When in Maldives, people tend to skip the capital Malé and go directly to resort islands. But it’s always nice to explore the local life of a country. We landed in Velana International airport, Hulhule island. Once you step out of the airport exit gate it’s all ocean, water looked crystal clear with lot of beautiful fishes. It felt like welcome to Maldives. We took a speed boat to the main island(Malé) then hired an open auto to reach another ferry point. City was full of activity with colorful buildings, markets, cafes, shopping complexes and many more.

    Busy street of Male city
    Independence Square

    We drove past the Independence square which is an iconic site and proximity to this is Maldivian military head quarters, Parliament and other government buildings. From there got a local water taxi (boat) to reach another island called Villingili (5 mins boat ride from mainland).

    Villingili is also known as Villimalé (meaning little Malé). It’s a quite little place to stroll around. Life seemed very relaxed compared to Male city. There are few local eateries which serves some authentic Maldivian delicacies like Kotu Roshi, variety of dishes made from Tuna and also reef fishes, etc. We tasted few of them and rest of the evening relaxed near the beach in a Hookah cafe.

    View of Male mainland from Villimale
    Clean beach of Villimale

    Next day woke up early to see the morning life. Some restaurants were open as early as 6 am. We walked on the beach and could see people swimming using a small rubber stick to keep them afloat.

    People use this to keep them afloat

    On this island most people used electric vehicles and bicycles. Although it was a tiny island it had Bank, schools, etc.

    Quite streets of Villimale

    It took us hardly 20-25 mins to walk around the entire Island. We wanted to have an authentic Maldivian breakfast so went to a restaurant, got help from a local person to know more about the dishes and ordered few of them.

    Morning seen in Villimale

    We had ordered four types of dishes made of Tuna – coconut flavor (Mas Huni), masala type, scrambled, chili based, some black channa fry along with Roshi(something like chapathi). Also fried fish and tuna roll.

    Local Maldivian breakfast

    Later that morning we went to mainland of Male. Quickly explored some places near by and took a ferry to Rasdhoo Island which is 60 km away, where we spent rest of our holidays and on our return journey we spent another night in Male. This time we stayed in the mainland of Male itself.

    Ferry terminal at Male

    I explored the entire city by foot. Went to the national museum, Fish market, vegetable market, book shops, walked along the Maldivian high court, local park and had some chat with local people regarding their culture and daily routine. The country mainly depends on tourism and fisheries.

    Lanes of Male city

    Lot of vegetables are imported from neighboring island country of Sri Lanka and Maldives also has some tropical vegetables grown locally.

    Dinner at Male city

    Had a very late dinner around 12.30 am and then walked on the promenade. Finally went back to the hotel at 3am to take some rest before catching the early morning flight.