Victoria’s Secrets

A brief walk around Victoria

9 July

📍 Saint Louis · 004°37.337′S, 055°27.098′E · Mahé, Seychelles

Here’s a bit of reductive history: Victoria was called “L’Établissement” from 1778. That less-than-imaginative name (it means settlement) stuck until the Brits renamed the city in 1841 in tribute to Queen Victoria, 30 years after seizing control. Plonked on a roundabout in Saint Louis (officially the smallest district in the country) is Victoria Clock Tower, a half-scale copy of Little Ben in London.

British administration ended here just over 50 years ago. We missed the 50-year independence ceremony, which, according to some of the cruisers who witnessed the firework display near the anchorage, is probably a good thing.

However, as nice as the sightseeing was, we were on a mission. Our stroll around Victoria wasn’t deliberately for historical sightseeing; it was to find a shop where I could buy a new iPhone. That quest eventually led us to Cable and Wireless, where they had a limited selection of iPhones, each with price tags to make your eyes bleed. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to buy one. Without an iPhone, I couldn’t get WhatsApp back, and that would have been more of a problem than a dent to the wallet.

After recovering from my purchase with a sweet drink and a dab of my eyes with a tissue, we continued our walk around town. Close to the clock, looking much older but actually much younger, is the Arul Mihu Navasakthi Vinayagar Temple. It was built in 1992 to serve the country’s small Hindu population. This, I understand,  is the only temple in the Seychelles. It only scores 3.9 on TripAdvisor, though.

---

Street Art

By pure gormlessness and a lot of good luck, we stumbled across this street full of art installations after taking a wrong turn on Francis Rachel Street.

And that concludes our brief tour of some of Victoria’s sights. I haven’t done the place justice, for sure, but in my defence, most of the places were closed. Besides, tomorrow we are off on an island-wide trip.