Capital:
Suva
Currency
Fiji dollar
Best time to visit:
Enjoying a beautiful climate all year round, Fiji is an ideal destination for winter. The best time to visit them, however, is perhaps the local winter (dry season: from May to October) due to the low rainfall, low humidity and milder temperatures as well as the lower risk of cyclones and dengue epidemics.
In a word:
Bula (hello)
Vaccines
Malaria is absent in Fiji but dengue epidemics occasionally break out in urban areas.
Warnings:
- Large reef fish (snapper, barracuda and grouper) can be contaminated with the toxin that causes ciguatera. On the other hand, deep-sea fish such as tuna, wahoo and spotted royal mackerel are safe.
At the table:
Typical Fijian dishes are based on fish and coconut milk. Visiting the villages you may perhaps taste some specialties cooked in the lovo (underground oven), usually pork with taro and sweet potatoes.
Essential experiences:
Entering a Hindu temple in Nadi to feel like an oceanic India; Live a few days in one of the most beautiful paradises ever seen in the world: Beachcomber Island; Stroll around Suva's colorful fruit and spice markets
Breathtaking views, dense forests and savannahs, white beaches and crystal clear, pristine sea make the Fiji islands the ideal place for your holidays. The population will welcome you with the hospitality and kindness that distinguishes it by urging you: "bula"!
We assume that of the 333 islands that make up the archipelago, only 116 are inhabited ones. This inevitably raises the question: which island to choose?
The two main islands are Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. In the first is the capital Suva and the Nadi airport. The second is the favorite for diving and trekking, and the most important centers are Labasa and Savusavu.
However, the most beautiful beaches are found in the smaller islands, which we can divide into two groups: the Mamanuca Islands and the Yasawa Islands.
We landed in Nadi and used it as a base to visit most of the island. You can easily move around with local buses almost everywhere, sometimes even on the beaches, or hitchhiking.
Welcome to this new earthly paradise!
We are in one of the most dreamed tropical paradises in the world by European boys ... or rather, more dreamed of since we were kids in Europe ... either because they are located at the end of the maps we study at school ... or because they evoke images of adventurous navigators, of mutinies, of unknown islands, of natives, of treasures, of pirates ...
We fall asleep lulled by the cheerful Fijian music strummed by one of the thousand groups of friends who meet here and, like in front of a bonfire, spend hours and hours singing and playing their little chitarrellas!
With a local folkloristic bus we head to Nadi Town.
Already in the bus, without windows, you can breathe a very carefree air! Loud music, smiling and relaxed people ... how nice!
We cross various residential areas populated by colorful houses with the usual hammock in the courtyard ...
The center of Nadi is very Hindi; music resounds everywhere Bollywoodiana shot to the max by big crates, in supermarkets, in tarot DVD stores with the latest films by Bombay or Madras…
Along the Main Street there is a strong smell of spices that sends us back in time and makes us feel great nostalgia ...
We have lunch in one of the many Hindi restaurants: samosa, tali and all the specialties that we love so much...
We spend most of the afternoon at Sri Shiva Subramaniya Swami Temple, right at the end of the Main Road.
We chat a long time with one of the brahmins who is so intrigued by these two Italians who tell of Mother India with so much passion and transport ... We find ourselves telling stories of India to many Indians born in Fiji but who have never set foot in their land of 'origin ... the same that their grandparents left two generations before ...
We get lost in the colorful and fragrant city market, or rather we get lost in the smiles of its merchants and buy lots of fruit and spices for our "masala chai tea"!
In the evening, on the beach of our lodge, we enjoy one of the most romantic sunsets ever lived!
Four Fijians play rugby on the shoreline, two dogs chase each other on the sand, a man lazily rides his horse while an immense orange disk plunges into this clear and calm sea ... there: on the horizon!
“Bula!”
Enjoying a yummy "ika vaka lolo”, a local dish based on fish, tapioca and coconut cream, ends a wonderful and relaxing day of travel!
This morning on the hitchhiking we head, in a comfortable bus, towards the beautiful Natadola Beach!
Actually the bus leaves us only at the Junction ... from there it still takes 8 km to our destination ... no fear ... hitchhiking we reach our coveted goal!
What wonderful colors! I think I saw all the shades of blue and green at once!
We are welcomed by Fijian girls who invite us for a massage on a soft lounger in the shade of a coconut palm right on the beach.
The sea is a amazing! Crystalline!
We dive right away and spend the whole day relaxing and walking on this strip of white sand!
Today we decide to visit an Indo-Fijian friend of ours: Nitin Gandhi, who lives in Lautoka; with four Fijian dollars, aboard a colorful van, we reach our destination.
Nitin, taking us around his town, explains a bit about the history of this wonderful island, he talks about the Indians who emigrated here at the end of the 1800s, of the difficult balance between Fijians and Indo-Fijians, the sugar industry of Lautoka and many interesting anecdotes!
We have lunch at the "Northern Club", of which he is a member and we spend a few hours relaxing by the pool!
We are very excited, today we will visit one of the most beautiful islands in the world!
With a private van, in a short time we reach the embarkation near Lautoka and after 45 minutes crossing, on a comfortable motorboat, we dock at the islet of Beachcomber ...
I have no words to describe it! Just like one imagines the pirate treasure island!
The perimeter will have been 500 meters and all of white sand, the size of sesame; inside only coconut trees! The crystalline ocean, white, then blue, then aqua green, then blue and then again transparent. Never saw an island like this!
Soon we will embark again and this time to dive on the coral reef!
Parrot fish came to meet us, some yellow and blue escaped chasing other colorful ones; clown fish and surgeon fish swam disinterestedly ... what a spectacle nature!
I didn't want to get out of the water anymore!
We return to the island to enjoy a large buffet of barbecued fish!
We relax a little while lying in the shade of the palm trees before a nice massage from a big Fijian woman in the only bungalow on the island ...
We cross numerous small islands on the way back to Lautoka.
We are in the Mamanuca archipelago, on Beachcomber Island, next to the Treasure Island, behind the Bounty Island and the South Seas Island! There are about 25 of them, all of volcanic origin, with a dry and windy climate and perfect temperatures, and they offer the classic postcard scenery with pristine beaches surrounded by coconut palms
I felt like inside a documentary whose director was a certain Robert Louis Stevenson ... his wonderful adventure books for us boys slowly materialized before our enchanted eyes!
Thanks Stevenson for making us dream so much as teenagers, thank you Fiji for doing it now ... as adults!
Tomorrow morning we leave this dream island that in a short time has given us so much in terms of well-being, carefree and relaxation!
Today is Sunday and moreover we are getting closer to Diwali.
Christians well dressed in a shirt, a tie and a pareo gather in various churches for the pastor's sermon; the Hindus frantically crowd all the various shops to buy not only barrels and candles, but anything else: buying during Diwali brings good results! India docet!
We let ourselves be carried away by the flow of events; first we find ourselves in a large Hindi shopping mall immersed in the many colors of saris and Stefy takes the opportunity to do some shopping ...
We have lunch in a small Indian restaurant, here in Nadi there are countless, and we taste: samosa, bhajia (meatballs of spinach, fennel and carrots) and coffin (meatballs of various vegetables) to end with a spicy masala chai before returning to our Bay!
We also drink an excellent kava which is the typical drink of the Pacific islands, obtained from the homonymous plant. It has a relaxing effect with some "side effect" typical of alcoholic beverages. It is usually sipped at the end of the day. I recommend: if you are offered, do not refuse, it is considered a very rude gesture!
Breakfast by the ocean, hitchhiking to the Main Junction, public bus to the airport and with two Fijian dollars we reach our destination ... In the end we can say that we have traveled far and wide using only the local buses or hitchhiking saving money really quite a lot of money. keep this in mind when you visit these wonderful islands!
Today we fly to Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu islands!
Bula Fiji
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