Mauritius was the indigenous home of the iconic Dodo Bird which became an extinct animal as of 1681.
While I was bummed about not being able to see the Dodo Bird, missing it by just over 335 years…. Mauritius had quite a few marvelous historical and spiritual sights that are sure to catch everyone’s attention. The field program I went on visited six of Mauritius’ most popular and intriguing wonders.
We started our morning off with walking through the oldest Chinese Pagoda on the island where we were instantly enveloped in rich, deep reds dyed into the ceiling fabrics and hanging lanterns. The Kwan Tee Pagoda has just celebrated its 176th year of its establishment. Also joining in on some celebration cheer was the pagoda’s oldest inhabitant, a giant tortoise that gracefully lounged around in the fenced in grounds. She was reaching almost 200 years old!
Second stop we made was to the Marie Reine de la Paix, a Mother Mary Monument atop a hill overlooking Port Louis. This Mother Mary Monument was built in honor of the peace between the island people of Mauritius and the rest of the world. It was built and dedicated in the year 1940. From the top of the hill we were able to get a 360 view of Port Louis and off to the left in the far distance we could spot our beautiful home, the MV World Odyssey, docked in the harbor!
Our third stop brought us to the Tamil Temple. That was eccentrically sculpted and colored with various human figurines. The temple was also home to over 20 just as vibrant creatures, peacocks! We got the opportunity to watch a prayer service being held at the end of one of their ten day fasts for honoring their women. The prayer was spoken in unison and listening to the head speaker within the holiest room inside the temple. There were also musicians playing music at certain times of the prayer. It was really exciting to see one of their traditions and rituals in person. We also were able to sit down and speak with a member of the temple to ask questions about their practices. The temple is not linked to a particular religion. The member explained that their practices were a way of life and were based off rituals, traditions and culture.
The fourth stop of our day was at the Pere Laval Shrine. Pere Laval was the European who brought Roman Catholicism to the island initially. His body is buried in a shrine off to the left of the church. Members of the church come daily to visit the shrine and pay their respects to Pere Laval for bringing Catholicism to their island and saving those who chose to convert.
Our group had lunch at a local Indian restaurant where we indulged in rice, curry and homemade vanilla bean ice cream! The food was amazing and very evident of the Indian influence Mauritius had during their colonization years. After lunch, we had a karaoke session on the bus ride to our fifth site. We had the whole bus singing the Frozen soundtrack and I’m Yours by Jason Mraz!
The fifth site we visited was a Hindu Temple called Maheswanath Triolet. We were able to participate in an offering ceremony while we were there. We walked between five different buildings within the temple and gave up offerings and prayers to the different Hindu gods. Our offering plate contained a coconut, a banana, some incense sticks, a red chalk piece for making our bindis, three marigold flowers, and a small cube of wax to burn.
Our final stop for the day was a French chateau built on a sugar cane farm. The chateau was called the Labourdonnais. The manor house was absolutely stunning. The dinning room was covered in wallpaper depicting a forest scene and a massive dinning table able to seat 25 people stood in the center of the room under an intricate chandelier. The staff were setting up for a wedding scheduled to be held that night and the venue was so magical. The backyard, where the ceremony was to be held, had glass bottles filled with fairy lights hanging over the alter and a clean white carpet leading down the aisle. The reception was also set up outside. The tables were adorned in white table cloths and simple, single candle centerpieces encircled with white floral accents. The temporary dance floor was lit up with multicolored lights surrounding the front yard. It would have been so beautiful to experience the wedding itself while we were there, but sadly we had a ship to catch. After leaving the chateau, we watched the sun slowly begin to set over the island.
We made it back to the ship just in time to see the last rays of sun sink below the hills of Mauritius and cast glowing beams of cotton candy pink and baby blue behind our floating home. Mauritius was a dreamy 24 hours.
Enjoy the pictures below!
Jaiden Lynn 🙂
Journeys with Jaiden 