Mauritius - Four Days Trip

This was my first ever solo trip.... Well, if it can be qualified as solo in a group trip :P!! It was an office organised trip for some competition that I had won. But the only thing was I didn't know a single soul on the trip and that's why I like to believe that it was my one and only solo trip :)!

Personally I prefer architectural beauty and places with historic significance even if only ruins are left of the place over beaches and seas.... If it has to be nature I love mountains... So I am glad that I won this trip over anything else because otherwise on my own I wouldn't have got to see Mauritius!! 

Coming to the trip.... I will start from where our flight landed at Port Louis... the view from the flight while it was landing itself was beautiful....with the sky amalgamating into the green waters of the sea and our flight landing from over the sea... That's how the sea birds must be feeling I guess during their flight!

I couldn't take a snap from inside the flight because unfortunately I didn't get a window seat.... But I did the next best thing :)!

It was a four day trip in the month of August.... So little rainfall was expected. Post landing and immigration clearance we were escorted to our coach heading to our resort Le Meridien. On the way to the resort we halted at this point Apravasi Ghat (very Indian sounding name!!)....an UNESCO world heritage site... The oldest place where the indentured Indians and other developing nations immigrant workers were brought and sent to work on foreign lands. However, the place was closed so we couldn't go inside and had to satisfy ourselves with just the point outside where the centre stood. This point outside had a great view from below the ghat.... With the Mauritian houses cradled in the lap of the hills around!

Then we headed straight for lunch at Caudan Waterfront.....a very well visited shopping centre in Port Louis. As there was a long queue for lunch.... Considering our long flight and hungry that we were!!In order to avoid the queue I decided to stroll by myself.... And got a good view of the Water front.... After which the name of the place goes!!

There was this store there with all momentos, souverniers, wooden hand made craft work, paintings.... I just loved the set up of this outlet... Kind of bright and cheerful!!

There was also another outlet with just paintings.... Handmade by the owner of the store.... Simply amazing!!Most of them were Buddha paintings but just the arrangement of it felt so nice!! For my love of paintings I forgot all about lunch in that outlet!!But unfortunately they didn't allow me to click any snaps of the paintings.... So I could only click this!!

And as I missed lunch....the next best thing to do was to hog on a chocolate ice cream  at a stall I found :P..... But I went there more so for the colourful umbrellas decorated on the top that attracted my attention!!

After lunch we were taken to the resort to spend the rest of the day at leisure. But behold, for the resort Le Meridian itself was a half day sight seeing in itself!! So, post check in and before the day light set in I decided to quickly go for a walk and a few clicks!!

This was the view from my room. I wanted to capture sunrise also.... But me and rising early is kind of impossible so I had to settle for Sunset!!

This was another walk way to the private beach side of the hotel. Best part of this was to sit on the edge with your legs dangling.... Somehow reminded me of my grandparents place in my home town where we cousins used to do this at a nearby lake side!! It was nice to just relax there looking over the sea side with the Sun setting in the horizon colouring the sky a light crimson plus indigo hue reflecting over the serene waters......instilling that lost feeling of peace within! 

Next day was our trip to Bagatelle mall and again lunch at Claudan Waterfront. After some shopping we all headed for lunch and today I didn't want to miss it!! I found some company who agreed to hog on a large sea food platter with me and sauces in which the sea food platter arrived was simply super awesome..... So much that only half way into our devouring I remembered to click the snap :P!!

Day two was mostly dedicated to our office event with a gala dinner more of a party night etc.... so not much of sightseeing. Not so much of a party enthusiast I just had dinner and slipped off quietly to my room and settled down with my best companion that is my kindle :)!

Next day was our trip to Aux Cerf's. Below is the snap from our waiting point from where we had to take the motor boat to the island.

I will always remember that ride to the island in the motor boat... For one reason that it was beautiful to go into those green waters and be surrounded by it till your eyes could take you.... But for another reason is that our motor boat captain was mad!! And the way we rode to the island.... Every single person on that boat was praying to their own God for protection!! And by God's grace a police motor boat started patrolling which our captain spotted and slowed down because of which I guess my organisation must have got saved from hiring 25 new employees as replacement!!

So we reached the island in like 50 minutes and were dropped off there for water activities and spending the day at leisure. Below is a view from the island that I had captured.

I am personally not a great fan of water sports and I had done all these water adventures in the past on my Thailand trip . So I just perched myself on one of the rocks and gazed into the green waters and tried a few sips of one of those chilled Mauritian Beers which was being sold in hoards on the Island.

And just before the Sun set we left for the main land.... Thankfully during return motor boat trip our guy was sane... So I could click some snaps!!

Late in the evening that day I decided to explore the resort and it's food. The resort had three restaurants.... Yes you heard it right... Three in number!!Each with a different theme and cuisine.... One was continental, one was Pan Asian and third one was sea food special! The foodie that I am I had to somehow explore them all... And I had only one more night stay there with the restriction that only one dinner allowed per night per person!

So, I went for the sea food restaurant first... And fortunately I found one more colleague there like me. So we both ordered different fixed menu combos... I went for Octopus and he went for crab... And later one more joined us with lobster :P!!

Me being bad at remembering people's names I ofcourse forgot their names.... But I will always remember our conversation over that dinner table. One of those colleagues had such in depth knowledge and interest in fishes and fishery....and the passion with which he narrated the stories of how each fish is different.. Which one is exotic... How they have got their names....and which one is best cooked in which sauce! His passion was something to remember!  I guess that's why travel stories are beautiful... Because you also get to meet people who talk things different from your daily mundane life... That adds in making each trip memorable!!

Later in the evening that day there was a live music performance by some artists at this place in the resort.... which kept me glued till the end! A family had come in some time later while I was sitting there.... Husband Wife and a little daughter....and three of them danced so beautifully... Adding on to the music :)!

Next day was our visit to ship model factory. My husband would have loved it being from the shipping industry! For other layman people like me it was nice to click snaps :P!

Then we were taken to the Aux Cerf's volcanic cater viewing.....where it started to rain.... All that remains of the place is a big cater! We almost had to run back to the coach to save ourselves from the pour.

But the rain refused to stop and rest of the trip we had to get drenched! I must say the rain added to the beauty of the snaps below of the Shiva temple that we visited next!

The largest idol of Goddess Durga in the world on the way. Behind you can see largest idol of lord Shiva as well. 

We drove through Plaine Champagne via Bassin Blanc.We halted for lunch at a place from where we could view La Vallee Des Couleurs Nature park from a window.

Post lunch we visited the 23 coloured earth natural park. It was difficult to capture all 23 colors of the soil from a camera but the view of so many coloured soils along the slopes was simply amazing. 

There were these small water falls hidden away in some corners of the nature trail in the park. 

There were quite a few adventure sports to experience in the natural park too... starting from zip line to quad bikes to safari!! Because of limited time, I chose to go for the quad bike.... Also I found a company who was looking for a partner for the same.... And who agreed to ride the bike for me :D!! Like a convoy all the quad bikers followed the guide for 1.5 hrs with halts in between the trail for snaps. 

That's when we spotted these.... The giant tortoises..... The symbol of Mauritius (no of course the Emu is... But c'mon these are live!!)

All I can say is the adventure was worth getting drenched in the pour and us getting late for our flight. We were going straight to the airport from there to take our flight back home and I still remember that ride in the coach. 

To mark the end of the lovely trip some colleagues made the bus driver play some Hindi songs at maximum volume....so much that the beats of the song "ismein Tera Ghata...mera Kuch nahi jata" has got entrenched in my memory and whenever I hear that song play .....it only reminds me of this trip!! We were lucky to not miss the flight.... But even if we had... It would have been worth it all :)!

So, cheers to the memory of my first ever solo in a group trip!! All that remains are the memories and the souverniers :)!