India Travel

Trains

Ahmedabad to: Abu Road (6-9 daily; 3hr 30mirMhr 30mm): Ajmer (3-6 daily: 7hr 5min—10hr 55min); Bangalore (3 weekly; 35hr 55min-37hr 40min); Bhavnagar (3 daily; 5hr25min-7hr|; Calcutta (1 daily; 44hr 10min);

Chennai (1 daily; 37hr 30min); Delhi (3-5 daily; 14hr 15min-33hr 35min); Dwarka (1-2 daily; lOhr 50min); Jaipur (3-5 daily; 9hr 5min-13hr 30min); Jamnagar (4-5 daily; 5hr 55mm-7hr 55mm): Jodhpur (2-3 daily; 9hr 5min-9hr 55min); Junagadh (2 nightly; 8hr 20min-9hr 55min);

Mumbai (7-8 daily; 7hr 10min-12hr 20min);porbandar (1-2 daily; lOhr 25min]; Raikot (5-7daily; 4hr 5min-5hr 35min); Surat (11-14 daily;
3hr 30min-4hr 30min): Trivandrum (2 weekly;42hr 25min); Udaipur (1 nightly; 8hr 45min);

Vadodara (14-17 daily; 1hr 35min-2hr 25min);Varanasi (3 weekly; 41 hr 40min): Veraval (2 nightly; iohr25min-12hr 5min).

Bhavnagar to: Ahmedabad (3 daily; 5hr 35min-7hr 5min); Palitana (3 daily; 2hr).

Bhuj to: Gandhidham (5 daily; 1hr 50min). Diu (Delvada station) to: Junagadh (1 daily; 6hr 55min); Sasan Gir (1 daily; 4hr); Veraval (1 daily;
2hr 50min).

Owarka to: Ahmedabad (1-2 daily; 10hr40min);Jamnagar (3-4 daily; 2hr 20min-4hr 40min);Mumbai (1 daily; 20hr 25min); Rajkoi (3-4 daily; 4hr50min-7hr30mm).

Junagadh to: Ahmedabad (1 daily; 9hr 25min);Diu/Delvada (1 daily; 6hr); Rajkot (4 daily, 3hr20min-5hr); Sasan Gir (1 daily; 2ht 30min); Veraval (6 daily; 2hr-3tir 30min).

Porbandar to: Ahmedabad (1-2 daily; 10hr);Jamnagar (2-3 daily; 2hr 25min-4hr); Mumbai (1daily; 23hr 3Qmin); Rajkot (2-3 daily; 4hr 40rnin-6tir); Surat (1 daily; 16hr 40min); Vadodara (1daily; 13hr35min).

Rajkot to: Ahmedabad (3-5 daily; 4hr 20min-5hr15min); Junagadh (4 daily: 3hr 30min-5hr 15min);Mumbai (2 daily: 14hr 35min-18hr 40min); Porbandar (2-3 daily; 4hr 30min-5hr 45min);Veraval (1 daily; 5hr15min).

Vadodara to: Ahmedabad (14-17 daily; 1hr55min-2hr 30rnin); Baruch (22-25 daily; 48min-1hr 15min]; Calcutta (1 daily; 42hr); Delhi(8-10 daily; 12-24hr); Indore (1 daily; 8hr 18min);Mumbai (16-20 daily; 7hr): Porbandar (1 daily;13hr 45min); Pune (5 weekly; 10hr 20min-11hr5min); Surat (25-30 daily; 1 hr 50min-2hr 30min)

Buses

Ahmedabad to: Abu Road (8 daily; 6hr); Ajmer (4 daily; 14hr); Bhavnagar (hourly; 5hr); Bhuj (12 daily; 8-10hr); Diu (2 daily; 11hr); Dwarka (3 daily; 11hr);lndore(1 nightly; 10hr); Jaipur (1 nightly: 16hr); Jamnagar (hourly; 7hr); Jodhpur (4 daily; 12hr); Junagadh (10 daily: Shr); Mumbai (1 nightly; 14hr); Porbandar (6 daily; 10hr); Rajkot (hourly: 5hr); Surat (every 30min; 5hr 30min): Udaipur (hourly; Shr); Una (4 daily; lOhr); Vadodara (every 10min:2hr30mm); Veraval (4 daily; 10hr).

Bhavnagar to: Ahmedabad (hourly; 5hr); Bhuj l4 daily; 8hr); Junagadh (5 daily; 7hr): Mumbai (1daily; 17hr); Palitana (hourly; 1ht 15min); Rajkoi (14 daily: 4hr); Una (7 daily: 6hr): Vadodara (adaily; 6hr),

Bhuj to: Ahmedabad (12 daily; 8-1 Ohr); Bhavnagar(4 daily; Shr); Gandhidham (hourly: ihr); Jamnagar(3 daily; 7hr); Palanpur (3 daily; 8hr); Rajkot (4daily; 7hr).

Diu to: Ahmedabad (2 daily; 11 hr); Junagadh (1daily; 5hr 30min); Rajkot (2 daily; 7hr 30min); Una(every 30min; 40min); Veraval (4 daily; 3hr).

Dwarka to: Ahmedabad (3 daily; 11 hr); Jamnagar(8 daily; 3hr); Junagadh (3 daily; 5hr); Porbandar(hourly; 3hr); Veraval (hourly; 5-6hr).

Junagadh to: Ahmedabad (10 daily; 8hr);Jamnagar (hourly; 5hr); Palitana (2 daily; 6hr);Porbandar (10 daily; 3hr); Rajkot (hourly; 2hr30min); Sasan Gir (10 daily: Ihr 30min); Una (10daily; 4hr); Veraval (every 30min; 2hr).

Porbandat to: Ahmedabad (6 daily; 10hr): Dwarka (hourly: 3hr); Jamnagar (hourly; 2hr 30min); Rajkot (10 daily; 5hr); Una (4 daily; 6hr 30min); Veraval (6daily; 4hr).

Rajkot to: Ahmedabad (hourly; 5hr); Jamnagar(every 30min; 2hr); Junagadh (hourly; 2hr 30min);Porbandar (10 daily; 5hr); Una (6 daily; Shr); Vadodara (12 daily; 8hr); Veraval (hourly; 5hr). !

Vadodara to; Ahmedabad (every 10min; 2hr ! 30min}; Baruch (every 30min; 2hr); Bhavnagar (8 ! daily; 6hr); Indore (2 daily; 12hr); Mumbai (8 daily; I Hhr); Pune (3 daily; 14hr); Rajkoi (12 daily; 8hr); i Surat (every 30min; Shr).

Flights

Ahmedabad to: Bangalore (1 daily; 3hr 15min); Calcutta (6 weekly; 2hr 15min-3hr 35min); Delhi (3-4 daily; Ihr 25min-2h( 35min); Hyderabad (4 weekly; Ihr 40min); Jaipur (3 weekly; 1hr); Mumbai (5-6 daily; 1 hr); Vadodara (1 daily;30min).

Bhavnagar to: Mumbai (1-2 daily; 50min-1hr15min).

Bhuj to: Mumbai (2 daily; 1hr 5min).

Diu to: Porbandar (6 weekly; 45min); Mumbai (6weekly; 2hr 45min).

Jamnagar to; Bhuj (1 daily; 40min); Mumbai (1daily; 2hr 15 min).

Porbandar to: Diu (6 weekly; 30min); Mumbai (6weekly: 1hr30min).

Rajkot to: Mumbai (2 daily; 50min-1hr). |

Vadodara to: Delhi (1 daily; 1hr 25min); Mumbai (3 daily; 5O-55mim

The town’s most impressive monuments are across the river in the leafy colonial compound of Moti Daman, 2km south of Seaface Road, Once inside the huge heavily fortified walls that surround the quarter, you’re a world away from the sandy cluttered streets of the new town. Elegant double-storeyed mansions with sweeping staircases, wooden shutters, verandas and colour-washed facades stand on sun-dappled courtyards. Now used as government offices, these residences were originally the homes of Portuguese nobles or fidaigos — the only people allowed to live inside the fort.

Mod Daman’s highlights are its churches, which rank among the oldest and best-preserved Christian monuments in Asia. Grandest of all is the cathedral (Church of Born Jesus’) on the main square. Built in 1603, its gigantic gabled Baroque facade opens onto a lofty vaulted hall, at the end of” which stands a gilded altar watched over by six statues of saints and a benign Madonna. On the opposite side of the square, the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary is crammed with ornate woodwork, notably some fine tableaux of the life of Jesus by the altar, while strings of fragrant jasmine and rose petals festoon its ceilings.

Main Road links Moti Daman’s two gates, which were installed in the 1580s following a Moghul invasion, and passes the Pergola Garden, a memorial to two Portuguese police officers who died in a mythical “uprising” in Dadra and Nagar Haveli.These former Portuguese enclaves, eighty percent of whose population are “tribals", were ceded by the Marathas in 1781 as an indemnity for two Portuguese ships they had sunk. Though both India and Portugal agreed on an official version - in which the locals rose up against the Portuguese and liberated the territory in 1954 - the reality was that Indian police officers in plain clothes acting on secret orders from the Maharashtra state government entered the territory, shot the policemen, and frightened the rest away with firecrackers. It is now a Union Territory, governed by the same authority as Daman and Dm. A small cottage next to the northern ("sea") gate was once the home of the eighteenth-century Portuguese poet Bocage. while atop the bastion facing the southern ("land") gate is the cell where prisoners condemned to death in Portuguese times spent their final days. Nearby are entrances to a couple of tunnels: the larger one - its destination unknown and possibly dangerously low in oxygen if you go in too far - is blocked by debris, while the smaller leads from the top to the bottom ot the bastion. If you enter, take a light and beware of snakes, which hide in crevices in the walls, and may spring out if disturbed. At the western edge of the fort, a ruined Dominican monastery still has stellar carvings above what used to be the main altar. By the old lighthouse to its north, there are good views across the river.

Most of the action in Nani Daman centres on Seaface Road, which runs west from the market past rows of hotels, seedy bars and IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) stores to the beach. Too polluted for a comfortable swim or sunbathe, Damans dismal strand is only worth visiting around sunset, when the local fish-erwomen hang strips of filleted pomfret on wooden racks to dry. At the opposite (east) end of Seaface Road, the Portuguese covered market has a reputation as a purveyor of exotic contraband, although you won’t find many packers of the fabled foreign cigarettes or bottles of whisky among the imported chocolate, Hindi film cassettes and cheap cotton clothes. More picturesque is the open-air farmers’ market just behind it, where, on weekday mornings, local women squat beside piles of fresh flowers, whole spices, fruit and vegetables.

Daman’s noisiest trading, however, takes place at the riverfront, Head down here in the morning and you’ll see scores of fishing boats moored at the quay, their bows hung with garlands of marigolds for good luck. While the night’s catch is being landed, coolies haul heavy blocks of ice up the gangplanks to be hacked into pieces over baskets full o( glistening fish that the fisherwomen, gathered on the beach below, then sell to the assembled housewives and restaurateurs. A good place from which to watch it all is the ramparts of St Jerome’s Fort, directly behind the quay. Erected in the early seventeenth century to counter the threat of Moghul invasion, the citadel encircles a small maidan, a Catholic church and a well-kept walled Portuguese graveyard.

Most of the action in Nani Daman centres on Seaface Road, which runs west
from the market past rows of hotels, seedy bars and IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) stores to the beach. Too polluted for a comfortable swim or sunbathe, Damans dismal strand is only worth visiting around sunset, when the local fish-erwomen hang strips of filleted pomfret on wooden racks to dry. At the opposite (east) end of Seaface Road, the Portuguese covered market has a reputation as a purveyor of exotic contraband, although you won’t find many packers of the fabled foreign cigarettes or bottles of whisky among the imported chocolate, Hindi film cassettes and cheap cotton clothes. More picturesque is the open-air farmers’ market just behind it, where, on weekday mornings, local women squat beside piles of fresh flowers, whole spices, fruit and vegetables.

Daman’s noisiest trading, however, takes place at the riverfront, Head down here in the morning and you’ll see scores of fishing boats moored at the quay, their bows hung with garlands of marigolds for good luck. While the night’s catch is being landed, coolies haul heavy blocks of ice up the gangplanks to be hacked into pieces over baskets full o( glistening fish that the fisherwomen, gathered on the beach below, then sell to the assembled housewives and restaurateurs. A good place from which to watch it all is the ramparts of St Jerome’s Fort, directly behind the quay. Erected in the early seventeenth century to counter the threat of Moghul invasion, the citadel encircles a small maidan, a Catholic church and a well-kept walled Portuguese graveyard.

Most of Daman’s hotels are on or just off Seaface Road in Nani Danian.Aim for a first floor west-facing room if you can, as these catch the best of the welcome sea breezes that blow in during the evenings. Most places will give lower rates during quieter weekdays. Prices are higher at the resort hotels along Dwarka beach - more because of the location than for any added comfort.

Brighton. Seaface Road 02638/251208. 255209. Good range of comfy well-furnished rooms, nearly all with cable TV and a view of the sea.

Diamond, near the taxi stand 02638/254235. Neat but not particularly good-value rooms in a solid, respectable hotel. Some a/c and only b/w TVs.

Gurukripa. Seaface Road 02638/255046, £ 254433. The posh place to stay in town with a roof garden, bar and quality restaurant; the spacious en-suite rooms ate all a/c with Star TV. Good value.

Jay Resort, Moti Daman 02638/254575. Just outside the fort, east of the bridge: the only hotel in Moti Daman. Currently consists of three ramshackle detached cottages in a quiet, green setting by a small lake. Good if you want peace, so book in advance, but some way from all but its own limited restaurant/bar.

Marina, Estrada 2 Fevereiro 02638/254420. Simple rooms with solid period furniture in a stylish but tatty colonial house. A bargain if you don’t mind peeling plaster, dodgy plumbing and old beds.

Sukh Sagar, Estrada 2 Fevereiro 02638/255089. Friendly hotel on a quiet street, with good clean rooms and a decent restaurant.

The nearest railhead to Daman is 12km east at Vapi (check when you book that your train stops here). Shared Ambassador taxis charging only RslO per head to Daman will drop you on Seaface Road, a five-minute walk east from most of the hotels - if none is waiting in the square in front of the station, walk to the mam road, take a right and continue 500m until the next main junction.Just beyond the flyover is the ST bus station, with half-hourly buses to Daman.You can also get there by auto-rickshaw.

The tourist office (Mon-Fri 9.30am-1.30pm & 2-6pm; (502638/255104), in the pink administrative building just south of the bus stand, hands out glossy brochures with lots of gushing prose and maps of the territory. There a?-e two post offices: one just north of the Damanganga Road bridge, the other in Moti Daman, opposite the Municipal Council building. On Devka Road, between Seaface Road and the river, Executive Travels & Tours is the only place you can change foreign currency and Cyber Soft offers internet browsing, if they can connect with their server.

Leaving Daman, there arc no direct buses to anywhere further than Vapi, from where the best transport connections are by express train to Mumbai Central (9 daily; 3-4hr), Surat (9 daily; Ihr 45mm-3hr), Vadodara (9 daily; 4-5hr). Ahmedabad (7 daily; 6-7hr) and even, on the overnight Saurashtra Janata Express #9017, direct to Rajkot (12hr 30min) and Jamnagar (1 5hr).

Ask any Gujarati what they know about DAMAN and they’ll probably say “liquor". As a Union Territory, independent ot the dry state that surrounds it, Daman has liberal licensing laws and low duty on booze, making it something of a target at weekends for busloads of Gujarati men who drink themselves senseless, sway up and down the main street and then crash out in cheap hotel rooms for the night, generally being pretty obnoxious. The rest of the tune Daman is quieter but disappointing on the whole, with a rather forlorn feel and a couple of uninspiring beaches, although it does offer excellent seafood, a small duty-free market and some immaculate Portuguese churches, houses and torts. Straddling the mouth of the Damanganga River, which rises in the Sayadhn Range on the Deccan plateau, Daman made an obvious target for the Portuguese, who took it in 1531 from the Sultan of Gujarat’s Ethiopian gov-Jamporeernor, Siddu Bapita. The governor of Goa, Dom Constantino de Braganca, cajoled the Sultan of Gujarat into ceding the territory 28 years later, after which it became the hub of the Portuguese trans-Arabian Sea trade with East Africa. The town’s economic decline was precipitated by the British occupation of Sind in the 1830s, which effectively strangled its opium business. Colonial rule, however, survived until 1961 when, after a rather ineffective six-year barricade, Nehru lost patience with Portuguese refusal to negotiate a peaceful handover and sent in the troops.

Today Daman is administered from New Delhi as a Union Territory, along with the nearby ex-Portuguese colonies of Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Apart from alcohol production and sales, its chief sources of income are coconuts, salt production and smuggling. In recent years, the local tourist office has also been trying to promote the area as a mini-Goa. Don’t be taken in -the unbroken stretch ot palm-fringed sand that runs along its twelve-kilometre coastline may look idyllic in the brochures, but on closer inspection turns out to be a grubby fishing beach.

The town of Daman is made up of two separate districts. On the north side of the Damanganga River is Nani ("Little"‘) Daman, where you’ll find most of the hotels, restaurants, bars and markets; Moti ("Great") Daman, the old Portuguese quarter, lies to the south, its Baroque churches and Latinate mansions encircled by imposing stone battlements.

Most of Surat’s restaurants are in the better hotels, while many of the cheaper lodges offer basic room-service menus.The ST bus stand refreshment room is open 24 hours.

Embassy Hotel, off Sufi Baug, opposite the railway station. Two restaurants, one serving set breakfasts and thalis, the other Indian, Chinese and Western dishes in a clean, pleasant atmosphere. Open 7am-midnight. Mossam, Hotel Yuvraj, off Sufi Baug, opposite the railway station. Stylish, moderately priced Gujarati cooking and south Indian snacks in sophisticated surroundings. Open 1Iam-3.30pm& 7-11.30pm.

Savera Sufi Baug. Canteen serving savoury cheap veg and non-veg north Indian food. Open 9am-10pm.

Sheer-e-Punjabi, below Omkar Chambers, Sufi Baug. Swanky and somewhat pricey tandoori house with marble floots, tablecloths and a varied mostly non-veg menu. Open 9am-1am; takeaway available.

Surat’s two main sights are some distance apart, but can be seen in an hour if you take an auto-rickshaw between them. A good spot to start is Chowk, the busy riverside intersection at the toot ot Nehru Bridge. Facing the old British High Court building on one side, and the incongruous steeple of an Anglican church on the other, the castle is the city’s oldest monument, erected in 1540 on the banks of the Tapti by the Sultan of Gujarat in an attempt to curtail the trading activities of the Portuguese. It later fell to both the Moghuls and the British and these days merely houses government offices. You can wander in and scale the ramparts, from where there are views upriver and over the old walled town to the east.

The only other of Surat’s historic sites worth hunting out lies fifteen minutes northeast across town beside Kataragama Road, beyond the fortified gateway of the same name. The domed mausolea of the weed-choked English cemetery could easily be mistaken for an oriental tomb garden. Now in a sorry state, the graveyard is locked but you can hop over the low wall behind the peepal tree on the pavement. Its most impressive sepulchre, a mildewing collection of pillars and arches crowned with crossed cupolas, is that of General Oxinden, who defeated the Marathas, and his brother Christopher. The smaller of the two large tombs, to the left, is believed to be the final resting place of Gerald Aungier, of Bombay fame. Most of the other more modest graves belong to young colonial officers and their families, who succumbed to fever in this lonely malaria-infested trading post.

Although you are unlikely to choose to stay in Surat, there are plenty of hotels near the station (many of them in Sufi Baug, the street running straight ahead opposite the entrance). Finding a room is only a problem towards the end of weekday afternoons, by which time most places are booked by visiting business travellers, so avoid a protracted hunt in the heat by phoning ahead.

Diamond Plaza, 6/3014 Unapani Road 0261 /414061, 413906. Five minutes’ walk from the station, one block behind the main road at the far end of Sufi Baug, this spotless new hotel provides compact well-furnished rooms with phone and TV.

Embassy, to the right of Sufi Baug 0261/443170, 443173, Stylish new three-star carpeted throughout, with a/c, bathtubs andozonatedwateraroundtheclock-.Thebestinits bracket.

Omkar and Vaibhav, Eighth Floor, Omkar Chambers, Sufi Baug, opposite the station^0261/419329. Two hotels with identical prices and a shared reception (with handy train timetable), attached or shared shower-toilets, room-service tea, lots of coming and going, great if not exactly picturesque views and optional Star TV. A good budget deal. O Sarvajanik, station Road, opposite the station 0261/426434. Very good value, with spotless en-suite singles and doubles: hot water is provided 4-10pm. Simla Guest House, Sufi Baug 0261/41164, Very friendly place with small clean rooms, some with TV. Cheap non-attached singles.