The capital of this small tropical island is sitauated on the west coast with spectacular mountains as a backdrop. Port Louis is a busy city on week days. Colorful, chaotic, dirty, but it has an atmosphere that shouldn't be missed if you are planning a visit to Mauritius. Walking the streets is a great way of watching daily life. Many of the old houses are still here. Chinatown still have traditional shops like pharmacies selling everything from herbal medicine and tees, preserved insects, spices and a lot more. As you walk away from Chinatown, you will notice that you move into the area of the Muslim inhabitans and a little further you might feel as you are in India.
The island is an ethnic melting pot where no one can claim they were here first. This fact might have led to the high level of tolerance between the different ethnic groups. The island was colonized by the Dutch int the 17th century. Later by France and Britain. Most of the population are descendants of of immigrants from Asia, Europe and Africa. They brought with them traditions, culture and relegion. All of this has mingled into this multicultural melting pot you will see today.
When in Port Louis, I usually go to Chinatown and then I wander off to the Central Market. Many of the shops are still that old style with two wooden doores. No windows When they close the shop, they just shot the doors and close with a lock. As long as it is closed you don't know what's behind. But when they open the doors, they will most often reveal a small shop. In this case electrical articals. There is hardly any room for the shopkeeper, so the business is run on the pavement.
A reminder that Covid-19 is still here. It is still mandatory to wear masks on Mauritius. I did see several small boards like these to remind us.
A greengrocer is sitting right in the doorway. The employee sits on the street and prepares the vegetables that are then lined up along the wall. This type of fruit and vegetable trade in the street is seen everywhere in the city.
The first to settle in Port Louis were the Dutch, but it was the Frensh who started developing the city to become a center of comerse. Because of the location by the harbour, Port Louis became a busy port. The city has experienced many disasters, like tropical storms and deseases that has taken many lives, like cholera and malaria ( no malaria today). I have experienced cyclone when visiting family in the Port Louis. We had to stay in the house for two days. It's quite common. Today Port Louis has the highest population density. It actually looks like «everyone» is working in this city. On week days it is very crovded and it can be a bit tiring to walk around too much.
The Indian population makes up more than half of the population. When slavery was abolished the British Government had to get find out how to get workers to work on the sugar cane fields. The solution was indentured laboures, mostly from India. Many of them remained on the island. The Creoles are mainly descendents from African slaves and to some extent also with an European ancestry. The Chinese immingrants settled mainly in Port Louis. They contributed to making the city a bustling senter of commerce. Even Chinatown has changed, it still has has traces of the past. You can still fing a school teaching Mandarin and find many good, cheap eateries ( I have my favourites....). I really enjoy Chinatown. Even it's a busy place, it has an athmosphere of calmness as well.
An easy way to make business, is probably to do it from your car or motorbike. At least you can move around to where the customers are. The Chinese woman is sitting on the cormer oposite the Jummah Mosque. This is the main mosque in Port Louis is located right in the center of town..It was built in the 1850s and is the most important mosque in Mauritius. It's open to visitors, so I have been inside some years ago.
I hope you have got an impression of life in Port Louis.
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