Creole cottages with rusty roofs sit in pin-neat yards and newer,
larger concrete stuccoed houses, two stories with washing drying on the flat roof have small gardens dense with tropical foliage. Pink, orange and purple bougainvillea cascades off balconies and over walls. Huge shading mango and breadfruit trees have staked their claim to space and the lane waists-in around them. The museum, a mansion that belonged to the Robillard family for
centuries, traces Mauritius' mix of Dutch, French and British influence as its colonial masters changed. Much is made of the sea battle between the British and French, in 1810, out in the bay just beyond Mahebourg, and it was to this house that the injured commanders of
both fleets were taken for treatment. The French won this battle but lost the war. Later that year, after Napoleon's defeat, Mauritius was taken from France and became a British colony. We amble down Royal Road and visit Notre Dame de Anges to
pay our respects to Father Laval. This 1849 honey-coloured Catholic Church is cool, airy and quiet. Its size and simplicity give it a serene ambience, the tall roof is supported by a handsome wooden framework and the pews are hewn dark wood. In the apse Mary, robed in white and blue, is centre stage with a supporting crew of angels and cherubs. A simple, austere, image of Christ on the cross stands above her in the shadows of the ceiling.
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