Honeymoon

It has been a long time since I have written (hey, give me a break! I was planning a wedding and enjoying three weeks of not being in the US). Just to get you up to speed - we were in France from June 28th to July 8th (and were married on July 5th), and then in the Seychelles Islands from July 8th-July16th, and then in Paris from July 16th-July 20th. The 20th marks our return to DC and to its lovely summertime humidity, and it's taken me at least until today (July 28th) to settle in/get over my yearly post-vacation funk/organize my life after this dreamy, magical interlude.

Let me just say that the Seychelles Islands is everything I hoped it would be: paradisiaque, as they say in French; the bluest waters and whitest sands of the Indian Ocean; smooth granite rocks bordering the beaches; tropical fish and birds; Creole and Thai food to die for; basically, it was very depaysant (meaning I felt like I was in a different world). It was so beautiful it felt like I had walked into an amusement park, like it was man-made. There were many European, Russian, Indian tourists, but we only met one American tourist and he lived with his Romanian girlfriend in Dubai. So I guess it's somewhat off the beaten path for us Americans, but well worth the time needed to get there. We took a direct flight with Air Seychelles from Paris to Mahe, the main (and largest) island of the Seychelles. It's about a 9-hour overnight flight. We spent four days at the Banyan Tree, a resort overlooking Anse Intendance. There were mainly couples staying there. Each couple has their own villa recessed into the hillside complete with its own little patio and private pool.

The first day we got there we decided to treat ourselves to a three-hour spa treatment. First you start off with a cup of chilled tea and an icy face towel that is perfumed with mint essential oil. Then we each had a body scrub with orange, yogurt and sugar; you're rinsed off with warm water, rubbed with honey and then rinsed off once more with warm milk and then you have a 10-minute steam bath. THEN you have an hour-and-a-half Thai full body message. They have to help peel you off the massage table after that because you're completely limp. And then you're treated to hot ginger tea and oranges. That was a GREAT way to start the vacation!! We ate at a Thai restaurant on our first day for dinner and I bit into a pepper that was so hot I thought my head would explode. Otherwise the food was scrumptious.

The next day we went on an excursion by boat to Moyenne Island and went snorkeling in Baie Sainte Anne which is near Victoria, the capital of the Seychelles. Moyenne Island is a private island owned by this crazy kooky English guy since the mid-1960s. He lives there on his own with a bunch of tortoises and dogs. He has spray-painted each tortoise with a big orange letter so that he can identify them, and has also created a "museum" which consists of seashells he's found and articles about himself in newspapers (the "real Robinson Crusoe").

On the third day we took it easy by the pool and the beach at Banyan Tree. Swimming, Scrabble, reading, taking underwater pictures, and applying sunscreen every 10 minutes (Seychelles is 4 degrees south of the Equator). On the fourth day we also spent some time by the beach and pool, and treated ourselves to another massage (they were that good).

And then our time at Banyan Tree was over - the next day we left for another island called Praslin, which is a 15-minute flight from Mahe. Praslin has some really beautiful beaches, especially Petite Anse Kerlan at the Lemuria resort where we were staying, and Anse Lazio, considered by some to be one of the best beaches in the world.

From Praslin we also took a day trip to the island of La Digue, a very small island where people get around mainly on bike. Anse Source d'Argent is a really famous beach there - we spent some time snorkeling and taking pictures there as well.
V. relaxing, lovely vacation...the stuff of dreams.