We started at Phoenix Mall, packed with shops, food, hairdressers, and a giant Jumbo.
Our first destination in the mall was the food. We got a steaming hot bowl of boullette with a variety of goodies.Â
For pudding, we had our first Portuguese egg tart and cronut. I had no idea someone had decided to mix a donut and a croissant together to make a delicious thing called a cronut. The lashings of chocolate made it the sweet treat we needed to traverse the kilometers of the mall.
It was great to see so many people shopping, there was a real bustle in the mall. As we walked the entire length we noticed the subtle change in design, a cunning plan by the architect to make it feel like a new area as you go. We made it to the end having passed every shop you can name including a mega Jumbo store. Then it was the long walk back to the car, past the Macdonald’s and an external KFC drive-through.
Out on the road, we stumbled onto the Palmerston bridge, built in 1866. We had planned to visit this bridge but had no idea where it was. The bridge has great stonework, but the Jurassic World it is situated in was a thing to behold. I could almost see the dinosaurs scuttling around in this quiet corner of the city. After this lucky find, we abandoned our plans and drove around waiting for the next surprise.
It didn’t take long and we were stopped in a suburb with beautiful houses and a dance academy. They shared a wall with a secret bank that has to have the best driveway in the country. We couldn’t see much of the mansion, but driving around it for a better view brought us to another great old bridge. The steel girders that once supported the walkway or narrow-gauge rail were truly huge. It contrasted dramatically with the razorwire fence of the secret bank.
Crossing another road we came to the most famous of Phoenix’s residences, what probably gave the town its name, Phoenix brewery. We couldn’t get in, but the park behind had a great view of the steel tanks, and just being close to that much beer warmed my heart, oh and there were more bridges.
Then onto the sad part of the day, the old Phoenix railway station. For years it was the home of MUGs, the Mauritius Underwater Group, the oldest scuba diving club in Mauritius. The building was beautiful, and in my normal fashion I kept a stiff up lip, but the sad future of the magnificent building was ever-present in Riki. The pride of the club, its cannon, and anchor were buried out back in a shallow grave.
We closed out the great day on a sad note, but Phoenix can never really leave you in the dumps, it is simple to full of life.