Thursday, January 5, 2012

Kerala might be God's own country, but He lives in Seychelles: Day 3: Valee de Mer, Capricorn, Anse Kerlan, Le Monde

 


View from Chalet Côte Mer
We woke up to a bright and sunny day on Praslin to hear so many different birds tweeting. There’s a bright orange little bird, called the Madasgascar Fody, that is amazingly pretty. It was cloudy the couple of days earlier so it came as a pleasant surprise. Headed down to the restaurant for breakfast and then to a dip in the pool. M tried again to get me to float J! Apparently, I was breathing too heavily and not giving in to the experience.




View of the jetty from Chalet Côte Mer

The Jetty

We left the hotel at around 1015 AM to go to the UN World Heritage site: Valee de Mer. It supposedly feels like Jurassic Park in there. By the time we reached the English guide had already left with a bunch of tourists so we decided to come back the next day. We went to the café and I had a cappuccino (I need my cuppa!) and decided to explore the only other coast left on the island.

View of the Chalet Côte Mer and the Jetty 
The road is among the prettiest road I have ever driven on. Vegetation is so thick on both sides of the road that there is barely little sunlight that reaches the road. The road is winding and with steep inclines that it is wonder to drive on. The moment the road flattened out, we could see the ocean with its awesome azure color. It’s a color so pretty that I begin to wonder why only a few islands have it. A sobering thought then strikes, if it was everywhere, it probably wouldn’t have been such a wonder.
Love this pic of M on the bench

I wanted a pair of shades, so we would stop at every place that was selling souvenirs to check if they sell shades. We drove further until we hit an area which had a bit more people and, a mall! I completely fell in love with the mall. From a person who hates malls because of the sheer number of people who throng it in other cities, it came as a shock, there were maybe 10 people in it apart from the sales persons. Oh and what brilliant work life these Seychellois have! Shops open at 10 Am, lunch is from 12 to 1 (or 2 whatever the owner decides) and they close by 4PM. I loved it! This is a dream destination to retire from the vagaries of work. I digress, so let me get back to the topic. It was 12 so the shops were shut and we drove down further in search of a restaurant called Capricorn which is on Anse Kerlan (Ans Kerlan). We finally found it, shut, for Christmas and New Year. Oh, there was a small little beach and what a beach! Super soft white sand, turquoise waters, marvelous, with nary a soul anywhere close by.. Either nature or the restaurant had made a small cove, where stones have been placed to look like a fashion ramp. At the end of the ramp, a wooden seat had been placed for people to sit and watch the lovely ocean. In my opinion, it is the most ideal place to sit and contemplate Life, Universe and Everything (with apologies to Douglas Adams). I was very glad that I spent some of the best 30 minutes of my life here.
Breathtaking Anse Kerlan
Found a supermarket where we bought some water, some biscuits and cigarettes. Well, we had to eat and there wasn’t a place that was open and we remembered that we passed a French restaurant that seemed open so we drove back and there it was, cute little French restaurant, Le Monde, so we parked our Sirion, went in and ordered food. It was a hot and balmy day. Sitting in the portico of the restaurant, with no fan on, made me a bit uncomfortable, but we had to eat. Waitresses seemed to be all on vacation so there was only the owner, her daughter (?) serving food. Tables got mixed up and meanwhile on a table next to us, there were 6 Italians who all ordered Lobsters, and they were among the largest I had ever seen. We ate to our hearts content and drove back to the mall. M and I bought a pair of shades and some other knick-knacks and drove back to the hotel. We hit the fantastic pool there and spent the rest of the evening at the hotel.

M on the bench at Anse Kerlan