Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Day 166 Port Louis, Mauritius

Mauritius…. Interesting place. We arrived around 7:00 a.m. and had to go through a face to face Passport inspection with immigration. Once that was done it was off to explore the city. First thing that happened was the first taxi driver we encountered wasn’t interested in taking us to town (1 ½ miles), he was waiting for bigger things. He told us to walk. The second taxi driver asked such a ridiculous price that we walked to town. Welcome to Mauritius…. Once in town we took a walking tour that was in my tour book. It was pretty interesting, the best being the views from Fort Adelaide. The weather was unbelievably hot and humid and it took a major toll on me (I skipped dinner with a major headache and felling washed out). The shopping was fairly interesting as well. They apparently have been talking to the taxi drivers and wanted outrageous amounts for many items. The people of Mauritius weren’t particularly friendly. I have been to many ports and you haven’t heard me say that about other areas. The kicker came around 4:00 p.m., an announcement was made on the ship that the immigration officials had decided that they wanted to see all the passengers, once again, for a face to face passport inspection….amazing. Here is one island that is not only not tourist friendly, they aren’t worthy of having tourists visit. That is a pretty harsh statement but that is how I feel. I believe that Holland America should scratch and ideas of future visits to Mauritius. There isn’t enough there to warrant the aggravation…..

3 comments:

Ken said...

I have to agree, the people in your pictures don't seem very warm or friendly.

vickie said...

Too bad this turned out to not be such a good stop. Enjoy the yummy 4 sea days before your next land adventure. Vickie

Michelle and Rudy van der Goot said...

I have heard that before about Mauritius and especially that it is very expensive for not a lot. If you have lots and lots of money then you can have a good time and everyone is welcoming.....so agree not a port that I would want to visit.