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Christmas on the Indian Island of Diu
Tis the season to be merry – very merry.
We’d been travelling round India for three months, and needed somewhere to stay for the Christmas holiday. As we felt it would be nice to have the odd beer over this period, we settled on the Island of Diu, just south of the mainland of Gujarat. Sunbathing on a beach on Christmas Day seemed like a cool, albeit slightly weird, idea. It was also the only place in the vicinity of a few hundred miles where alcohol was not a dodgy deal served below the counter or incognito in a teapot.
With the domineering Portuguese fort and elaborate churches, the capital town of Diu had a real colonial feel to it. Over the next couple of weeks we would revisit the town on multiple occasions. However we decided we needed to find a temporary home by the beach and so headed off for some golden sands. They didn’t take long to find.
The road ended by a small quiet complex of basic guesthouses and restaurants. We found a room with a view, though sadly the view was accessed from a communal balcony. And the view was of the car park.
The room was fairly cramped, with two single beds on opposite walls. This was just for sleeping. All our down time was spent sitting on the balcony outside our room, often with our English neighbour, Wayne, who was travelling alone…
