Goa - Day one : Orientation

We woke up early in the morning, eager to go to the beach, and find what it looked like – crowded, like Bombay, or pristine, as we had seen in pictures of Goa, or something entirely different. We walked down the garden and the sandy trail. Red flags along the way warned that the sea was turbulent, and it was not safe to swim. When we reached the end of the trail, all we could see in front of us, was sand – the ground sloped upwards – and met the sky. We walked up the slope and were greeted with a sight which left us speechless – we stood facing the sea, which stretched till the horizon; on both sides the beach lined with coconut and palm trees stretched for miles and miles. Towards the right, at a great distance we could see Zuari industries as a hazy shape outlined against the sky; towards the left, nothing but sand and sea.

The first picture of the trip

We did not venture into water, but walked along the beach, the waves just wetting our feet. We spent an hour or so, just feeling the thrill.

The view on the right ...

And the left …

Afterwards, we had a lavish breakfast – this place offered the best food we have ever had in a hotel (and this was proven by the fact that both of us gained a visible amount of weight in the week – quite a few people ribbed us on our return :-) )
Then, we contemplated the next course of action – how to go about exploring Goa. Although it is one of the smallest states in India with only about 150 kms of coastline, Goa has a lot to offer – apart from the beaches it is best known for, there are spice plantations, sanctuaries, temples, and of course, churches. Since it was not possible to explore everything in the limited amount of time we had, we decided to go to the beaches, and visit the churches as we saw them. Next came the question of transport. We had been advised that the best way of sight-seeing in Goa is on a two-wheeler. Now we understood why. Local transport is just not meant for tourists – the buses are way too crowded, have irregular frequency, do not go to most of the places one may like to visit, and most important, would hardly take a route near to the location of hotels. The cabs are rather on the expensive side, and do not give too much freedom to explore. So, over to the two-wheelers.
We had been informed that it is extremely easy to rent a bike or a scooter in Goa. We enquired at the hotel’s reception desk about the nearest place we could rent one from. They denied having any such knowledge (probably intending to make much more profit by renting a cab to us), and directed us to the cabbies waiting outside the hotel gate. The cabbies, too, denied having any information; when we persisted they indicated a low possibility of getting a bike on rent in Colva, which was about 4 kms away. I am glad to say that we were not deterred by any of this. We decided to walk towards Colva, through Uttorda and Majorda villages – the region is known for its picturesque beauty, and Outlook traveler recommends a walk through Uttorda. We thought we might ask some of the local people, or later on take a transport, if we indeed needed to go to Colva. As it turned out, we needed to walk much less – only about a kilometer. A kind lady operating a grocery store, directed us to garage-owner named Francis in Majorda who rented out bikes to tourists.
We found Francis’s shop quite easily. He was quite a friendly guy. He asked our requirements, noted our hotel address, took an advance, and lent us a Splendour, along with a helmet, the necessary papers (which were not fully in order, as we learnt later), and a (customary) warning to tell any policeman who may happen to detain us that we had borrowed the bike from our friend, and not rented it. For Rs 150/- a day, we had found our wings! :-)
Our Outlook traveler guide (which we found to be very good with local info, especially maps) listed Margao as the nearest major hub, and the second largest city of Goa. It was about 10 kms south from Majorda, along NH17. We started for Margao, enjoying the scenery of palm trees against distant hills. We were also quite cautious as Nitin was driving a bike after a quite a long while, and we did not know the way, and the roads were narrow and curved very sharply. Even the highway was only two lanes at most places, and did not have a divider.

On our way

Margao did not give us an impression of being a big city – it is more of a quaint small town. Once there, we headed for the Grace Church, which is considered as a major church in the area, and is in the city centre. We tried all three entrances, but found them closed, to our dismay. Perhaps we chose a wrong time, being unaware of the way churches function. There is nothing to see in the city, apart from a few churches, which we deferred for the time. We just roamed around, soaking in and enjoying the feeling of just being there. We also tried to shop for some beach attire, with little success.

Municipal building in Margao

Administrative headquarter of Salcete

By late afternoon, clouds started forming, and within half an hour the sky became overcast. We decided to start back, abandoning the idea of visiting Monte Church and Grace church. Within minutes, it started raining heavily, and we were soaked to the skin. Since there was no shelter, and no sign of rain stopping anytime soon, and we were drenched anyway, we just kept going.
By the time we reached back, soaked and tired, it was starting to get dark. Rain continued to pour down, eliminating the possibility of a walk on the beach, and a view of sun setting on the sea. In fact, this sight eluded us for the entire trip. By late evening, the rain subsided to a light drizzle, and we concluded our day with dinner and a walk in the garden which looked beautiful in dim lights.

The Prelude

It is a dream with a large majority of Indian population to enjoy a holiday in Goa, and we were no exceptions. We had some leaves due last year, and decided to utilize them for our dream vacation. So, we spent a couple of months deliberating, deciding, planning and making the reservations. We chose to visit Goa in mid-October, when the monsoons would be at an end and the temperature would have moderated. We deliberately avoided the December-Jan peak tourist season, when the place is over-crowded and the prices are exorbitant.

We started for our long-awaited vacation on October 12, the Dusshera holiday. We had made our reservations with Kingfisher, and this was our first experience with a low-cost airline. We were not expecting much by way of facility or services, but were pleasantly surprised to find well furnished interiors, as well as an in-flight entertainment system.

Even as we were descending to land at the Dambolim airport, we could catch a glimpse of the beauty of Goa - small hills by the side of ponds or lakes, setting sun hidden amongst clouds reflected in the sea, and lush green landscape. We noticed it had just stopped raining. The airport itself was small, and buzzing with activity.

Dambolim airport is approximately in the centre of Goan coastline, and Kenilworth Beach resort, where we had booked our stay, is on Uttorda beach, is about 25 kms south from the airport. The ride to the hotel was great as we had our first view of the beautiful Goan scenery. We traveled along the highway for some distance, after which we turned into one of the interior roads. The roads were narrow and winding, and lined with coconut trees. There were few small villages along the way, and they looked rather different from the villages we have seen along the roads in northern India. It took us some time to realize the difference – they were sparsely populated, the houses had slanting roofs, and almost every house had a big open space in front and around. There was quite a lot of vegetation, which appeared much greener being just washed with rain.

The light had almost faded by the time we reached the hotel, and we saw that it had started drizzling once again. That’s when we realized why we had got a “monsoon package” in middle of October.

By the time we got our things to our room and freshened up, it was totally dark, and it was still raining, but we decided to explore the layout of the hotel anyway. The front was occupied with the constructed area – the lobby, the rooms, the bar, and the dining hall. Along one corridor were souvenir shoppes. The dining hall was at a level lower than the lobby, and opened into the garden. The garden was quite large, and surrounded somewhat oddly shaped and inter-connected swimming pools, one of which had a mini bar. The garden also had a barbeque and an open space for conducting entertainment programs. Few winding paths lined with small lamps ran around and in the garden. We walked along one of these and reached an unpaved, sandy trail. There were a few lights along this trail, so we assumed it would lead to the beach. Walking further ahead, we could hear the sea, but couldn’t see it, as it was pitch dark. So we just stood there for some time, listening to subtle sounds in the silent darkness. We traced our path back through the garden and went to the dining hall. The entertainment program – live performance by local artists – was on in the dining area. The dinner was served in a buffet. The food was delectable, and the desserts were heavenly.

Goan Holiday

I had started writing this travelogue quite some time back – just after the trip – and before I had discovered the joys of blogging. We had a simply great time, and my intention was to record that feeling to aid memory in future, as it tends to fade away with time. However, I gave up on this idea shortly afterwards, partly because I was daunted by the enormity of the task (I am inclined to go too much into details), and partly because of the hectic activity on the social as well as professional front. As I ventured into the world of blogging, I was inspired to resume this log once again. So, my next few posts would be devoted to our Goan holiday.

Here is a preview of the things to come!