A new coast story

In little Diu, stay on, linger longer. New surprises will emerge: A forgotten church, a secret beach, a whisper from two centuries ago

- By Zara Murao [e-mail]

There are places that look exactly like you imagined them: The pyramids of Giza, the desert sands of Morocco, the mountains of Tibet. Diu, that rarely visited island just off the coast of Gujarat, holds a surprise on every corner.

Step out of the airport and there's nothing but a ribbon of road by the sea. It's a road that rings the island – half of it beachy, sunlit and dotted with churches. But turn onto the other half, the part that wends inland, and one finds oneself in ancient forest. The villages here, isolated twice over, are stuck in time. Tiny shops peep out of a rainy mist.