The immodest charm of the bourgeoisie...
It is very easy to write about countries, and it is very difficult to write about islands, especially islands where you can only relax and nothing else. And in fact, what can be said, for example, about the Maldives, if during the entire stay you see only snow-white sand, emerald water and palm trees?
Having visited different islands in the Indian Ocean this year, I realized the main feature of the Maldives is complete privacy, and the absence of other entertainment, except for total relaxation.
If in the Seychelles, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius you have the opportunity to get acquainted with the culture, history, identity of the people, visit theme parks, or, at worst, shake the bones in some nightclub, in the Maldives you should forget about it . However, if you are attracted by the above, you should forget about the Maldives even earlier, in general.
Of course, the Maldives is an established country, with its own capital, parliament, and other attributes of statehood. But few people visit the city of Male, for two reasons - there is nothing to see there, and there is no need to get there, making a considerable throw from your hotel across the water. The second reason stems from the first.
Holidays in the Maldives are built on the same principle: one hotel - one island. That is, once you get to your hotel, you find yourself on a desert island, in the sense that only the guests of this hotel and the staff live there. And no one else. No villages, no clubs, no shops. Only you, sun, air, and water, who, as you know from history, are our best friends.
Since I stayed in the Jumeirah hotels in the Maldives, of which there are two in the Maldives, I will tell you about the rest using the example of these hotels. The international airport is located on a small island, which is entirely given over to it.
Leaving the arrivals hall, you find yourself on the street, right across which there is a pier, from which boats, boats and other floats. Funds go to different islands. You can, having crossed a small strait, visit the capital, which is done only by locals, and those tourists who decide to stay in Male, or you can immediately sail to "your" island, to a pre-booked hotel.
However, if the hotel is of the appropriate category, you don’t need to think about anything. Having made a flight on the route Baku - Doha - Maldives, I was met by a representative of the hotel, who, with a sign decorated with my name, was already waiting at the exit. He immediately took my baggage tag, gave it to another employee, and escorted me to the lounge, where I successfully "checked in" on FB, drank a glass of tea, and, after 20 minutes, was invited to another terminal, from where I was to fly to n. "maize" to another island.
I didn’t touch my luggage, the hotel representatives did the check-in for the flight, and I just went to the landing, sitting in an airplane seat, and curiously looking at my neighbors, who were asked to buckle up by a stewardess in a hijab.
After 50 minutes, we landed on an island with an unpronounceable name, and the picture repeated itself - I was met with a sign, the tag was taken away, and invited to the street, where tourists who had arrived and were about to fly were idly wandering around. The small one-story airport building looked very touching with its simplicity, and the luggage belt was replaced by employees who manually laid the suitcases on the shelves.
But this was not the final point of my long-suffering and multi-stage trip to the Maldives.
Having put me and the Chinese newlyweds on an electric car, which is called a buggy here, we were brought to another pier, from where we had to make the last throw to the island, where the Jumeirah Devanafushi hotel was comfortably located.
All branded hotels in the Maldives are built according to a single concept - there are no buildings with rooms, as we are used to seeing in other resorts, and the room here is a separate villa. Either on the island itself, or, on matchmakers, right above the water. Moreover, if you live in a villa on stilts, you will have to get to the alma mater exclusively by boat, since the villas are not connected with the island in any way.
It is also very difficult to talk about villas, as it is always difficult when there are not enough epithets.
In case the villa is on land, it is a site resolutely fenced off from prying eyes, full of lush colors of flowers and greenery, a private pool, a terrace, with a bar, a coffee maker, a couch, sunbeds, armchairs, and tables, and the villa itself, where the bedroom is its size competes with a huge bathroom.
Canopies, lighting, a bed three meters wide, and a jacuzzi in the bathroom, where both washbasins are decorated daily with fresh flowers.
Perhaps my main observation in the Maldives was the service provided here by the hotels of the "Luxury" category. Impeccable staff, butler at each villa attending to your every request 24 hours a day, discreet cleaning twice a day, snacks during the day, chocolates at night, bike at the door, staff greeting you by name, swimming pool, with a visual transition to the ocean , and much more, thought out to the smallest detail, worked out, uninterrupted.
During the day, you can lie by the pool, snorkel to admire the underground world, dine in one of the restaurants, and in the evenings admire the dizzying sunsets.
A very interesting system of relationships between the mainland and an artificial island on stilts, on which villas are located, flyovers connecting them, and a public area with a small pool, a bar and a restaurant.
That is, the inhabitants of these villas live their separate lives. There are three restaurants in the hotel, one of which, as I said, is on the water. And when the islanders want to have dinner / lunch / breakfast over the ocean, they order a boat, which delivers them to this artificial island. Equally, when the inhabitants of the ocean village want to eat on land, they swim ashore, where the other two restaurants of the hotel are located.
But, frankly, few people swim back and forth on the water, because, and this is the most distinctive feature of the Maldives - people come here for private recreation, this is a paradise for honeymooners, or, for oil barons with young mistresses, this is a place where solitude is most important merit.
There are no noisy companies here, there are no dances in the evenings, and in general, you don’t see many people during the day, walking along the alleys, or riding a bike.
The situation turned out to be somewhat different in another hotel of the same chain, Jumeirah Vittaveli, which turned out to be larger than the previous one, and relatively livelier. Of course, both the service and the level of the villas turned out to be the same, but life here seemed to me more lively - the kids were splashing, the Chinese were running around with cameras, and in the evening the folklore ensemble set the rhythm on the drums.
But it was not the drumbeat that became the leitmotif of my stay in the Maldives.
And not even white sand with palm trees, which turned out to be the same as in the Seychelles and Sri Lanka, which I talked about earlier, and the same as in Mauritius, which I will talk about later, but that feeling of solitude and privacy in conditions bewitching luxury that envelops everyone who decides to spend their holidays on this island with such a wonderful name of the Maldives. . .