A Different Kind of White Christmas
We decided at very short notice to fly to the Seychelles over Christmas and New Year, as we had had enough of the dreary, rainy weather in Germany. After two long flights and a 20-hour stopover spent sightseeing in Dubai, we finally arrived at the airport on Mahé. Even as we came in to land, we were swept up in the island atmosphere.
After passing through immigration, we continued to Praslin with Creole Travel Service. However, our ferry was overbooked, and we had to wait another seven hours for the next one (we were put up in a hotel on Mahé for two hours). Exhausted from the long journey, our spirits continued to sink, and we started our holiday with a bad feeling. That vanished as soon as we arrived at our Hotel L'Archipel on Praslin. We received a very warm welcome and were immediately offered a welcome drink. The hotel staff told us to relax and unwind while they took care of everything else for us.
Now our dream holiday could begin!!! After a short tour of the wonderful hotel grounds, we took some time to admire the view from our rooms.
We then went for a walk along the dreamily white, deserted beach (I had always thought the photos were staged, but I was proved wrong – the beaches really are that breathtaking and secluded).
As it was 25 December and Christmas is celebrated in the Seychelles that evening, we were served a wonderful 5-course dinner. The dining area was right by the beach but, thankfully, had a roof, as there was a tropical downpour every evening. It was a wonderful Christmas evening, complete with a Christmas tree, a snowman made of sand and festive music.
We stayed on Praslin until 31 December and also walked through Vallée de Mai National Park, where we admired the male and female ‘Coco de Mer’ palms.
We then took the ferry back to Mahé (this time everything went smoothly). We stayed for one night at Eden Island Resort and, that evening, went to what everyone told us was the ‘biggest’ party in the country to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Even though people came from all the islands to celebrate, it was a very small party by German standards, and instead of fireworks, only a handful of signal flares were launched.
At the start of the new year, we travelled to another island, this time Cerf Island. The hotel’s own boat collected us from Eden Island and took us to our hotel, the Cerf Island Resort. The hotel was built into the hillside and looked very attractive, but the service was dreadful (dinner was always cold, and our drinks order was often not taken until we had almost finished eating). However, the service improved over time after many hotel guests complained.
The boat travelled to the main island of Mahé twice a day, so we went diving on two days and saw some fascinating wrecks, sharks and rays.
There was also plenty to do from our hotel. We could borrow kayaks from the hotel, which we used to explore the neighbouring islands (such as Round Island).
We also explored the reef just offshore from the hotel and spent hours snorkelling. There were lots of colourful fish to admire, and if we were lucky, we even spotted a small shark or a ray.
On our penultimate day, we returned to the main island for good, as our flight was departing very early the following morning. We also took a walk through Le Jardin Du Roi Spice Garden, where we saw vanilla trees, cinnamon trees, nutmeg trees and much more. Sadly, the next morning it was already time to head home, back to cold Germany.
