Mauritius - The End

There was one special thing that I wanted to see - Nymphaeaceae or the great water lilies with humongous leaves. The Botanical Garden of Pamplemousses has a variety of them among others as palm trees, spices etc. Its amazing to see how this tropical garden has been preserved for centuries. Everything here seems over sized.

The last day was spent in visiting the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden at Pamplemousse. Before this was the visit to Mauritian Glass factory. cum museum at Phoenix where skilled craftsmen make exquisite varieties of glass wares from recycled glass. Used bottles and glasses are brought back to life with a decorative edge. The museum houses glass footprints and hands of fame of famous personalities from around the world. It also has a nice gallery where objects like table, chairs are all made out of glass, mirrors which manipulate your image and a souvenir shop to pick hand made glasses.

Among other things, handcrafted models of famous ships with patience, made by hand to revive the memories of these sailing ships long ago which was part of histories being made are most beautiful. Each model is an exact replica of the original one - with the sails, masts, canons and all that exquisitely handcrafted. The blueprints are acquired from maritime museums all around the world and then faithfully reproduced on a miniature scale accurate to the last scale from the hull to the deck, railings, lifeboats, ropes, figure-heads....
Be it the Marie-Rose, the Bounty, the Santa Maria or the Sao Raphael or the Titanic...nothing is missing. They are exact replica of the original.

The Mauritian Glass Factory - display as to How to say glass around the world. Check if your native tongue is in here.

Many objects - single component- Glass

Chairs and center table

Man at work. Molding and designing artifacts.

The workshop

It has a souvenir shop to pick up glass artifacts. not to miss the offset glass and glass Dodos. I got them as souvenirs :)

Dodos. 

Bus Stop. Can you imagine boarding a bus each day to your work with such a gorgeous background for your view? 

I used a public restroom, this is how the view is next to it :)

At the Pamplemousses Botanical Garden. Nymphae of all colors.

The leaves of Victoria Amazonica. They have large leaves which can be upto 3 m in diameter.

I was waiting to see this massive leaves for a long time; after seeing them on TV. What I saw disappointed me; the leaves were withered and were not as massive as they should be. Then I saw this notice put beside the pond.

A baby leaf

I could not get enough of it. Even though they were not as huge as they were supposed to me, they were still huge.

Gleaming under the sun....

Few others

I just loved the way the water drop was resting on the leaf.

A lavender one.

There were lot of trees and palms

The

Administrative office.

A model ship making workshop cum store. Each piece takes 2-3 months to finish. They cost anywhere between 300-1000$. The lady was showing me many ship models. When I mentioned I wanted Santa Maria, she was amazed and said "You do know about ships. You are choosing a special one too. Not many tourists have a least idea about ships, they fail to appreciate it."

I bought a Santa Maria as a souvenir. Santa Maria de la Inmaculada Concepción was one of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus on his maiden voyage to the New world in the 15th century. 

This one here is Royal Caroline 1749.

Wasa 1628 Spanish warship. The ship sank after sailing less than a nautical mile into her maiden voyage.

Soleil Royal - French 104-gun ship.

I forgot which one is this :( There were so many replicas that it was overhwelming.

A artwork at the Caudon water front area.

Posta Museum. It was past 5 and so was shut :(

the Mauritius General Post Office. Old French colonial building.

 

Market where I bought some fruits to munch on. 

This blue glass facade building houses British Airway office.

 

Restaurants by the sea. It was here that I had my "glasse" experience.

 

My husband enjoying the ambiance.  

 

Mauritius lacks historical significant monuments, spectacular view points, natural wonders or anything of that sort. One can see few colonial buildings in French style. Its a place for lazing around and relaxing.