complete dodo skeleton in existence, although experts with whom we
spoke suggest that the scale might be slightly larger than life. The rest of the museum's
