Sights in Saurashtra
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Marine National Park
This isolated park stretches 170km along the coast and encompasses 42 islands, 33 of which are ringed by coral reefs. It’s rich in marine and bird life. The best time to visit is from December to March. The Forest Office administers the park, or you can arrange a visit to any of the 42 islands through Hotel President. It takes two hours to reach Pirotan Island (timings are restricted because of tides – you must spend 12 hours on the island to wait for the tide to turn), which is the only offshore route set up for regular visitors. Note that pilgrim boats to Pirotan Island can be dangerously overloaded.
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Gir Interpretation Zone
Twelve kilometres from Sasan village at Devalia, within the sanctuary precincts, is the Gir Interpretation Zone, better known as simply ‘Devalia’. The 4.12-sq-km fenced off compound is home to a cross section of Gir wildlife. Chances of seeing lions here are good but stage-managed, and you’re only likely to get 30 to 45 minutes looking for wildlife and only from a bus. Vehicles run here from Sasan Gir’s main street for Rs150. Just in case you were thinking about dashing off into the bushes on the way to Devalia, we had a lioness cross the road in front of us, about 1km from the compound.
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Junagadh Zoo
If you don’t make it to Sasan, Junagadh’s zoo at Sakar Bagh, 3.5km from the centre, on the Rajkot road, has Gir lions. The nawab set up the zoo in 1863 to save lions from extinction and, though the concrete enclosures at the front rival much of Asia for sheer cruelty, it has a surprisingly good ‘safari’ park, with an abundance of lions, tigers and leopards. There is also a museum at the zoo with paintings, manuscripts, archaeological finds and other exhibits, including a natural-history section. Take bus 6 (Rs. 5) or an autorickshaw (Rs. 25) to get here.
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Kirti Mandir
This memorial to Gandhi was built in 1950. Reflecting Gandhi’s age when he died, it’s 79ft high and has 79 candle holders; symbols from all the world’s major religions are incorporated. There’s a small bookshop and photographic exhibition (take the stairs by the entrance). Next door is Gandhi’s birthplace – a three-storey, 220-year-old house. He was born here on 2 October 1869 (the very spot is marked on the floor by a swastika), and it was his home till the ripe old age of six. The house is an interesting warren of 22 rooms.
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Uperkot Fort
This ancient fort, on Junagadh’s eastern side, is believed to have been built in 319 BC by Chandragupta (ruler of India in the 3rd century BC), though it has been extended many times. An ornate triple gateway forms the entrance, and in places the walls reach 20m high. It’s been besieged 16 times, and legend has it that the fort once withstood a 12-year siege. It’s also said that the fort was abandoned from the 7th to the 10th centuries and, when rediscovered, was completely overgrown by jungle.
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Mayur Patola Art
Rajkot has quickly developed a Patola-weaving industry. This skill comes from Patan, and is a torturous process that involves dyeing each thread before it is woven. However, in Patan both the warp and weft threads are dyed (double ikat ), whereas in Rajkot only the weft is dyed (single ikat ), so the product is more affordable. You can visit workshops that are located in people’s houses in the Sarvoday Society area, including Mayur Patola Art, behind Virani High School.
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Ashokan Edicts
On the way to the Girnar Hill temples, you pass a huge boulder on which Emperor Ashoka inscribed 14 edicts in Pali script in about 250 BC instructing people to be kind to women and animals and give to beggars, among other things. Sanskrit inscriptions were added around AD 150 by Emperor Rudradama and in about AD 450 by Skandagupta, the last emperor of the Mauryas, referring mainly to recurring floods destroying the embankments of a nearby lake, the Sudershan, which no longer exists.
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Portuguese Fort
Built in 1535, with additions made in 1541, the massive, well-preserved Portuguese fort with its double moat (one tidal) must once have been impregnable, but sea erosion and neglect are leading to a slow collapse. Cannonballs litter the place and the ramparts have a superb array of cannons. The lighthouse is Diu’s highest point, with a beam that reaches 32km. There are several small chapels, one holding engraved tombstone fragments. Part of the fort also serves as the island’s jail.
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Temple of Somnath
This temple, 80km from Junagadh, has been razed and rebuilt at least eight times. It’s said that Somraj, the moon god, constructed a gold version, rebuilt by Ravana in silver, by Krishna in wood and by Bhimdev in stone. A description of the temple by Al-Biruni, an Arab traveller, was so glowing that it prompted a visit in 1024 by a most unwelcome tourist – Mahmud of Ghazni. At that time, the temple was so wealthy that it had 300 musicians, 500 dancing girls and even 300 barbers.
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Shri Bhuvaneshwari Aushadhashram Ayurvedic Pharmacy
The Shri Bhuvaneshwari Aushadhashram Ayurvedic Pharmacy was founded in 1910 by the Royal Physician. The pharmacy manufactures medicines and it’s possible to see all the weird machinery involved, as well as buy medicines for treating hair loss, vertigo, insomnia etc. The founding physician here first coined the title ‘Mahatma’ (Great Soul) for Gandhi.
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Diu Museum
The white-walled St Thomas’ Church, a lovely, simple building houses the Diu Museum. There’s a spooky, evocative collection of old Catholic saint statues. Once a year, on 1 November, this is used for a packed-out mass. There are also some remnants of a Jain temple. There’s a guesthouse upstairs around to the left.
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Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary
This small sanctuary encompasses salt and freshwater marshlands that host flocks of cranes from September to March. It’s best to visit around sunrise. Permits are available from the Forest Office. A return taxi costs around Rs. 1200, or you can take a bus (Rs. 10) to nearby Khijadiya, then walk the last 3km.
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Lakhota Palace Museum
This diminutive mid-19th-century palace on Ranmal Lake once belonged to the maharaja of Nawanagar. It houses a small museum which, at the time of research, was closed for renovations. It’s a striking building with some fine woodcarving and grotesque gargoyles, though the lake itself is a polluted mess.
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Naulakha Museum
This Museum is housed in a beautiful, decrepit riverside palace (Naulakha Palace) that was built in a mixture of styles, with striking gargoyles. The museum shows royal artefacts, including scales used to weigh the maharaja in 1934 (his weight in silver was distributed to the poor) and dinky toys.
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Watson Museum & Library
The Watson Museum & Library commemorates the work of Colonel John Watson, political agent (administrator) from 1886 to 1889. It’s a jumbled attic of a collection, featuring 3rd-century inscriptions, arrays of arms and delicate ivory work overseen by an unamused marble statue of Queen Victoria.
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Shell Museum
The Shell Museum is a labour of love. Captain Devjibhai Vira Fulbaria, a merchant navy captain, has collected shells for over 50 years. Close to Diu Town, Fudam has a simple church, Our Lady of Remedies, that is now derelict, though a large carved wooden altar remains inside.
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Kaba Gandhi No Delo
This is the house where Gandhi lived from the age of six, and it contains lots of interesting information on his life. The Mahatma’s passion for the hand loom is preserved in the form of a small weaving school. The narrow streets surrounding the old city reward a wander.
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Durbar Hall Museum
This museum displays weapons, armour, palanquins, chandeliers, and howdahs from the days of the nawabs, as well as a huge carpet woven in Junagadh’s jail. There’s a royal portrait gallery, including photos of the last nawab with his numerous beloved dogs.
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Gandhi Smriti Museum
The dusty Gandhi Smriti Museum has a multitude of Gandhi photographs. Downstairs, the equally dusty Barton Museum, has religious carvings, betel-nut cutters, and a skeleton in a cupboard. It is located north-east, by the clock tower.
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St Paul’s Church
Cavernous St Paul’s Church is a wedding cake of a church, founded by Jesuits in 1600 and then rebuilt in 1807. Inside, it’s a great barn, with a small cloister next door, above which is a school. Daily mass is heard here.
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Gir Orientation Centre
The Gir Orientation Centre, next to the Sinh Sadan Forest Lodge, has displays of the park’s inhabitants and a replica maaldhari hut. A creaking film about the park is screened at 7pm.
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Buddhist Caves
Close to the Jama Masjid (which is inside the Uperkot Fort) are 2nd century AD Buddhist caves, an eerie three-storey carved complex – the main hall contains pillars with weathered carvings.
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Prabas Pata Museum
The Prabas Pata Museum is laid out in courtyard-centred rooms and contains remains of the previous temples, with lots of beautiful fragments, including an elaborate 11th-century ceiling.
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Dwarkanath Temple
This Temple is dedicated to Krishna and has a magnificent, five-storey spire that is supported by 60 columns. To enter, non-Hindus must make a declaration of respect for the religion.
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Velavadar National Park
This beautiful, off-the-beaten-track, 34-sq-km park, 65km north of Bhavnagar, encompasses large areas of pale, custard-coloured grassland stretching between two seasonal rivers.
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