Seychelles: why this paradise is one of the most fascinating places in the world

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Man is always looking for paradise

;

on the hunt for that perfect Eden where the gods live, if the gods exist.

A place so exuberant, so wild, so violently beautiful, that the oldest beings that inhabited the world called it the

Difficult mission to put coordinates to such a territory.

Maybe it doesn't even exist.

But if it exists, perhaps paradise was this: a cocktail of 150 islands germinated in the Indian Ocean like

virgin and untamed until they were discovered by the French in the 18th century.

Welcome to Seychelles.

Today, barely 100,000 inhabitants complete the census of a country suspended in time, like

that refuses to enter the loop of mass tourism.

The colonial heritage continues to permeate every beat of the archipelago.

The name in honor of Jean

's finance minister, stuck to the French

as a baptism of fire.

From the English, the habit of drinking tea and driving on the left.

And between them, the legacy of the African slaves survives in the

.

And it is this mixture of centuries and languages, races and blood that makes this archipelago one of the most fascinating destinations in the world.

Fascinating and exclusive.

The villas at the Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resorts & Spa.

Because if the Seychelles offers visitors something, it is exclusivity.

Most hotels shy away from the

Caribbean concept ;

no students celebrating the end of the year, no discos open until dawn,

with which to quench your thirst until you get drunk.

Seychelles is a balm of eternal beaches and

that invites you to forget about the noises of the world.

If anything, its capital, one of the smallest on the planet with only

, will return us for a moment to the bustle of civilization.

Between mountains and beaches

Nestled on the

the largest in the entire archipelago, Victoria is a charming miniature city that concentrates the country's culture in a handful of exotic streets.

Surrounded by granite mountains and desperate vegetation, it is a clear example of colorful African colonial architecture, dotted with playful wooden buildings of all colors.

It is its small

built in 1885, its oldest construction.

And perhaps its small replica of Big Ben, in the main roundabout of the city, is also its most representative monument;

silver and barely three meters high, it is located at the intersection of the

, not far from the place where until not long ago it was

.

is not

a city of very high buildings.

In fact, there was a ban on building buildings taller than a palm tree in the archipelago so as not to break the harmony of paradise.

And so it was for decades until the arrival of a sheikh who,

changed the norm and began to build somewhat more slender architectures.

Don't expect big skyscrapers in the Seychelles, however.

One of the famous turtles of the archipelago.SHUTTERSTOCK

Still in Victoria, a visit to its market is a must, one of the few places to take the temperature of the

;

fresh fish, vegetables and spices are the soul of this

that perhaps takes us back to its origins;

In addition to tourism, one of the region's economic engines is the export of cinnamon and coconut.

It is precisely the spices and aromatic herbs that give character to the

, fused between the Creole, French, Chinese and Indian traditions.

The result is an explosion of sauces and flavors that return again and again to garlic and ginger, chilies and, of course, fruits: papaya, mango, pineapple, guava, grapefruit or passion fruit.

Other things:

is a typical herbal tea,

is fermented coconut juice,

, almost a religion, and Seybrew and Eku are their local beers.

Not far from Victoria, high on the mountain,

is another twist to the past;

former school for children of slaves freed in the 19th century, today it is a viewpoint declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The balcony was built in 1972 for Queen

's visit to the country -who also inaugurated the only international airport-, and the views of the

are priceless.

Another selfie to take as a souvenir.

hotel offer

And after history and culture comes rest.

Because the Seychelles hotel offer is one of its

The luxury on the beach elevated to its maximum exponent;

the zen philosophy of its villas;

personalized treatment;

exclusivity raised to the cube;

he does not go more than

;

premium tourism.

A small taste of this philosophy is the

, a few kilometers from the capital.

The privacy of its villas with pools, which descend the mountainside to the shores of the Indian Ocean, contrasts with the relaxed atmosphere of its

where mixologists from all over the world do real magic.

And attention: it is said that

was a regular customer of this hotel, and must have been inspired by its insulting sunsets to write some of the James Bond novels.

And as if private rooms weren't enough, there's the chance to watch the sunset from another perspective:

organizes cruises along the coast aboard a yacht, complete with local cocktails and appetizers.

Four Seasons Resort Seychelles pool.

Most of the

is concentrated, of course, in Mahé and the second largest island in the archipelago, Praslin (with its endemic black parrot and vanilla orchids, and where General Charles George Gordon of Khartoum was convinced that the the garden of Eden).

But there are more options.

Like the one offered by the

on Desroches Island.

An island for a whole hotel.

Or a hotel for an entire island.

To stay in one of its

can only be reached by private plane, owned by the hotel (included, by the way, in the Top 10 of Forbes magazine).

Since the

receives guests at the foot of the slopes, everything is luxury, luxury and more luxury in the scarce 14 kilometers that the coral island of Desroches measures.

From the

and its palm trees to its spa, its private beaches or the lighthouse that crowns one of its restaurants.

Of course, you have to visit its

, where work is being done on the conservation of the giant aldabra species, the largest after the one in the Galapagos.

Among the more than

in this shelter, George, an international

, stands out .

Although his age is not known exactly, it is estimated that

And attention: these animals can live beyond 200.

Perfect, then, to repeat the visit in some time.

George will continue to rest under the stillness of some palm tree.

And the

that the first settlers fell in love with... too.

PRACTICAL GUIDE

HOW TO GET.

Emirates flies from Madrid and Barcelona, ​​with a stopover in Dubai.

If they can afford it, the

of the Airbuss 380 is, without a doubt, the icing on the cake of the perfect vacation.

, its entertainment program, is just the tip of the iceberg of a plane that even has an incredible bar on board.

WHERE TO

Four Seasons Resort Seychelles

on Desroches Island.

An island for a whole hotel.

It has 10 suites, 51 villas or 11 residences.

It can only be reached by private plane, owned by the hotel included in the Top 10 of the best in the world by

Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resorts & Spa.

Five stars a few kilometers from the capital, Mahé.

An essential of the archipelago.

WHERE TO

In

.

In the heart of the Mahé mountain, this restaurant is a window into the country's Creole tradition.

Fish, spices and exotic fruits with views of the Indian Ocean.

MORE INFORMATION.

On the official Seychelles Tourism website: www.seychelles.com.

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