Seychelles!

First glimpse of Seychelles on Mahe island.

National Day.  We usually get two days off, which makes for a four day weekend.  I don't usually go anywhere or do much.  This year, National Day falls on a Tuesday (December 2).  I checked the university calendar, and noticed that the last three days of the week were blocked off making it a five day weekend; enough days to travel somewhere.  "Seychelles", I said to myself.  Oh yes.

It is super frustrating that we are never given the official word for these kinds of holidays until the last minute. I was banking on those five days at least and booked it anyway.

Christmas tree in downtown Victoria.

Lo and behold!  Since I now work at the university, and students get bussed there from all over the
UAE, they decided to give us the whole week off because they didn't want to bus students for just to days of classes.  SWEET!  I changed my flights to leave early on Saturday morning instead of Tuesday...one whole week off...tropical islands.....nice.....

Changing my international flight caused a small problem.  I had booked a domestic flight (only 15 minutes!) from Mahe to Praslin (the island I wanted to stay on), but now I couldn't get a domestic flight.  Now, I would have to take a ferry (45 minutes to Praslin and and extra 15 minutes to La Digue, my new destination).  My international flight arrived at 6:30am...my domestic flight was to be at 8:30am.  The ferry doesn't leave until 11:30!  Ugh.  Five hours to kill. 

Lots of rain today on Mahe!

The Seychelles were first colonized by the French around 1756.  Most of the inhabitants speak Seychellois Creole in addition to English and French. Around 1810, the British took control, and independence wasn't granted until 1976 as a republic within the Commonwealth. Since the Seychelles had no indigenous population, it is currently populated by people who are of mostly African, French, Indian and Chinese decent.  The dominating religion is Roman Catholic.

The ferry is located in the capital city of Victoria.  There was a shuttle bus to take us there.  Still 3 hours to kill, so I decided to brave the rain and take a walk downtown.  

Not much to see.  Got on the very cold ferry and finally arrived in La Digue around 1:30pm.

Clocktower in downtown Victoria.  

 А replica of Little Ben called Lorloz (painted silver) was erected in 1903 in the center of Victoria to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897.

 "Little Ben" is a cast iron miniature clocktower in Westminster Central London on Victoria Street.  "Little Ben" of course, is a replica of "Big Ben" which is at the other end of Victoria Street.

Church in Victoria.

Heading to La Digue

Cute boat on the way to La Digue.