Home & Away Travel Page Praslin Seychelles

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TRAVEL Home & Away with Robert Walshe Living DUBLIN has the best restau- rants in Ireland according to a food survey from Hotels. com. The survey questioned more than 27,000 travellers worldwide ,revealing that al- most half (48%) of travelers on the island of Ireland con- sider Dublin to be best for dining out but the capital is last on the list for local food produce. Cork took the top spot for local produce with 18% voting it their favour- ite for food followed closely by the West (16%), South West (16%) and the South East (15%). Although a large quantity of food producers and suppliers are based in Dublin, the capital city was ranked last with just 13%. On a global scale, the sur- vey revealed that Japanese food could one day rule the world after being voted glo- bal travellers third favourite culinary delight. This shows there is now tough competi- tion for more traditional fa- vourites such as Italian and French cuisine from food from the Far East. Although international travelers do still favour Italian (32%) and French (24%) cuisine, with them taking first and second in the rankings, the dishes from Japan are gaining in popularity with more cos- mopolitan palates. 18% of all people surveyed favoured Sushi, Tempura, Ramen and Japanese Soba,particularly when it comes to fine dining. www.hotels.com Holiday Hotspot – Praslin Seychelles www.seychelles.travel A British colony until 1977, Seychelles boasts a long and unique history that has been influenced by African, Arab, Asian and European cultures .Praslin, with a population of 6,000 people, is the second largest island 45km to the north-east of Mahé and meas- ures 10km by 3.7km. First claimed by French explorer Lazare Picault in 1774, it also used to be a common hideaway for pirates and merchants from the Middle East in the mid eighteenth century. Praslin was initially named ‘Île de Palme’, in hon- our of its lush green and picture-perfect tropical veg- etation and magnificent palm forests. Most people who visit come to see Valle- de- Mai a preserved area where coco de mer palms are abun- dant. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site as a result of its importance to nature and holidaymakers journey to this remote part of the Indian Ocean to explore a vast collection of flora and fauna. The one thing that they all wish to catch sight of is the coco de mer – the largest seed on the planet which bears a striking resem- blance to parts of the human anatomy. These double nuts grow on over 4000 trees in the vallee, some reaching to 30metres giving this unique spot a second name – “Val- ley of the Giants”. The tallest of these are estimated to be over 800 years old with six species of endemic palms found. The elusive black par- rot is amongst the very rare endemic birds to be seen in the valley along with the bul- bul and beautiful blue pigeon. Many of Seychelles’ most re- nowned beaches are found on Praslin with Anse Lazio the most famous stretch of surf enjoying a prime posi- tion in the top 10 list of the world’s most famous tourist beaches. Located on northwest “Chevalie” the high waves discourage snor- keling, but is a great spot to enjoy blazing sunsets with a cocktail. Grand Anse is the longest beach on the island while Anse Georgette a won- derful swimming spot can be accessed only via boat or the nearby Constance Lemuria Resort boasting the Seychelles only 18-hole Championship golf course. Accommodation options here are luxurious with villas built from natural raw materi- als such as wood, marble & granite. www.lemuriaresort. constancehotels.com Praslin stands at the fore- front of the Seychelles’ tour- ism industry with a strong tradition of hospitality and wide range of accommoda- tion facilities. One of my favourites was Coco de Mer Hotel & Black Parrot Suites at Anse Bois de Rose. Offering exceptional value this resort is well run with those staying on a half board basis eating buffet in style at the Hibiscus restaurant. www.cocodemer.com At Côte d’Or on Praslin’s north- east shore Hotel l’Archipel built in 1987 by owner, Louis D’Offay offers panoramic views and colourfully-planted gardens. Spread over a large hillside estate, there are 30 rooms some newly refur- bished. The location does vary from beach to hillside, so it’s important to specify at the time of booking if you have a strong preference. The hotel’s swimming pool is just a few yards from the beach, as is the main restau- rant. Here you can enjoy a fine gourmet dinner in bare- foot luxury listening to waves splashing by nearby. www. larchipel.com For independ- ent travelers transport by boat to Praslin is easy with regular and efficient fast ferry services between Mahé and La Digue operated by Cat Cocos. www.catcocos.com Creole Travel Services offer a selection of options aimed at providing everything that you could want in a holiday here whether that means pro- viding excursions on or sim- ply professional assistance with itineraries and reserva- tions. www.creoletravelserv- ices.com You can also day trip to Praslin from Mahe, or stay longer and use it as a jumping-off point to explore the small, sandy pathways of nearby La Digue island for the day. Emirates Airline op- erates a Dublin to Dubai daily service departing at lunch- time. Dubai to Seychelles is a double daily service depart- ing at 2.05hrs or 8.25hrs.and was the 52nd route launched by Emirates. Current prices start from €765 (Economy Class) inclusive of taxes or €2586 Business Class Fare. Passenger fly- i n g First Class can enjoy a very generous baggage allowance of 50kg, In Business Class, its 40kg and in Economy, a healthy 30 kg. The airline’s Chauffeur-drive service is available to both First and Business Class passengers across the island of Ireland. All of Emirates’ customers can enjoy in-flight telephones, SMS and email and children’s activity packs. Highly trained cabin crews from across the globe, including Irish nation- als are on hand to serve gour- met chef prepared meals. www.emirates.com For all travel related information to the truly wonderful Sey- chelles visit www.seychelles. travel Robert Walshe is a free- lance contributor / broad- caster and Travel Editor for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland. www.robertw- Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray Weekly Best Buy Farnham Estate in Cavan has taken all of the trouble out of pre-picnic packing by having their talented chefs create a deli- cious hamper for you so that all you have to worry about is in which picturesque spot in the 7km of woodlands you choose to enjoy it! The summer picnic package includes two nights luxury accommodation, Super Buffet Breakfast each morning, dinner in the Botanica Restaurant on the evening of your choice and a picnic basket from €178 per person sharing. Offer is valid until 30th September, with one picnic basket per room, per stay. www.farnhamestate.com n Coco de Mer Hotel Praslin Seychelles. n Anse Lazio Beach Praslin Seychelles. n Coco de Mer tree. CHILDREN and animals have been both a great, and awful, partnership since time began. They get along really well at times and then other times they can have a bad effect on each other. They are both of limited intelligence and both have a lot of energy. There are certain parts of the brain that don’t spark into action until we are 25 years old, so when I say that kids have limited intelligence it is not meant in a bad way. Kids are clearly not stupid but they have only experienced and learned a small amount com- pared to what teenagers and eventually adults will have ex- perienced and learned. Dogs are intelligent too on a different level. They have ways of figuring some things out that we could never manage with our bodies and minds. Their sense of smell and their hearing is way supe- rior to ours so they are ahead of us on that for a start. Nearly everyone I know had a dog when they were a child. They certainly knew many dogs. These dogs were part of the daily life. They played with the children, annoyed the children, were there when the child needed a friend, and met them excitedly when they ar- rived home from school. Now and then a dog bit a child and it was deemed to be a bad dog. In many cases the dog was put to sleep and often not in a nice way due to an incident like this. Nowadays there is a lot more information about why dogs do what they do and there is a lot more awareness of animal welfare, so if some- thing like this happens then, in many cases, the incident happened because the child either teased the dog or the adults didn’t either supervise or educate unruly children that can frighten a dog into having to defend itself. Sometimes it appeared that there was no provocation on the part of the child but there are always warning signs to be seen in a dog from a very early age if they are not handling situations well. Sometimes too much is expected from a dog and this is not the fault of the dog. There will always be children and animals for as long as this planet is here and it was very evident how much they still love and need each other when the DSPCA did their Art Competition in all the Primary Schools this year. It will be held every year in 1st Class and 6th Class. The competition was to help raise awareness of ani- mals and to give the children a chance to express their love for animals. A calendar was made from the pictures and the standard of the pictures was very high. The launch of the Calendar will be held in the Central Library, Letterkenny on the 15th September at 6.30pm and it would make a beautiful present for someone, so come along and enjoy the beautiful pictures. Calendars are on special offer for the launch at just 5 Euros. Children and Ani- mals will both benefit from it. Everybody welcome. Children and Animals

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Travel page on Praslin , Seychelles

Transcript of Home & Away Travel Page Praslin Seychelles

Page 1: Home & Away Travel Page Praslin Seychelles

TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert WalsheLiving

Dublin has the best restau-rants in ireland according to a food survey from Hotels.com. The survey questioned more than 27,000 travellers worldwide ,revealing that al-most half (48%) of travelers on the island of ireland con-sider Dublin to be best for dining out but the capital is last on the list for local food produce. Cork took the top spot for local produce with 18% voting it their favour-ite for food followed closely by the West (16%), South West (16%) and the South East (15%). Although a large quantity of food producers and suppliers are based in Dublin, the capital city was ranked last with just 13%. On a global scale, the sur-vey revealed that Japanese food could one day rule the world after being voted glo-bal travellers third favourite culinary delight. This shows there is now tough competi-tion for more traditional fa-vourites such as italian and French cuisine from food from the Far East. Although international travelers do still favour italian (32%) and French (24%) cuisine, with them taking first and second in the rankings, the dishes from Japan are gaining in popularity with more cos-mopolitan palates. 18% of all people surveyed favoured Sushi, Tempura, Ramen and Japanese Soba,particularly when it comes to fine dining.

www.hotels.com

Holiday Hotspot – Praslin

Seychelleswww.seychelles.travel

A british colony until 1977, Seychelles boasts a long and unique history that has been influenced by African, Arab, Asian and European cultures .Praslin, with a population of 6,000 people, is the second largest island 45km to the north-east of Mahé and meas-ures 10km by 3.7km. First claimed by French explorer

lazare Picault in 1774, it also used to be a common hideaway for pirates and merchants from the Middle East in the mid eighteenth century. Praslin was initially named ‘Île de Palme’, in hon-our of its lush green and picture-perfect tropical veg-etation and magnificent palm forests. Most people who visit come to see Valle- de-Mai a preserved area where coco de mer palms are abun-dant. unESCO declared it a World Heritage Site as a result of its importance to nature and holidaymakers journey to this remote part of the indian Ocean to explore a vast collection of flora and fauna. The one thing that they all wish to catch sight of is the coco de mer – the largest seed on the planet which bears a striking resem-blance to parts of the human anatomy. These double nuts grow on over 4000 trees in the vallee, some reaching to 30metres giving this unique spot a second name – “Val-ley of the Giants”. The tallest of these are estimated to be over 800 years old with six species of endemic palms found. The elusive black par-rot is amongst the very rare endemic birds to be seen in the valley along with the bul-bul and beautiful blue pigeon. Many of Seychelles’ most re-nowned beaches are found on Praslin with Anse lazio the most famous stretch of surf enjoying a prime posi-tion in the top 10 list of

the world’s most famous tourist beaches. located on northwest “Chevalie” the high waves discourage snor-keling, but is a great spot to enjoy blazing sunsets with a cocktail. Grand Anse is the longest beach on the island while Anse Georgette a won-derful swimming spot can be accessed only via boat or the nearby Constance lemuria Resort boasting the Seychelles only 18-hole Championship golf course. Accommodation options here are luxurious with villas built from natural raw materi-als such as wood, marble & granite. www.lemuriaresort.constancehotels.com

Praslin stands at the fore-front of the Seychelles’ tour-ism industry with a strong tradition of hospitality and wide range of accommoda-tion facilities. One of

my favourites was Coco de Mer Hotel & black Parrot Suites at Anse bois de Rose. Offering exceptional value this resort is well run with those staying on a half board basis eating buffet in style at the Hibiscus restaurant. www.cocodemer.com At Côte d’Or on Praslin’s north-east shore Hotel l’Archipel built in 1987 by owner, louis D’Offay offers panoramic views and colourfully-planted gardens. Spread over a large hillside estate, there are 30 rooms some newly refur-bished. The location does vary from beach to hillside, so it’s important to specify at the time of booking if you have a strong preference. The hotel’s swimming pool is just a few yards from the beach, as is the main restau-rant. Here you can enjoy a fine gourmet dinner in bare-foot luxury listening to waves splashing by nearby. www.larchipel.com For independ-ent travelers transport by boat to Praslin is easy with

regular and efficient fast ferry services between Mahé and la Digue operated by Cat Cocos. www.catcocos.com Creole Travel Services offer a selection of options aimed at providing everything that you could want in a holiday here whether that means pro-viding excursions on or sim-ply professional assistance with itineraries and reserva-tions. www.creoletravelserv-ices.com You can also day trip to Praslin from Mahe, or stay longer and use it as a jumping-off point to explore the small, sandy pathways of nearby la Digue island for the day. Emirates Airline op-erates a Dublin to Dubai daily service departing at lunch-time. Dubai to Seychelles is a double daily service depart-ing at 2.05hrs or 8.25hrs.and was the 52nd route launched by Emirates. Current prices start from €765 (Economy Class) inclusive of taxes or €2586 business Class Fare.

Passenger fly- i n g First Class can enjoy a very generous baggage allowance of 50kg, in business Class, its 40kg and in Economy, a healthy 30 kg. The airline’s Chauffeur-drive service is available to both First and business Class passengers across the island of ireland. All of Emirates’ customers can enjoy in-flight telephones, SMS and email and children’s activity packs. Highly trained cabin crews from across the globe, including irish nation-als are on hand to serve gour-met chef prepared meals. www.emirates.com For all travel related information to the truly wonderful Sey-chelles visit www.seychelles.travel

Robert Walshe is a free-lance contributor / broad-caster and Travel Editor for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland. www.robertw-

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray

Weekly Best BuyFarnham Estate in Cavan has taken all of

the trouble out of pre-picnic packing by having their talented chefs create a deli-cious hamper for you so that all you have to worry about is in which picturesque spot in the 7km of woodlands you choose to enjoy it! The summer picnic package includes

two nights luxury accommodation, Super buffet breakfast each morning, dinner in the botanica Restaurant on the evening of your choice and a picnic basket from €178 per person sharing. Offer is valid until 30th September, with one picnic basket per room, per stay. www.farnhamestate.com

n Coco de Mer Hotel Praslin Seychelles.n Anse Lazio Beach Praslin Seychelles.

n Coco de Mer tree.

CHilDREn and animals have been both a great, and awful, partnership since time began. They get along really well at times and then other times they can have a bad effect on each other. They are both of limited intelligence and both have a lot of energy.

There are certain parts of the brain that don’t spark into action until we are 25 years old, so when i say that kids have limited intelligence it is not meant in a bad way. Kids are clearly not stupid but they have only experienced and learned a small amount com-pared to what teenagers and eventually adults will have ex-

perienced and learned. Dogs are intelligent too on

a different level. They have ways of figuring some things out that we could never manage with our bodies and minds. Their sense of smell and their hearing is way supe-rior to ours so they are ahead of us on that for a start. nearly everyone i know had a dog when they were a child. They certainly knew many dogs.

These dogs were part of the daily life. They played with the children, annoyed the children, were there when the child needed a friend, and met them excitedly when they ar-rived home from school. now

and then a dog bit a child and it was deemed to be a bad dog.

in many cases the dog was put to sleep and often not in a nice way due to an incident like this.

nowadays there is a lot more information about why dogs do what they do and there is a lot more awareness of animal welfare, so if some-thing like this happens then, in many cases, the incident happened because the child either teased the dog or the adults didn’t either supervise or educate unruly children that can frighten a dog into having to defend itself.

Sometimes it appeared that there was no provocation on the part of the child but there are always warning signs to be seen in a dog from a very early age if they are not handling situations well. Sometimes

too much is expected from a dog and this is not the fault of the dog. There will always be children and animals for as long as this planet is here and it was very evident how much they still love and need each

other when the DSPCA did their Art Competition in all the Primary Schools this year. it will be held every year in 1st Class and 6th Class.

The competition was to help raise awareness of ani-mals and to give the children a chance to express their love for animals. A calendar was made from the pictures and the standard of the pictures was very high.

The launch of the Calendar will be held in the Central library, letterkenny on the 15th September at 6.30pm and it would make a beautiful present for someone, so come along and enjoy the beautiful pictures. Calendars are on special offer for the launch at just 5 Euros. Children and Ani-mals will both benefit from it. Everybody welcome.

Children and Animals