PHOTONIKON - MAURITIUS ISLAND

The Mauritian capital, Port Louis, was founded in 1735 by Mahé de Labourdonnais. It is one of the oldest cities, and retains some vestiges of its colonial past, as the broad avenues and several buildings of the time. It is very well located, as it occupies the amphitheater formed by the mountains Moka, in the east, and west is its seaport. To understand ka essence of Mauritius, we have to visit Port Louis. It is the meeting point of north and south, east and west, and the new and the old, form an indissoluble whole. Here the influence of China and India offset the three centuries of colonialism French and English. The city is dirty, and is infected by the smoke from cars, but there is misery and, except in working-class districts (cités ouvrières), virtually no slums or beggars.

In his years of glory, Port Louis, was home to high society and were being held magnificent feasts, dances and concerts at government House (Hotel du Gouvernement). At that time, a proliferation of opium smokers, and brothels, and in the late eighteenth century was marked by the city serve as a basis for many French privateers and pirates.

In 1817, Port Louis was already an eastern town, its 25,000 residents, only 3,000 were Europeans. The city was divided into three districts, one for Europe, one for freed slaves and other Africans, and one for the Indians. There was also a small Chinese enclave. The economy of the island, met a period of booming in the 1850s thanks to the great fortunes born in the sugar industry. Maritime traffic also grew. It enlarged the piers were built new points of embarkation and people of the city came to 65,000 inhabitants. But between 1866 and 1868, malaria (previously unknown), seextendió through the city, causing more than 200 casualties a day. What caused many people to flee into the interior estableciendose there. Shortly later, four successive cyclones were slaughtered on the city, which caused a decline as a place of residence for more favorecidad classes. Britain in 1918 had fallen to 50,000 people, most acentuándosse this decline as a result of the loss of activity of its port. But today, Port louis, is in full expansion, and is the symbol of the rapid development of the island. Its population now exceeds 130,000 habitnates and auqneu seems absurd their biggest problem are the daily traffic jams.

Port Louis, is a delight for the senses for all their images, smells and sounds, as well as the multitude of flavors strangers waiting in the visitor os posts markets and restaurants. During the day, the city is filled with people and traffic is chaotic, as though they have heard the horns of cars driving through their narrow one-way streets, many of which retain the paving of the last century. The street vendors extol their wares on the streets of the neighborhood Chinese and websites close to the market, which is very colorful environment. The holes, and the crowd, make walking with children, be a difficult task. Moreover, pedestrians have to be careful not to fall into the deep drains which serve to drain water from the summer storms. Walking in the summer, can be suffocating. Many bars in the city are not allowed to serve alcoholic beverages. If you want to go to a restaurant, better not wait for the night, as many of them only serve workdays at noon. Driving in Port Louis, it can be frustrating, because many of its streets are one-way, and many of them have changed their name, bringing in a little plane notebooks do not appear.