Eureka!

Today we visited this beautiful house:

It's La Maison Eureka in the Moka district of central Mauritius. The house was built in 1830 in a typical colonial style, and has 109 doors and windows (so the guidebooks say, I didn't count them all!) The ground floor of the house is filled with 18th and 19th century furniture, including this amazing shower: 

Other than what I've written above, I learned nothing else about the house whatsoever. There was absolutely no information given as to who built the house, why, who owns it now, or what kind of life the people who lived here led. It's a shame because this is one of the very few remaining houses in this architectural style in Mauritius, but it appears to be badly managed. The upstairs has been converted into an office to sell luxury real estate, not at all what you expect in a historic place like this.

The gardens provoked equally mixed reactions. For the most part, they were lush and green, with lots of endemic vegetation and a great view of the house and mountain. Some sections, however, were filled with weird sculptures and a cage filled with far too many chickens.

When we paid for our tickets, we were told that at the bottom of the garden there was a waterfall and that we should take care when going down the path. If the lady saw that we were all wearing flip-flops, she didn't feel it necessary to point out that they were not really an appropriate choice of footwear for the terrain. We were lucky because the path was dry, but it was quite steep. Worth the effort though, to see this waterfall at the bottom.

We crossed the river using the rocks as natural stepping stones, and took lots of pretty photos. On the way back, Susan lost one of her flip-flops and watched, helpless, as it drifted down the river towards the falls. Thankfully, Pat managed to recover it as it got stuck in some leaves right at the edge of the rocks. Not sure how she'd have got back up the path with one naked foot!

I don't regret going to Eureka, but think that 300 rupees for an unguided visit, with zero information, of the ground floor of a house, is a bit steep. Almost as steep as the path to the waterfall!