Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Diu

The information provided here is strictly based upon my experience at Diu. Other tourists may have undergone different experiences at Diu. This is an honest attempt to share my experiences with all those who wish to visit the same place.


02 November 10, 08 : 30 >>
[Good morning Diu]
After a short sleep of 3 hours after we arrived Diu at 05 : 30 in the early morning,
Tea arrived in our room. We got ready by 10 : 00 and left for exploring Diu.



10 : 00 >>
[The journey begins]
Found one of the front wheel punctured and immediately changed it with a spare wheel. It took half an hour and we headed towards Diu fort at 10 : 30.


10 : 30 >>
[Forbidden rocks]
At the entrance of Diu fort there was a small parapet and open ocean was calling behind those walls, so I couldn't control my enthusiasm and jumped over it to visit that forbidden shore. A small bulged rock with lots of algae was there. It was a bit slippery. Rest of the members followed me and magnificent Fortim-Do-Mar popped up like an iceberg  just behind us. It took almost 50 minutes to come back to the original entrance gate of the fort.



11 : 30 >>
[Diu fort]
We entered the fort officially and roamed around. This place was crowded by so many cannons and few cannon balls at different bastions. It took almost 2 hours to cover the entire fort where the major attraction were the light house and the bastions with cannons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diu_Fort







13 : 00 >>
[Alishan restaurant]
We almost got exhausted by walking and running and jumping over one cannon to other stone in the fort. So finally we decided to take lunch and took the way to exit from the fort. Then we headed to visit an A.C.  restaurant Alishan. They served us nice food and it was on our way so we wasted no time to attack on our lunch.

14 : 30 >>
[Ek break to banta hai]
After a heavy lunch, it was time to visit other famous places of Diu including Nagoa beach. We decided to take our swim suits along with us so we directed back to our hotel and with necessary belongings again started the next session.

15 : 00 >>
[Gangeshwar temple]
After repairing the punctured wheel we headed towards Gangeshwar temple. Although we were not at the proper time as it is said that in the time of high-tide, the ocean water lull all the five Lingam of Shiva with different cylindrical diameters.




15 : 30 >>
[INS Khukri memorial]
Leaving behind the scenic beauty of Gangeshwar temple we headed towards the Khukri memorial near Chakratirth beach famous for its sunset point and sun bath. INS Khukri was a frigate of Indian Navy and was sunk by three torpedo attack of Pakistani submarines in the Indian ocean about 40 nautical mile from Diu' s shore. It was the one and the only frigate which witnessed this fate during the war of 1971.






16 : 00 >>
[Naida caves]
One of our fellow knew about these caves so we decided to explore them as well. After asking once or twice for the exact location as it is not much famous for tourist attraction, we reached there.
There are in all 11 caves of which some are connected while others have dead end. You have to take U turn in some caves to visit others. It was an afternoon when we visited these caves even if we carried a torch in the case if we could not manage to come out before sunset !



17 : 00 >>
[Nagoa beach]
This beach is the major tourist attraction of Diu. But if you have visited the exotic beaches of Goa then this beach is mere an ordinary place for you. It does not mean that this beach has no beauty. Perfectly in C shape with wide shore to free yourself in the waves, it also encloses many water sports like paragliding, banana ride and many more. I first time in my life enjoyed paragliding here as it was comparatively cheaper than Goa. Here paragliding cost me ` 800 only where in Goa it was  ` 1500.
Rest of all things were same as we explore any other beach in India. We bathe here for 30 to 45 minutes.


18 : 30 >>
[Samrat restaurant]
After exhausting bath and fun at Nagoa beach, we returned to our hotel to get fresh as my hairs were itching a lot of salt and sand particles in it. As the evening was about to vanish, we decided not to go anywhere but to take dinner. We reached Samrat hotels and restaurants suggested by our receptionist and it was a nice experience. We were so tired that we came back to the hotel and fell immediately into deep sleep.

21 : 30 >>
[At Relax inn]
I set my mobile's alarm at 04 : 45 as we decided to go to Gir the next day. Gir is about two and half hour from Diu, so we thought we will be leaving Diu at 6 : 00 in the morning………!!!
Plans, as we know never work no matter how precisely they are woven. The same thing happened next morning when my alarm buzzed………

To be continue……..