Visiting Victoria

March 2017

We learned today that Danny has eaten fruit bats. "It tastes like chicken with a lot more bones", he told us. It was his opinion that bats are best in stews, served with rice but that fruit bat, as a choice of protein, is not his favourite. He prefers a fresh red snapper caught that morning out of the Indian Ocean by one of his own family. He comes from a family of fishermen. It was our luck to have Danny drive us from our home above Petit Anse to the capital city in Victoria the other day, for a four-hour tour of the capital. And he seemed fine, unaffected by having consumed the fruit bats.

Some surprising facts were revealed to us today. One of the things that sticks in my mind is how much foreign aid the Seychelles has received from the UAE and specifically from Sheikh Khalifa himself. Sheikh Khalifa is the President of the UAE and the Emir of Abu Dhabi. There have been at least two injections of capital from the UAE which have provided an upgrade for the hospital in Victoria (that now bears the sheikh's name) and an upgrade to the Seychelles's naval patrol boats which protect all us tourists.

At first, you might think that this foreign aid is a very generous gesture on behalf of the UAE but there were some strings attached. Sheikh Khalifa got to buy up several plots of prime real estate in the Seychelles to build luxury hotels, including the Four Seasons Hotel where Gym and Mrs. Gym have been nesting for several days now. Four Seasons, that great Canadian company that does such a great job managing this hotel, does it for Sheikh Khalifa and a Saudi prince who is his partner. They  own the land and buildings.

The Sheikh also got to build himself a pretty big shack up on the top of the mountain overlooking Victoria for injecting all of that cash into the Seychelles and some of the locals were not happy about this especially when he flooded the neighbourhood below the palace with sewage from the work-camp where his imported Southeast Asian workers lived while the palace was under construction. The Sheikh offered a settlement of 8,000 dollars per affected household. Today only his palace skirts the law that restricts the height of any development in the Seychelles to the height of a coconut tree. So obviously the Sheikh has some connections on the islands.

Having just sort of slammed Mr. Khalifa in the preceding paragraphs, you have to admit that his investments here have made the country more attractive and safer. And lets face it, the Seychellois needed the investment. Let's just hope that future investments by foreigners don't take anything away from the unique Seychelles experience that future visitor's will expect after reading Gym's blog.

There is other recent development in Victoria. Much of it is on land reclaimed from the sea. We went over to Eden Island to check some of that out. Eden Island is an upscale, mixed use development that is built on an artificial island. It is quite posh and although we didn't get to see the residential areas which are gated, we strolled through the village mall and stopped for some ice cream overlooking the grand yachts moored in the harbour.

The highlight for Gym the foodie, was a visit to the  main market in Victoria, a must see attraction. The sights, the sounds and the aromas are unforgettable. It is also a good place to watch the locals interacting in their native Creole. Mrs. Gym skipped a close inspection of the fish tables which were loaded with a wide assortment of fresh tuna, red snapper, grouper and kingfish. Both Gym and Mrs. Gym enjoyed inspecting colourful spice, vegetable and fruit tables at the market. After buying some spices, our heros walked across the street to visit the Cathedral and since it was Lent and St. Patrick's Day to boot, Gym nipped in to offer some Hail Mary's for everybody important to Gym except Donald Trump.

It is consistently warm, calm and although it is humid, it has not rained except for a brief period on our second day here.

My next blog will detail our trip to the iconic islands of Praslin and La Digue.

Mrs. Gym at the lookout from the highway above Victoria.
You can just see the airport in the middle background.

Sheihk Khalifa's crib on the mountain overlooking the
capital. 

Looking down on Eden Island from the lookout. A giant yacht
takes up more than one parking spot.

We had some ice cream overlooking the yachts
when we were at Eden Island.

The promenade at Eden Island has a sort of Dubai feel.

Nice looking red snappers at the market.

This one speaks for itself

Here is an example of a spice display table. We spent some rupees
at this table.  The saffron was a steal of a deal.

Now check this out! It may not look like it but this is an avocado
grown in the Seychelles. 

This is a Hindu temple in Victoria. Many merchants are Hindu.

The inside of Victoria's Catholic Cathedral, Our Lady of Immaculate
Conception.

We hiked around the Botanical Garden in Victoria and Mrs. Gym took
this nice shot at the Thai Garden. It is a shot through the gate of a goat statue.
Generally speaking we have seen better botanical gardens and my
criticism would be that this one needs some work. The jungle is winning the battle and
someone needs to get the Sheikh to drop some rupees on this attraction.