Rodney & Sheryl's Travels: 3/28 - Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles

The Seychelles is a group of about 115 islands that lie 990m (1600 km) off the coast of east Africa. The three central islands - Mahé, Praslin and La Digue - are granite, while the outlying islands are coral atolls. Unlike most similar islands, the Seychelles are not volcanic - they seem to be the peaks of a huge underwater plateau that fell off the edge of India about 65 million years ago. The islands are rich in vegetation, but most of it is either coconut palms or casuarinas. The Seychelles is home to the extremely rare giant cocoa de mer palm.¹

Victoria, on the island of Mahé, is one of the smallest capital cities in the world and the only major port in the Seychelles. It is also the only town in the country - every other settlement is a village. The courthouse and main post office in the center of town have been untouched since colonial times, but the streets emanating from the center have been rebuilt over the past 20 years, giving the town a unique character.

We stopped here on our 2006 world cruise. At that time we did a "Spice Route" tour and traveled to various spice plantations, which was quite fun but we didn't really get to see much of Victoria. This time, we enjoyed walking around the town, visiting the little shops and their large fresh fish, fruit, and vegetable market, Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market.