Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Sunday 28th of July
09.22 We have woken up again in the room at Kirin Restaurant & Guesthouse in Port Louis, Mauritius. It is nice to sleep. It is also nice that my new catheter from City Clinic is working. Now that we have showered and eaten breakfast, the day should be planned. Today we will leave the capital and start experiencing Mauritius for real.
09.55 An alarm sounds outside. We have packed most of our things but want to see a little more of Port Louis before we leave from here. I have so far only seen the streets between the accommodation and the clinic and yesterday's dinner restaurant.
10.19 The decision has been made to order our onward transport as we return from the morning walk to the center. The alternatives are to go now directly or in two hours. We will use the Yugo app, which has received good reviews from users. According to reports, the express bus north does not run on Sundays, so we are testing this option instead.
10.32 So I finally get to see and photograph the central parts of Port Louis in daylight. We have certainly walked there when it has been deserted and dark, but that doesn't really count.
10.51 During our short walk in town, we experienced congestion on the pavements by the market and we have also photographed the heart of the city. On three occasions, we have each withdrawn 3000 Mauritian rupees from an ATM. So why not withdraw all 9000 at once? Well, the maximum limit for a withdrawal is 3000 rupees. Soon Christer will book our transport from here.
11.17 Yugo, which is reminiscent of Uber and similar apps, is easy to use. The taxi is booked, a request was sent out and an interested driver has picked up and reported the car's registration number, type of car and model year. Soon we go down to the reception. It feels like we've been here a long time.
11.19 The taxi will be here in three minutes. We just need to get ready and stand close enough to the accommodation that the Wifi connection is not lost.
11.34 After a little wait with various annoying taxi drivers who wanted to give us a lift and a begging man, our driver arrived. Honestly, I don't even know if everyone who offered a lift was really a taxi driver. One was holding a bag of vegetables. At least we're on our way now. Christer needed to enter a booking code so that the trip could be registered correctly.
17.31 This thing about liquids, it's good for both body and mind. We fill up with newly purchased good drinks and take it easy on the patio.
17.40 We have decided to treat ourselves to a moment of reading on the patio before darkness comes.
Monday 29th of July
We take a look at the most central parts of the capital.
Sir John Pope Hennessy was the governor of Mauritius from 1883 to 1889. The bicycle is not his.
Queen Victoria stands in the center of Port Louis.
Place d´Armes, Port Louis.
Our driver has picked us up.
We have arrived in Grand Baie.
A large beer while waiting for lunch.
Peter is having lunch at La Vieille Rouge.
Our accommodation in Grand Baie, Apartment Nashou.
Peter outside our apartment.
The view from our patio.
Reading in the afternoon sun.
Purple, pink and orange sky after sunset.
Peter at the Chinese Garden Restaurant.
The sea is visible from the dinner table.
Peter leaves the dinner venue for the evening.
08.42 The night has treated us well. It's a bit luxurious to have your own apartment and also two separate bedrooms. You can spread your things out properly. Coming up is breakfast out on the terrace.
09.18 It's a real holiday feeling when you can sit on a sunny patio and have breakfast and morning coffee without any specific time to follow. 09.45 There's a bit of coughing and here in general at the accommodation. I have a cough and one, possibly two of the neighbours have the same problem but in a worse form. Other concerns, at least for us, are how we're going to spend this day. We'll be here in Grand Baie all Monday before the journey continues tomorrow. 10.25 Before we get too lazy in this beautiful existence, we should now get started with today's chores. Resting is nice, but things have to get done. 10.51 Now we have contacted the hostess, paid for our stay with euros withdrawn from an ATM in Latvia and then gone out. We have taken the same route that we took in the dark last night when we went out for dinner. We meet people where the sea meets the land. It is a sunny, nice day, just right warm. Mauritius is in winter right now and we are not experiencing the highest temperatures. Today it is +25°C. 11.07 I have bought souvenirs for myself and also for two of my nephews. On our walk through the city centre, Christer and I have seen the bus we are taking tomorrow and have also checked out the beach. The bus looks OK, which is more than can be said about the beach. It is small and largely filled with boats. Reggae is playing in the background. If we had not known where we were, we would have guessed somewhere in the Caribbean.
We leave our home for a while.
Finally we see the sea in daylight.
We move towards the center.
The public beach in Grand Baie.
Christer on the beach in Grand Baie.
They sell juice here.
11.35 Now we know where the bus leaves from and have an idea of where we will have lunch later. There is more uncertainty about being able to swim at a beach. Of the ones we have seen, none attract us. Unfortunately, that is often the case. The public beach is of questionable quality and the hotel beaches that are better, the hotels want to keep for themselves.
11.58 Our walk along the beach ended when we left town and started to end up among hotels. Mauricia Beachcomber Resort & Spa was our final destination. It is a 4-star hotel with prices far above our budget. 12.09 We stopped at Grand Baie Mandir to take some photos. It is a Hindu temple. 48% of Mauritius' population are Hindus. 12.24 The lunch restaurant Cocoloko (https://cocoloko.net) is almost completely empty of guests. Calm music is playing and we are thinking about what to eat and drink. We wanted a bit of a tropical feel and sat down at the tables with sand as the floor. That part is probably mostly intended for those who just want to drink something but we are still sitting there. 12.31 Large cold Phoenix beers have arrived at the table and the restaurant has got a few more guests. We have ordered pizzas. 13.12 The pizzas were good and would have been even better if the crusts had not been so thin. During the meal, a procession with musicians, people in colourful clothes and images of gods passed on the street outside. A Swedish family also just arrived and sat down at one of the tables here. 14.11 On the way home from lunch we saw a little more of the parade. There were pictures and statues of Ganesha that were visible. The traffic was slowed down and the bus to Port Louis chose a different route out of the city. Once home we seem to have lost our energy. Hopefully it is temporary.
Thai food in Grand Baie.
From here the express bus to Port Louis departs.
Boats in Grand Baie.
This far but no further. Here we turned around and went back.
We walk back towards the center.
Grand Baie Mandir, a Hindu temple.
14.47 After I powernapped in one of the terrace chairs, we are now going out for an afternoon walk to do some shopping. Since we are most likely not allowed to bring the small backpacks into the store, they will remain here. This also applies to the travel journal.
14.56 We do not go back to the same supermarket as yesterday. Instead, we direct our steps in the other direction and aim for La Croisette, a shopping center on the outskirts of the city. Right now we have stopped at a field of sugar cane. 15.01 We arrived at Grand Baie Road and here we have seen the sister clinic of the City Clinic that I visited in Port Louis. 15.08 La Croisette is a large shopping center with various stores and a large food court. We were content to visit the Intermart supermarket where we bought drinks and breakfast products. Christer has also bought a useful book that he will use at work during the next school year. 16.17 The shopping and the walk back from La Croisette went just fine. Now we will read a little in our books before we possibly try to go out and take pictures of the sunset. 18.24 Bad passing clouds meant that we did not even try to go out to take pictures of the sunset. There will be other days for that, we hope.
Today's lunch will be at Cocoloko.
Christer is having a pizza lunch at Cocoloko.
Ganesha is carried through Grand Baie.
La Croisette, a shopping mall.
The apartment's kitchen.
One of our bedrooms. Christer sleeps here.
18.50 We can postpone the sunset but not the food intake. It's getting time to leave our safe home and walk down to the center again.
19.37 In the evening darkness we navigated our way down to and into the Greek restaurant The Trojan Horse - The Greeks are Inside (https://thetrojanhorse.mu). The Greek owner greeted us cheerfully and thought he recognized Christer and said he had been here before. It was almost difficult to convince him that this was not the case. 20.55 The staff here were a bit too eager and pushy. You don't have to ask every ten minutes if we are doing well and if the food tastes good. It is at least much better than being ignored or getting bad service. We have also experienced this sometimes. Christer's dish Makaronatha was more or less ordinary Spaghetti Bolognese. Now we are back at home in the apartment for our usual evening routines. 21.39 We have French TV in our apartment. From the ongoing Olympics in Paris, we have seen Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in the tennis and are currently watching the men's gymnastics. It is a team competition. 22.39 Japan unexpectedly took the team gold ahead of China and the United States. We ourselves have contented ourselves with evening coffee and a bun out on the terrace. 23.02 The evening will not be complete until we have drunk and reviewed a few more beers from here in Mauritius.
A view from the dinner table.
Peter's Greek dinner.
Peter is having dinner at The Trojan Horse (The Greeks are Inside).
Time for Mauritian evening beers.
Tuesday 30th of July
08.08 Today is a day of transportation. In various forms and vehicles we will get from Grand Baie in the northern part of the island to the next accommodation in the southwestern part of Mauritius.
09.39 Now it will be others who will sleep, eat breakfast and do other things in this accommodation. We are basically done with these efforts in Grand Baie. It has been a really nice place to stay, secluded but still quite central. 10.14 Soon we will check out and go to the bus that will take us back to Port Louis but today's travel does not end there. 10.53 For 48 rupees each we will now take a bus for the first time here in Mauritius. We will go with an extra comfortable and extra fast express bus so it is more expensive than many other buses here on the island. Since we have large backpacks with us, we have placed ourselves at the back of the bus. A chatty gentleman in a rasta hat has pointed out that we are not allowed to let our backpacks take up an empty seat. 11.20 The bus is crowded but we move quickly forward. The bus has also passed the shopping mall we visited yesterday, La Croisette. 11.40 There are many buses here at the La Gare du Nord (Bus Terminal North) bus station in Port Louis. We have just got off the one we came in. Now it is time for a regrouping. 11.49 With our backpacks on our backs, we navigate through the center of Port Louis on our way to the next means of transport. We are far from alone in the city.
In the bus that will take us to Port Louis.
Our bus has arrived in the capital of Mauritius.
Victoria Urban Terminal.
Peter takes a break to write in his journal.
Coffee break at Artisan Coffee.
We are waiting for the Metro Express train.
12.18 We are back at the Victoria Urban Terminal mall where we shopped during the arrival evening last Friday. Now there will be various things done here before the next trip.
12.27 Before the next trip we treat ourselves to a cup of coffee with snacks at Artisan Coffee (https://www.artisancoffee.mu). Next to us is a shop called Lätt liv, Easy life. They claim to be a shop with Scandinavian-inspired products. The company was started by a Chinese couple who often visited Scandinavia, including Sweden, hence the Swedish name. 12.54 With a banknote we bought tickets for the modern tram Metro Express (https://mauritiusmetroexpress.mu) that runs from Port Louis to the central parts of the island. We are currently at the Port Louis Victoria station. 13.01 We get up and go on board the southbound transport. A number of stations will be passed before it is time for us to get off. 13.48 After a while of standing up on the Metro Express, we are now sitting on a park bench near the buses in Quatre Bornes. Before we travel on, we want to have some kind of lunch. 14.26 Two places for lunch were designated for us to investigate more closely, an Italian and a Chinese restaurant. The Chinese Spring Restaurant had closed and the Italian Panarottis Express was of the shop-over-the-counter type. Now we are instead sitting slightly hungry at the next bus and waiting to board. To top it all off, one of the pieces on my new catheter has disappeared somewhere here in Quatre Bornes. Hope it goes well anyway. 14.33 People boarded the bus with the final destination Baie du Cap and we did the same. It was a good idea because now the bus is running. 14.42 Children's cries are heard and tickets have been purchased. When paying, I dropped some coins that were picked up and returned by kind fellow passengers. We are on our way to our final destination for the day. We have left a business card with the ticket seller and written the name of the village where we want to get off.
We have made it to Quatre Bornes.
We didn't find lunch but a nice flower instead.
Municipal Garden, Quatre Bornes.
We are on the last bus of the day.
We got off the bus along the road near Coteau Raffin.
We are going to eat at ENSŌ Restaurant & Lounge Bar.
15.25 There are many stops. Sometimes we are not allowed back into the heavy traffic when the bus has turned into a stop. Right now we are in the small town of Bambous and the bus seems to drive on exactly every street here. It is standing still again. We are sitting comfortably but starting to get bored.
15.34 The bus has now turned into Cascavelle Shopping Mall. Then the journey south along the coast will begin, we hope. 16.30 Now we have finished our bus trip for today. Our bus attendant waved to us and told us that it was time to get off at Coteau Raffin, which we had written on our business card. It's time to find the Pingo Studio accommodation, which should be located somewhere here. 16.42 On our confused walk through the streets near the main road, a man calls out to us. We check what he wants. 16.44 The calling man was sent by the owner of Pingo Studio where we will be staying. He will now take us there. Due to roadworks, the regular entrance to the accommodation is blocked off, so it was not easy to find the right house without assistance. 16.50 It was tricky to find the right keys, but the older man finally let us in and showed us what was in the apartment. Now he is driving us into the center of nearby La Gaulette so that we can have dinner and do some grocery shopping. He is the owner's father and seems really proud of his son. 17.06 The host dropped us off at a small mall. He offered to wait for us to drive home but we declined because we don't want to rush when we eat and shop. We first went to check how long the store is open. After that we went upstairs to ENSŌ Restaurant & Lounge Bar for dinner. 17.30 Once again we are eating burgers and drink beer. It's not cheap but worth every penny.
Finally a meal!
Rok Flander´s jersey from the Sochi Olympics.
Dusk in La Gaulette.
The long dark road home.
In the room at Pingo Studio.
The day ends with an evening beer on the patio.
18.05 There was a problem with the card payment and I had to use banknotes when I was going to pay for the food. On the way from the restaurant we found a competition jersey from the 2014 Sochi Olympics. It belonged to the Slovenian snowboarder Rok Flander who came in sixth place in Sochi. He now owns several restaurants here in Mauritius, maybe this one too? Now we are going to go shopping at GSR La Gaulette Supermarket.
19.55 After buying dinner and tomorrow's breakfast, we headed home. First we followed the main road and then we walked in the dark through the village of Coteau Raffin. Now I have both showered and washed. We met many dogs on our way home in the dark of the evening. We also passed a lighted football pitch. 20.54 Now we have seriously settled into another home on this trip. Pingo Studio has a lot to offer us. We have a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and a lovely terrace. The only drawback is that it is a double bed. Christer knew this when booking, but all the other advantages outweighed the fact that we might fight over the blanket at night. About two kilometers north we have La Gaulette with a shop and a few restaurants. In the other direction is the Le Morne peninsula with its mountain and beautiful beaches. 22.18 On previous trips we have been careful with eleven o'clock coffee. This year we have instead focused on twenty-two coffee. That has also happened tonight and with that we are eating some kind of sponge cake with strawberry filling that we found in the store earlier tonight. 23.29 We have moved out onto the patio where we are enjoying a nice evening under the palm trees. We are drinking a local craft beer called Kap10.
Wednesday 31st of July
08.31 The last day of the month is here. During the night, Hamas's supreme leader Ismail Hamiyeh was killed in Tehran. Less happy news is that there has been a catheter leak in the bed due to the piece that disappeared yesterday. Wondering how I can solve that? I can't stay awake at night for the rest of the trip. Otherwise, we have a lovely stay here in our apartment that feels like our own house.
09.40 After breakfast on the patio, we take it easy and wait for our host, the owner of Pingo Studio, to come by as promised. We have a few questions for him and we assume that he also wants us to pay for our stay here. After that, there are some activities planned. In any case, we need to return to La Gaulette for lunch and a return visit to the shop there. 11.03 While waiting for the host, we sit outside and read and take it easy. Today will probably be a very quiet day. It's nice after yesterday's intense travel across the island. 12.11 Where on earth is the host? He hasn't shown up. We have to go and get some errands done anyway. 13.13 After a long walk along the highway, we are now back in the mall area where we were last night. Next we need to find a restaurant to eat lunch. 13.29 I checked with a pharmacy to see if they might have catheter plugs or something similar. They didn't. In the meantime, Christer took a walk to find the local health center. It wasn't much more than an office, no help to be had there. Now we have left the mall area and have just ordered lunch at Eldorade Resto & Bar, a restaurant right on the highway.
A morning on the patio.
Peter leaves Pingo Studio.
We follow the road towards La Gaulette.
Peter has reached a more walkable surface.
At the Village Walk, restaurants and shops in the center of La Gaulette.
Eldorade Resto & Bar, La Gaulette.
14.11 It wasn't a bad lunch for me at all. I tried grilled squid. Christer also seems happy with his chicken curry served in a small iron pot. Lunch is now over. It's time to arrange the purchase of future dinners and breakfasts. We don't want to shop here again so we're buying everything we need for the rest of our stay here.
15.03 After some thinking, consulting and other things, we've probably got what we need in terms of food at home. Now we just have to get everything we bought there and ourselves. 15.48 We copied the route from this morning. Now everything is bought and placed where it should be. 16.52 It's really quiet here in our accommodation. We don't get much done and it doesn't bother us at all. Today we're gathering strength for tomorrow when we plan to do even more. 18.02 In the fading light we have been sitting and reading in the chairs outside the house. We have not heard anything from our host. It has hardly bothered us. 18.43 This is turning into one of the slowest days of the trip. There is also not much to see in the immediate area, just a country road and residential buildings. 19.59 Tomorrow between 9 and 11 o'clock our host will come here and take payment according to a message that Christer has received. Now we will arrange for a self-cooked dinner. Tonight it will be a little easier while we finish with something better tomorrow night.
Peter is having lunch at the Eldorade restaurant.
Christer during the lunch in La Gaulette.
Dinner is being prepared.
Time for a homemade dinner, pasta and Turkish meatballs.
21.05 It took a while to get everything ready in our kitchen, but now the pasta is cooked and the Turkish meatballs are ready.
21.51 Homemade is actually really good sometimes, even if you miss the atmosphere and experience you get when visiting a restaurant. It's always good to have variety when it comes to meal portions. 22.40 Evening coffee has been drunk and we have updated ourselves on the latest news from the world and from all the sports that are taking place in Paris these days. Sarah Sjöström has just won Olympic gold in swimming in the 100-meter freestyle. 23.25 A quiet day ends with a quiet, nice evening on the patio. Tonight we are drinking really big beers, Blue Marlin.
You can see 36 photos from July 28 in this photoalbum.
You can see 49 photos from July 29 in this photoalbum.
You can see 27 photos from July 30 in this photoalbum.
You can see 27 photos from July 31 in this photoalbum.