Category: Travel

  • Mahe

    Our first dose of Seychelles’ main island was in the form of Eden Island – a transit midpoint between a flight landing at 10.30 and a ferry leaving at 4.30. The cab from the airport got us there in 15 mins. Though it’s hyped as a major shopping destination, it’s actually quite a small place with a few eateries and shops. On a Saturday afternoon, the place had quite a lackadaisical feel to it. It seemed to be quite a yacht docking location though.

    We had earmarked a couple of lunch options earlier, but ended up in a different place called Tamassa, which looked to be more lounging-friendly than the others. Our first lunch in Seychelles was excellent – mussels in a thick coconut milk based gravy, and some delicious octopus! Then, after some Tiramisu ice cream, D did quite a bit of window shopping as I people-watched. A cab dropped us off at the ferry to Praslin, another 15 minute ride away.

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  • La Digue

    La Digue is only 15 minutes from Praslin by ferry, and we had chosen one that left at 11.45. We had asked for a cab by 10.45, giving us a half an hour buffer. We grew fidgety when our clocks showed us 11.10 and the driver still hadn’t arrived. We reminded the hotel owner and she asked us not to fret. He arrived at 11.15 and we got to the ferry in 20 minutes. The boat was docked but we left only half an hour after the departure time. We got time to exchange some currency, and comment on the guts of an Indian couple who arrived 20 minutes after the scheduled departure.

    Our cab driver from the Anse Lazio trip had told us that La Digue had all of 4 cars, though the Palm Beach hotel owner said it was slightly more now. But the driver hadn’t exaggerated much – this was cycle country! Made sense, the place is tiny. We walked along the main road to Le Repaire, our destination.

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  • Praslin

    Seven years since the (first and) last time we visited Lanka. Things didn’t seem to have changed much. The already horrendous start time of 3.30 AM was extended to 5 AM thanks to a flight delay. We knew this because we got a call the previous evening, but nothing on the web could confirm it. After multiple calls, we finally got through a Mumbai number, but decided to hedge our bets by reaching slightly earlier anyway. We took a Meru after a long time, and I wondered how their drivers were coping with the Uber/Ola onslaught.

    The flight was indeed delayed, thankfully we had some buffer time for the connecting flight. The airline definitely seemed to have upped its game in terms of the flight interiors at least. The rest of the journey went without incident, perhaps because I snoozed, even as D watched a movie on the 4hr+ flight. We landed in Mahe around 11 AM, and after exchanging some currency at the only available option at the airport, took a cab to Eden Plaza. Going by the exchange rates we saw there, we seemed to have surprisingly gotten a good deal!  The ferry to Praslin was only at 4.30, so we had quite some time to kill there. (more in the Mahe post next week)  We reached the ferry and got our first sighting of many honeymooning Indian couples! Rains arrived soon after with almost Yash Chopra like timing and delayed the ferry a bit.

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  • Dubrovnik

    Continued from Split + Hvar

    Our bus to Dubrovnik was at 9.15, so breakfast went exactly like the previous day. The hotel folks dropped us off at the bus station in their little electric car. As we boarded the bus, we heard an elderly man complain about having to pay 7 kunas for storing the luggage in the compartment. His co-traveler, presumably his wife, replied, “Ha! Wait till you reach Dubrovnik”. It is true though, the prices kept increasing as we moved south. Not a coincidence that the places became more touristy too.

    The internet had advised me to sit on the right side of the bus. The view was fantastic, especially the Makarska stretch, but the mountains on the left were fantastic too! However, the journey took almost 6 hours instead of the 4 that it was supposed to. The attitude of the driver and conductor indicated that this was always the case. The bus stopped for their lunch and we had a pastry to stop the grumbling – ours and the stomachs.

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  • Split & Hvar

    Continued from Zadar

    The Boutique Hostel Forum folks had arranged for a cab to drop us at the bus station. Now is a good time to note that toilets in bus stations are pay and use, carry change – usually 3 kunas. The trip to Split took us close to 3.5 hours. The only irritation was that since the luggage compartment was full, the bags had to be kept inside the bus. Thankfully, there were enough vacant seats so it didn’t bother us much. The tourism quotient at Split was markedly higher. Our stay was at Diocletian Palace Experience, and they had said they could pick us up from the bus station if we called them once we had reached. Unfortunately, the only pay phone we could find wasn’t working, but the hotel was only a 10 minute walk away, so we decided to do just that. We were a couple of hours early for a check in (3 PM) but they obliged. Another place without an elevator, but we were on the first floor. In the room, we saw brochures with tours of all kinds, including food and wine tours. We wondered whether we should have planned the next day in a different way.

    Our lunch plan was at Bajamonti, a short walk away. Must say that Google Maps is a boon! Rose wine, risotto and veal with a view of the promenade. Life was good. 🙂

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