Flying into the main island of Mahé, we saw a tropical paradise with large granite mountains (the highest at about 3000'). There were houses built high up on the hills and we flew past them.
At the airport on Mahé, there was a Four Seasons representative outside of baggage claim. She took us to the ATM to get local Seychellois Rupee and then to the car service that would take us to the Four Seasons Seychelles for our first stay of 13 nights. The trip from the airport to the hotel took around 45 minutes. The hotel was on the southwest coast of Mahé in a bay called Baie Lazare.
Our first impression of the Seychelles was that it is a poor country. While it may have the highest GDP in Africa, there wasn't much trickle-down in evidence. We were told that there is free schooling and health care, however. The water from the faucet is potable. All that is unusual for Africa.
Mahé
Our First Villa
James Edwards, Director of Guest Relations, introduced us to the resort and then he took us to our Hilltop Ocean View villa number 601. We had an expansive view of Petite Anse in Baie Lazare and we saw Île Conception and L'île Thérèse from our villa, as well as the beautiful sunsets. Our villa was surrounded by lush vegetation and very private. It was on “the main road” through the resort, Rue de la Liberté, however, and the construction trucks barreled by starting at 7:15 am. The villa was around 2000 sq. ft. and had lots of outdoor as well as indoor space.
Outside sliding glass doors from the bathroom was a large deck with a divine outdoor shower. It was all very private and very quiet when the trucks weren’t going by. While the hotel is only 13 years old, our villa looked older and was not maintained to the highest standard. We learned that the management team was decimated during COVID and it had been only in the last 9 months that the new team was assembled. We thought that they had a great deal of work to do to bring the hotel up to standard (and to deserve the high prices that are charged).
On our first day, we wanted to use the deep, deep tub in the bathroom as a hot tub. Filling it took about an hour and the water from the faucet was cold before the tub was full. The next day James arranged for engineering to add another hot water heater and that improved our situation greatly. It wasn't a real hot tub, it still took a long time to fill, and using it wasn't too comfortable, so we resigned ourselves to not having our moment of Zen each day in either a Jacuzzi or a hot tub.
The resort was even more hilly than the Four Seasons Koh Samui. Everywhere we went, we took a buggy. The drivers were outstanding. We even learned some Creole words from them!
The Elite benefits (because we own a Four Seasons Private Residence) provide us with an upgrade from the room we book and pay for. The garden view villa that we booked cost US$ 970.23 per day (all inclusive of tax and service) and we were upgraded to a Hilltop Ocean View Villa. We were told that the regular price for the garden view villa during the period we wanted would average €1805++ per night (and that a villa like ours would average over €2000++ per night). So, we thought we were doing very well, even though it cost more than we wanted to pay.
We ate our first lunch and dinner at the Four Seasons before our rental car was delivered. Mary Bowens, the new hotel manager, and Renan Astolpho, the new General Manager, introduced themselves to us; we really like that. The next morning at breakfast, Mikin helped us with anything we needed. It was a good and complete buffet, along with "main courses" that were ordered. It was complimentary for us because of our Elite benefits--we value that benefit highly.
When there was late afternoon sun, we were facing west and we couldn't sit on our deck--there was no fan and no awning. Bummer; as compensation, the sunset view was nice.
Twice a day housekeeping came to our villa. Emerlly, the housekeeper assigned to us, made sure everything was the way we wanted it. That was so nice.
Our second stay in Villa 415
After our three week stay on Desroches Island at the Four Seasons there, we returned to Mahé for two more weeks. The view from villa 415 was spectacular, much more expansive than 601, our first one. The set up in all of the villas was the same so we only had one toilet. Audre loved the outdoor shower, better on Mahé than in Desroches because it was more open. Our welcome back was warm and genuine, which Audre truly loves. The quiet of our new villa was wonderful, we could even hear the sound of the waves. It was facing northwest so the afternoon sun did not come straight in. The buggies always had a challenge getting to 415 because of the design and steepness of the pathway.
Our doings on Mahé
The first few days on Mahé were kind of rainy. We used the fitness/gym with the new Brazilian trainer, Gabriel, and met a lovely family from Houston who own a house in Beaver Creek, next door to Vail in Colorado. We hope to run into them again. The gym with Technogym equipment was very good and Gabriel was attentive even though his English was limited.
On our second day, because it wasn't raining in the afternoon, after the gym, we went to the beach to kayak. The sea was too rough and so the boats were not allowed out. We were well taken care of by Kevin, the beach attendant, and we met Amirita and Krishna, the Oceanwise representatives. They were most interesting and told us about rebuilding the coral reef.
We had been told by Tinaz Wadia, the Senior Director of Sales, that renting a catamaran for a few days to visit the nearby islands of La Digue and Praslin wouldn't be advisable because of the wind of the southeast monsoon during July and August. We were annoyed that we didn't realize kayaking would be difficult too. Even if it wasn't raining, it was windy. We had wanted a beach vacation with all of the activities we love to do and we weren't getting it. Oh well. The staff of the Four Seasons Seychelles went "over the top" to make our stay there memorable and it was indeed great.
Le Charme delivered our brand-new Kia Picanto to the hotel on our first full day (we love that service which we also had in Thailand). It was a tiny car and very good for the narrow, hilly, winding roads with big buses on them. Our first destination was Le Jardin du Roi, (Domaine de L'Enfoncement, Anse Royale) where we had lunch and then walked a little, only part of the endemic botanical garden there. It was well-signed, well-maintained and it didn't rain. We had a good lunch and took a salad with grilled fish home to have for dinner that night. For the food, we spent SCR 1161 or US$89.51. For the Jardin entry, SCR 350 for 2 people or US$26.98 (we were allowed to return another day for the same price).
On our other nights, we would drive to local Creole restaurants for dinner. We didn't want to drive to Victoria because coming back in the dark would have been scary. The food was very good though not memorable. We generally spent around US$80 for a meal with plenty of food that, as always, we shared: a starter, a main, and a dessert. That's about what we were spending at restaurants in Vail.
One day, we went to Victoria with Hassan Alaaeldin Ahmed, Executive Sous Chef, and Sebastian Cetoupe, F&B Heart of the House Assistant Manager (Audre loves that title and thinks the Four Seasons Vail needs a Heart of the House manager too). Dimitri drove us in our little car and it was really fun. We visited the main fish and fresh food market in Victoria, the STC hypermarket, and the ISPC market which is the distributor that provides for the Four Seasons. This was the perfect way for us to learn about our new habitat and it was a gift of the Four Seasons.
Audre with Hassan and Sebastian at the main market in Victoria
Another day Senior Executive Chef Carlos Rodriquez and Sebastian Cetoupe took us to Alix's Farm, a magnificent property that supplies the Four Seasons Seychelles with fruit and vegetables. Alix walked his farm with us and told us all about his history and the farm's.
Alix introduced us to his wife Debora and his son, Andrew (who was an economist with the IMF). Debora served us lemongrass tea and a delicious cake that she had made. The Four Seasons Seychelles was providing us gifts of activities we love to do and having guides made them much more fun than doing them on our own.
Later that day Sebastian brought us a Four Seasons gift bowl filled with Dimitri's favorite sliced sugarcane, Audre's favorite jackfruit, and a baby (very, very young coconut) from Alix's Farm. The baby coconut was a first for us. It has a spongy custard interior and it could be called an "acquired taste."
We drove to Victoria and visited the Botanic Garden there. It was poorly signed and difficult to walk because of the poorly maintained walkways. We were able to buy some lovely fresh flowers in the Victoria main market. Why? Because we wanted to bring flowers to the home of Senior Executive Chef Carlos where we had been invited for dinner with his family!
We have never been invited to the home of any staff member of the Four Seasons before and this was a HUGE treat for us. Carlos's wife, Ilia, and his daughters, Regina and Romina, were loving, charming, and delightful. Having a meal prepared by Carlos was HUGE too. We had a fabulous evening with them and it was obvious that they were also enjoying it.
If that weren't enough Regina came to meet us at breakfast at the hotel to give us a remembrance of the dinner in photos and delicious Toscano Black chocolate from Italy.
We went back to Le Jardin du Roi and completed our hike there followed by their Sunday special Creole lunch. Afterward, we went to Kot Man-ya Exotic Garden and met with Marc Morengo. He was a retired ambassador from the Seychelles to the US and to the UN. He showed us his photos with the Clintons and other US presidents. His garden had exotic flowers from Hawaii--from seeds that he collected when he visited there. He was very charming and we vowed we would return there.
On a day without rain, we went to the northernmost coast of Mahé and hiked the Anse Major trail overlooking the Beauvallon area. It was a perfect hike for us--mellow--considering Dimitri's recent knee replacement surgery. Afterward, we went to the much-recommended Indian restaurant called Mahek on the gorgeous Beauvallon beach in the Coral Strand Hotel. It was as good as people said and we had enough for takeaway too!
Another day the Four Seasons Seychelles gave us another gift: Yoga in a chair at Le Syel Spa with Shereen from Malaysia. Dimitri didn't want to put any weight on his knee and Shereen's yoga in a chair was perfect. We truly enjoyed it.
One night we had dinner at Kannel at the Four Seasons--by the sand. The setting, the service, and the food were all lovely. We had pre-ordered local raw sea urchins with Senior Executive Chef Carlos and we were brought one large, local sea urchin and so we asked for one more (SCR 625, about US $48). They didn’t look like the ones we have had before that had long back spines; they had short spines. The eggs were firmer and less tasty than we would have liked. It was good to sample them and we don’t need to have Seychellois urchins again. For our main, we shared a large order of spaghetti Bolognese (SCR 150, about US $12) which was tasty and cooked very well-al dente. Throughout the meal, Bardhë (born in Albania) kept an eye on us, entertaining us with her excellent Italian and her ebullient personality. Dimitri was conversing fluently in Italian and another server, a Seychellois named Bridgit, came over to speak Italian with us too. She had worked in a Mexican restaurant in Rome! Then Simon, the Italian F&B Manager, came to chat and gave us a gift of Zabaione which was a good rendition for an on-the-spot request. It was a delightful meal with lots of attention. We spent €71.81 (or US$80.54) and we were very happy.
We did go to the truly gorgeous beach at the Four Seasons Seychelles but we only kayaked once there. Audre tested the pool for doing laps and liked it. Our visit of 13 days went with lightning speed and then we were off to the Four Seasons Desroches!
When we returned after Desroches, the same little Kia car was delivered. We drove to the southeast end of Mahé to hike. We found a dirt road/path and did a little hike. Then went to lunch at Surfer’s Beach restaurant, an unpretentious restaurant on the sand. At US $32 for a small lunch of soup and salad, it was another reminder that the Seychelles is not cheap. For dinner we went to Mango House hotel and the Japanese restaurant there. We had an enjoyable dinner of salmon teriyaki. Again, we found that the food on Mahé was good but not particularly memorable.
One day we did the Trois Freres Nature Trail hike. It was labeled easy but Dimitri found it a bit challenging. The next day his new knee wasn’t hurting so we labeled it a success. The weather wasn’t as good on Mahé as we experienced on Desroches. We went to the gorgeous Four Seasons beach but it was too windy to kayak and the sea was too cold to be comfortable to snorkel. Audre swam in the 90’ pool and it was delightful.
We learned that on August 20th the highest of the high ranking politicos from the UAE were descending on the Seychelles--about 600 people. The Four Seasons and every other hotel would be full. We were assured that we would not even notice them in the Four Seasons. We decided that our enjoyment of the island would be seriously adversely affected by the onslaught of the UAE contingent. We acknowledged that if we stayed on the FS property we would be protected but we did like to get out and about. We had a taste of what it might be like today when we were at the Del Passe restaurant for lunch. A large number of people (identified by the restaurant staff as from the UAE), I mean like 30 people, swarmed around us and were seated at tables hastily set up around us. It wasn’t enjoyable. All of the staff we have spoken to at restaurants and hotels have confirmed that they expected to be totally full. Because our island explorations might not be so pleasant, we left a week early to go to the Doha Four Seasons.
It turned out to be unbelievably easy to change our date of departure. On our Qatar Comfort business class ticket we were permitted 2 changes for free. A call to the Brownell travel agent and the change was made bing, bang boom (for a Brownell fee of US$125). The Doha Four Seasons had availability and gave us the same deal we had had but extended it to 10 days. Transportation was arranged and the day after the Del Passe restaurant experience, we were on our way to Doha.
The difference in room rate was astounding. Low season in Doha yielded us a room rate of US$230 a day whereas the rate we were paying in Mahé was US$1000 a day. What are we going to do with the $4800 savings?
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