After
yesterday’s hangover, it was time to rejuvenate ourselves with Nature and a
beautiful weather supported us. We took the left before Victoria onto the sans
souci road which had all the three spots of the day. First up on our way was
Mission lodge, which came on a diversion on the right side of the road. It is a
nicely preserved ruin of some schools and society of slaves, and has memoirs of
on their lives on the Island. It is overlooking the Morne Seychellois Park and
has some of the nicest views of the bay. The garden is maintained cleanly and
you can see some locals moving around selling small food items.
Viewpoint - Mission Lodge
Driving
down the same road, Copolia trail comes on the left side. It passes through the
Tea plantation. We started the trail by observing signs made on the side of the
road, directing on to a pathway, leading into the jungles and plantation. After
a walk of few mins you can see the vast plantation and a lot of greenery, but
you can also observe that the path is long and we didn’t want to go any further
so we returned from the trail quite early.
Seyte- Tea Factory
Next
up was the “Seyte Tea Factory”, there is a parking by the entrance near the
shop selling tea. The entry to the gates of Tea Estate is open, and one can see
the Ocean view from its entrance lobby. There was nobody at the reception so we
made a call for someone to give us a tour of Tea Factory. It was a very nominal
fee, considering the prices we have been paying around Seychelles at 25 SR/
person. A lady at the factory directed us to the guy, who showed us the various
machines used in Tea Making very patiently and also took us to the area, where
tea was actually getting filtered and packaged. The tour lasted 20-25 minutes.
We
came outside and decided to buy some tea as souvenir from the factory. There
were multiple options like Indian Ocean tea, Mint Tea, Vanilla tea, Orange Tea,
Citronelle’ tea etc and all ranging from 25 SR to 40 SR.
It
was lunch time and we almost came down the sans souci road looking for a
restaurant, finally grabbed a quick snacks bite and decided to visit EDEN
Island, since we had lot of time left for the day. Although, it was in
tomorrow’s plan, but it was always better to use up the mileage left on your
car.
Eden Island- Jetty
EDEN
Island was East of Victoria towards the Airport. It’s quite an upmarket residential
place, and there’s access to the Island through an overbridge. As soon as we
entered, we saw very nicely maintained gardens, roadside and people moving in
golf carts. The Island was accessible for the residents and traffic was checked
through a security post, allowing people to enter the residential complex. The
only place accessible for public was the mall situated on the EDEN Island.
We
parked the car in the basement, and roamed around the mall area. It had nice
shops from clothing ranges to adventure gears, to travel companies to some
restaurants and eateries. The other side of the mall, opened to a Jetty, which
had so many yachts parked there. We had some snacks and Ice cream at the parlor
and did some shopping. It was like a typical mall, but I believe all the shops
weren’t yet opened and only 75% shops were operational. We then returned
through the Victoria Market on to the Beau Vallon road for our Hotel.
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