Introducing Port Louis
With its spectacular setting beneath the impressive mountain peaks of Le Pouce and Pieter Both, Port Louis makes an impression on anyone arriving on the main road from the airport – descending from the Central Plateau into the hectic city centre with the Indian Ocean spread out in a perspective-defying frieze above the city is a wonderful experience.
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Despite being the national capital, the main economic hub and the biggest city in the country, Port Louis occupies a rather strange place in the psyche of modern Mauritius. Its low-lying position has historically made it an undesirable locale, with disease in the 18th and 19th centuries frequently devastating it, meaning that the professional classes have traditionally lived outside the city, particularly in the Central Plateau towns of Rose Hill, Moka, Vacoas and Quatre Bornes. This trend continues today, to the extent that Port Louis (the final s is usually silent, although many Mauritians pronounce it when speaking English) can sometimes seem like a city without a middle class, without a centre and a ghost town after dark.
This impression is totally false, however – Port Louis has plenty going for it, but it’s a city that profits from exploration: those who only visit the fantastically Disneyesque Caudan Waterfront will get a very bland impression of the national capital. The bustle and chaos of the streets, the city’s famous market, Chinatown, the collection of museums and some wonderfully preserved colonial buildings make Port Louis far more than a place to come for some pricey shopping away from the beach.
Last updated: Mar 2, 2009
