Seychelles

Seychelles…

We had been thinking about escaping from the cold winter of Ankara and having some sea sun and sand vacation for a long time.  While chasing a reasonable flight ticket, when we heard the miles discount that THY had made because of opening a new route, we decided to go to Seychelles this time, which we wanted to visit before but was delayed because the flight tickets were too expensive.

Do not ask where is there immediately; this is a country that is not known on the map, where the names of the letters s and ş are mixed, islands with wonderful beaches in the Indian Ocean. It is a frequent destination for many couples, especially on honeymoon ,  for us even though that this was not the case as we have a child now but it was a great route even mete When he heard that we will go there he was excited he felt it , I guess.
First, we got our tickets with miles so we did the hardest part of the job.  Afterwards, fun plans and bagage preparations began.  Özlem has promised me this time, it will be the lightest bag she has ever prepared, let’s see!

Transportation to Seychelles with an average of 8 hours of direct flight distance from Istanbul is available. Plus, even though it’s a long flight but since you keep going South you don’t get jetlagged. Another point for Seashells. And a it’s a plus to THY . Scheduling the flights to night time, because they think of those who travel with babies like us.  We prepared a place for Mete to sleep by closing a four side by side seats were empty in the back,  we wouldn’t miss such a chance.

We finally landed in Seychelles with our bodies celebrating the transition from minus 15 degrees to plus 25 degrees by descending to Mahe in the morning.  Seychelles is a country formed by more than 100 large and small islands.  We built our plan for going to 3 islands.  Mahe, which is the largest island where our plane will land, the second largest island Praslin and the third largest island La dique.

We took our suitcases from the airport and set off on the way to the ferry port to reach our first stop, La digue island.  But there are two more things we have to do before leaving the airport.  The first is to exchange money, and the second is to get a local sim card for our phones.  We have completed the business by taking the cable and wireless operator, which has the best service in the country as a line, and exchanging our dollars to rupee the local currency of Seychelles.
The airport is a 15-20 minute drive from the capital Victoria city centre. It is possible to find vehicles that provide transfer services right in front of the airport like bus taxi or other facilities.

While we were buying the ferry tickets, we reached the ferry port by using the discounted transfer option.  Since we planned to do our transportation between the islands by ferries, we bought our tickets at www.seychellesbookings.com before coming to Seychelles.  Our first plan is to make it to Mahe-La digue.  The journey takes 1 hour 15 minutes.  First, the ferry arrives to Praslin island in 1 hour, leaves the passengers who want to stay there then counties to the island of La digue in 15 minutes.

I would like to mention especially about this ferry.  If you have sea , plane , vehicle etc problems such as motion sickness or you have a sensitive stomach, this speed ferry is not for you!  You should definitely stay away.  Reached this conclusion because Özlem, tiny Mete , and almost all of the passengers of the ferry felt bad.  (Me? I don’t have a problem :))
You can understand how serious the situation is from the officers who are already ready with alot of napkins and bags. For Those who are thinking what should they do now , will we always stay on the main island, Do not worry right away This problem disappears with tiny planes that cover the distance between Mahe and Praslin in 20 minutes.  Since Özlem and Mete were affected so much, we cancelled the return part of the ferry tickets we bought round-trip (refund is made in cancellations) and we returned to Mahe with this small plane.

Now let’s leave this ferry.  My beautiful La digue island here we come, a magnificent simplicity and a wonderful nature greeted us, let’s concentrate on this.  When you get off the pier, you come across a lot of bike rentals and taxi drivers.  These are slightly more expensive than their alternatives on the island.  You can go to your hotel by negotiating with the uncle who has turned a golf car into a taxi, or by walking a little as we did.

We stayed at a beautiful sea view hotel on La digue island.  The hotel is 1 km north of the ferry port that we landed. Before arrival we asked the hotel to provide us a room with a view since we have a baby with us we wanted a room not far from the beach, the restaurants, the casinos and the pool, thanks to them they placed us in a room exactly as we wanted.

Beside the cleanliness of the beaches , the colour of the sand, the palm trees extending to the water, and the granite rocks which makes it looks like the postcards you can only find it here  .
Our first stop, La digue island, is an island that is not very big, but it is considered too large to walk around or by bike.  It has great beaches.  They even have some beaches that they sometimes named as the best in world.
With this information, we start with the Anse Potato Beach, which is located in front of our hotel from the first day, we ended our missing to the sea we started our summer days the water is truly magnificent, especially those white sands are indescribable.  There is also a pool in the hotel we stayed in, but who cares about the pool while there this wonderful ocean.

We start the next sunny day with a nice breakfast then we go to rent bikes, which is our first task. This option is also available in hotels, but since bicycles are old and a little bit expensive, we rented our bicycles from a shop of an American friend who couldn’t resist this beauty and chose to live here; the shop is 10-minutes walk from the hotel.

Our first stop is Anse Severe.  This beautiful beach is very close to our hotel and not crowded at all. By the way, I recommend you to pay attention to the tidal times of the beaches.  No, there is not such an extreme withdrawal, but I would still want you to know. On Anse Severe beach, the day is Mete’s day.  He loses himself in the water with plenty of sunscreen cream. Well, after all, the child was bored in the low degrees of Ankara.  When it was his bed time, he slept in a palm shade, allowing us to swim.

At the end of the day, we return to our hotel by bicycles.  We also met a huge turtle that was trying to cross the road.  Mashalah, it’s bigger than Mete. These turtles are unique and rare they can live for decades. Since it was the first time we saw it in our lives, we couldn’t leave it for a while.  We say goodbye to this kind animal then we returned to the hotel.

The next day, we jump on our bikes heading to Anse Source D’argent, the beach we want to see the most.  Again, we started our ride among the beauties along the coast.  This beach is in a national park, so the entrance is for a reasonable fees.  It is possible to find huge palm trees, giant turtles, historical ruins and fragrant vanilla trees in this national park.

We continue to Anse Source D’argent beach by visiting the beautiful places on the road.  We park our bicycles and move between the granite rocks, after a while we understood the reason why this place is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  A really great place!  We immediately jumped under a beautiful umbrella then started a family swim
Mete is again , enjoying the pleasure of swimming in the ocean at this age.

After swimming in the water for a long time, sunbathing on the beach, taking lots of photos, we are moving for the return. When we come to the centre of La passe, La digue, we stopped for eating something in the take away shop, we filled our stomaches from a nice local cuisine.  The lentil soup we found for Mete was a nice coincidence.

Our next beach is Grand Anse. It is a little far from other beaches.  It is okay to be away.  But this way is very tiring for us.  Because of slopes and the hilly roads. Well, the weather was hot too , during this every one was becoming angry especially Ozlem.

We finally reach Grand Anse Beach by taking a break from time to time .  We understood at first sight that like its name, it’s really huge.  About 350-400 mt.  Extending among all white  and turquoise .  The only missing thing here is the shadow.  We cannot find the tree shadows like other beaches. We took a shelter in the small shade that was created by the rocks in the far east of the coast.

After a short while, we find ourselves relaxed in the coolness of those turquoise waters. Mete, who is playing with white sands and struggling with the waves, gets sleepy so we make a tent with the sticks that we found right there and lay him in its shadow. Next door is Petite Anse Beach, which is highly recommended by travellers. But since we have to go over a hard path or over the rocks to get to it, we leave the Grand Anse in a without seeing it. There is also a local places here, you can eat and drink. On the way back we had to take breaks again because of those ramps which are always there. We pedalled, always pedalled and saying let’s enjoy our hotel we decided to stay in the hotel today. We enjoy the pool and the Anse Potato beach right next to us to the fullest. We return our bicycles in the evening and look forward to tomorrow.

We were very pleased with our hotel, especially with their extreme care for Mete and the little wooden turtle Mete they gave during the departure, in his words “gabo gabo” was a very good moment for us. We get in the car to get to the ferry port and leave the hotel. The destination is Praslin Island, a 15-minute ferry distance.

This time, because the time is short and we sit outside, we descend to the island of Praslin without getting sea sickness. It is a very big island compared to La digue. The hotel we will stay in here is a place consisting of bungalow houses. It is a place with its own kitchen, so you can cook yourself. We get to our hotel by taxi, by picking up enough materials to be enough for us from the market in front of the ferry port. After the settlement, the wonderful pool is at the entrance to the hotel Özlem and I take a breath there because we got our eyes on it.

Since the island of Praslin is too big to be visited by bike, our choice here is to rent a car. They bring the car that I had previously reserved to my hotel and I get it delivered. The steering wheel on right sounds very different for someone who has no experience in using it like that, but it’s not very difficult. You get used to it after a while. Now our car is ready too, we shouldn’t stop, right? We travel to Anse Lazio, which is another one of the best beaches in the world.

Even Mete, who had a small nap on the way, became like he had woke up from the night’s sleep when we got to the beach, because this beautiful beach is difficult to describe. We immediately set up in a shadow and go towards the water. This place is a bit crowded compared to La digue beaches, but do not think so much, you can still enjoy it and relax. There are two restaurants just behind the beach and their food is also delicious. We leave with the decision to end the day here and come here again the next day. We come here the next day and leave ourselves to the turquoise waters like the first day.

Would you go without going around this huge island and seeing Coco de mer, which is unique and can only be found here? Our route is the Valle De Mai park. Let me tell you, if you have babies or children, this park may not be suitable for you. The reason is that it is very large and the roads in it consist of paths. You can get tired of because there people who got tired let me tell you. This endemic fruit is very special because it only grows in Seychelles. And because its shape is quite strange. Be sure that you’ll understand what i mean at the first glance when you write it’s name in Google images.

We take the road of Anse Volbert one day and Anse Boudin the other day, saying we cannot leave without conquering all the beautiful beaches of the island. Here, we return to our hotel after satisfaying Master Mete.

On our last day, we deliver our car to the friends who came to our hotel, and we are on the way to the pool with the decision to spend the time left at the hotel. We do not leave the pool because we keep reminding each other that the cold frosty Ankara is waiting for us.

Now it’s time to return from Praslin to Mahe, the main island.

As I mentioned above, we cancelled the ferry return tickets and went into Mahe with a small plane. And thanks god we did so. We set foot on Mahe without anything happening to any of our team. Even though we have two days here and that we are not going to return to the cold yet, it makes us a little happy, but Mahe, which is much bigger than other islands, did remind us of city life.

We reach the Beau Vallon area by bus through the capital Victoria. Here we settle in our hotel and continue where we left off. The concept here is somewhat similar to our country hotels. A beachfront hotel and pool. We continue to enjoy the sun in February without making any fuss.

I would like to especially mention the take away people on the street which is right next to the hotel and very busy in the evening, because its crowded with the peddlers. If you are a seafood lover like me and especially someone who likes sea shells, I have not seen another place where you can find so fresh food at such an affordable price. You should definitely try them. In addition, I recommend that you do not leave here without trying the tropical fruits.

While we are here, we get on the bus saying, “Let’s not go without seeing the capital.” I would like to emphasize that if you have time in Seychelles, definitely use the buses. Because it is incredibly cheap compared to taxis. Okay old tassels but still it’s taste is different.

The city centre is naturally crowded.  A crowd of locals and tourists like us.  We are on our way to our hotel by visiting the local market, the clock tower built by the British and the famous Hindu temple.

And it time for separation… We are going to the airport early in the morning, collecting the all our stuff and leaving with our burnt skins and good memories.  We leave this beautiful country by exchanging the remaining Seychelles rupee, which is our last duty.  Goodbye Seychelles, goodbye 30 ° C degrees

Without forgetting, you can find detailed information about the materials to be taken with you in our “travel with a baby” article.