One cup of Sun, a pail full of sea & a scoop of sand with a spoonful of history and a pinch of foreign heritage- a perfect birthday weekend. But Diu offered far more than my imagination. It was the end of January when the plan was chalked. And without any ado we set out from Jamnagar. The journey took almost 8 hours and the change of terrain around was extremely captivating. It changed from high rise concrete to deserted rough rocks and shrubs to coconut groves to finally the sea. As our destination loomed, we could almost taste the sea in the air. Arriving in the city, google maps navigated us to the resort which we had pre-booked. On our way to the resort, the view was spectacular with lights lined the sea shore and on a certain highland the letters “D”, “I”and “U”were glowing in Saffron, White and Green.
Palm Beach Resort was in the Khodidar beach which was located a little far from the hustle of the city and other beaches. It almost appeared that the resort had its private beach. We called it a night after a lip smacking sea food dinner.
Our next day started with a lovely sunrise over the sea and delicious eggs for breakfast. We booked a scooty for the day for going around the island. A map, the black-box of my friend and us started around 10 am. Our first stop was the famous Diu Fort. Well, Bollywood has made the fort famous as the movie “Qyamat- City under threat” was shot here. But beyond the drama the place presented, every inch was filled with history. From the lined canons on each flank to the artillery house to the abandoned closed prayer house to the active jail of Diu Police gave that shudder to the heart. After spending most our time there, our map took us to the St. Thomas Church. The church was another chapter of history, beautiful and elegant. Next we moved towards the Diu Museum, which was initially a gothic church turned into the present museum. We next drove towards the Gangeshwar temple. A small temple saddled in the rocks with the sea water lapping at the feet. The rocks just below the surface of the water housed hundreds of crabs which was in itself a ready-made National Geographic photo op. Finally after paying our respects in the temple, we moved to our final destination, I N S Khukhri memorial. It was an open theatre with the sea in the backdrop. Striking it was and there we witnessed a splendid sun down. The sea turned crimson as the sun melted in the waves. We returned to our resort and had a late lunch with sipping cocktails. After a short nap and a sumptuous dinner, we walked the beach under the brilliant night sky. We occupied a gazebo at the beach and spent an awful amount of time watching the starry night with the sound of the waves.
Next day, we planned a late start and my favorite - beach hopping. Nagoa beach, Ghogla beach and then finally the Khodidar beach entertained us. Pouring cocktails, the blazing sun and the white sand, what more I could have asked for. And this way Diu became my best birthday weekend ever.