Diu - Ilha de Calma

When I was researching for a trip to Gir Sanctuary, Gujarat (yes, I do lot of googling for all my travel)– the place “Diu” kept coming up everywhere. Then I read an interesting article in Conde Nast Traveler about this former Portuguese Colony. But it wasn’t until I saw an Incredible India advertisement featuring Diu that I decided I had to go there. Our flight was reaching Ahmedabad at midnight and we had only 4 days on hand. Ahmedabad to Diu would easily take up 11 hours by bus. Ahmedabad to Sasan Gir (Gir Sanctuary) would also take around 11 hours by bus. It was too much of travelling and we decided to drop Diu this time.

I should say it was totally an impromptu trip to Diu, all thanks to our friend who works there. He suggested slight alterations to my plan so that we could cover Diu also. And we were so happy to have done so. True to its tagline, it is a very calm island. My rough plan after alteration looked like this.

Day 0 – Chennai to Ahmedabad by flight

Day 1 – Ahmedabad to Rajkot by train (5 – 6 hours). Rajkot to Sasan Gir (Gir Sanctuary) by bus (3 – 4 hours). Afternoon Safari. Ahmedabad to Amreli by bus (5 – 6 hours). Amreli to Diu by car (3 hours). Diu Local sight-seeing in same car. Drop at Sasan Gir.

Day 2 – Gir. (Morning & Afternoon Safari). Visit Devali National Park.

Day 3 – Gir (Morning & Afternoon Safari). Leave for Ahmedabad

Day 4 – Ahmedabad Local sight seeing

Day 5 – Ahmedabad to Chennai flight

Let me keep this post related to just Diu alone. I would write in detail about Ahmedabad and forest safari experience in Gir very soon. Daman and Diu, as you may know, is one of the seven union territories of India. (I have been to three so far :)). Let’s see if the travel God is kind enough to let me visit another one this year. Fingers crossed.

We caught the midnight bus from Ahmedabad to Amreli (bookings in GSRTC are recommended) and second shock of our Gujarat trip was the bus itself. The seats were hardly wide enough. And oh, the third shock was seat numbers! Online seating arrangement showed the seats we booked at one place and in reality it was not even in the same row!! This trip busted certain myths surrounding the state. I forgot to say, our first shock was Ahmedabad Central Bus Stand itself, which was no better than a poorly maintained village bus stand in Tamil Nadu. (We felt so, so, so grateful and proud about the transport in our state). Next shock (4^th or maybe we should stop counting) came in the form of roads, if you could call them one. It was more like few bumpy and not-so-bumpy patches between roads with speed breakers. (I could be exaggerating a little bit, but roads were really pathetic to say the least). The bus started promptly at 12:45 AM and we reached Amreli around 7 AM. I slept on-and-off in the bus. We passed through small villages, farm lands, less populated areas, morning sun rising in the horizon far away, villagers slowly drinking tea out of the saucer! (Yes, all locals drink their coffee/tea out of the saucer and not the cup).

Our taxi driver was waiting for us at Amreli bus stand punctually and we wasted no time in leaving to Diu. Hunger pangs soon started and we asked our driver to stop at a place for breakfast. The next shock (a pleasant one) was that Gujarathis have “Ghatiya” as breakfast. It is basically gram flour (besan) fried in oil so that they are so soft, accompanied by pickles, green chilies, raw mangoes and hot jilebis. All three days our breakfast was the same “Ghatiya”, but we never got bored of it. The combination of all these items were super delicious. 

Ghatiya - Our breakfast on all three days :) 

The journey from Amreli to Diu is supposed to be scenic since it crosses through a forest. But after a heavy breakfast, we were fast asleep and woke up only a few kilometers before Diu. We passed through the legendary arch which denotes the beginning of territory of Diu (much like Pondicherry arch in Tamil Nadu). We reached our friend’s home around 10:30 AM. After some chatting, we refreshed and started our sight-seeing in Diu. The same car was used for sight-seeing around Diu.

Diu Fort – our first spot for the day, we expected it to be something like the forts in Goa. But, we were surprised to see how big the fort was. The Fort covers a huge space overlooking the sea and Diu Jail. 

Diu Jail - As seen from Diu Fort

The Fort has several viewpoints that look out towards the sea, huge canons that were used, abandoned buildings which looked like hallways, St. Tigo chapel and also a large lighthouse. Once we were at the top of Cavaleiro light house, we were amazed at the views around us. 

Cavaleiro Light House

We could see the Jail surrounded on four sides by water, various parts of the fort itself, steep cliffs that drop several feet to the sea, narrow paths that lead towards the cliffs, people looking like miniature dolls moving around the fort. 

Cliffs as seen from Diu Fort

View from one of the windows of the chapel

Only half of the fort is accessible to the public, the remaining is used as an active prison currently. One can only imagine how it must have been when the Fort was in its full glory. Another difference from the Goan forts is, the fort in Diu is very poorly maintained with structures falling apart, vandalism in some parts, garbage thrown over by tourists casually and what not. (They don’t even charge an entry fee to the fort! How can they maintain it?) 

It would be an ideal spot on a wintery evening to sit on those huge sit out windows – gazing at the never ending sea. I would suggest to visit the Fort either early in the morning or in the evening. We were half roasted by the sun during our noon visit.

Interesting Fact: - Portuguese ruled over Diu for more than 400 years until 1961 (even though India became independent in 1947) when it was merged with India along with Goa and other Portuguese occupied regions after “Operation Vijay”.

Many such canons are lying around the fort in Diu

After a scrumptious lunch of Kaju Paneer, Garlic Naans, Rotis and Vegetable Kadai – we moved towards our next destination, Naida Caves. These caves are located near Jalandhar Beach are open air caves with some man-made cuts to allow air and light inside. Unfortunately, there were no guides/books/entry fee to this caves and we were simply left to wander inside. 

Naida Caves

Diu tourism website says and I quote “The history of the caves suggests that the Portuguese hacked off building materials during their reign, which resulted in the formation of the caves”. The caves provide some interesting photographs, a few steep climbs. One has to follow the arrow marks and proceed towards the exit.

Though the beaches in Diu cannot be compared to Goa’s beaches, they are quite beautiful. We decided to watch sunset at Nagoa beach and en-route to this beach, we stumbled upon the Sea Shell Museum. This museum would be like a paradise to sea shell lovers. Created by a naval captain and meticulously arranged, name boards placed this two-storied museum exhibits sea shells of various sizes, colors, countries – it left us wondering about a totally different world below sea. A modest entry fee of 10 INR is charged to view this private museum. There is also a cycle track in this area to encourage cycle enthusiasts. Apparently, it runs around the shore line. It was abandoned during the time we visited.

Sea Shell Museum, Diu

Later, we parked ourselves on one of the numerous benches along the sandy beach of Nagao. Water activities like para-sailing, water scooters, banana ride etc. was in full swing. I heard the beach would be most crowded on local holidays and a huge booze drinking crowd would be gathered since the neighboring state of Gujarat is alcohol-free. Soon conversation started ranging from gossip to philosophy. Our friend told us we need to walk some distance for the sunset point and our driver suggested “INS Khukri Memorial” 

Nagao Beach, Diu

INS Khukri Memorial – a memorial in honor of around 190 people who lost their lives in submarine INS Khukri sunk by a Pakistan submarine in 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. It contains a replica of the submarine (we didn’t see this) and an amphitheater with the backdrop of sea. There is a lot happening at the amphitheater. A couple accompanied by professional video and photographers – made to dance, pose (photographer helps in posing), they even change their costumes twice. Due to this, the entire place seemed like a movie shooting spot. 

A Couple dance for a photoshoot, INS Khukri Memorial Amphitheater

The memorial is protected from the sea by huge rocks on the shore. We navigate through those huge rocks and find a comfortable location for sunset. Little did we know, the sun never sets even past 6 pm in the evening! It was still glowing in a golden color when we decided to call it a day. We managed to get a few parting sunset shots.

Parting sunset shot

We reached my friend’s home, packed our things and started to Sasan Gir in the same car we rented that morning. It takes around 2 hours to reach Gir from Diu. More on our Gir Forest safaris in the upcoming posts.

Basic Facts (Diu):-

Nearest Railway Station – Veraval (90 km). Many trains connect to Veraval from Ahmedabad

Nearest Airport – Diu Airport

Nearest Bus Stand – Diu (Many buses ply to Una from Ahmedabad, a nearby town)

Sight-seeing – You can hire a taxi or bike to roam around