Goa – Day Three

After what unintentionally became a long hiatus, I have resumed this tale of my Goa trip. In a long time, I have managed to cover only three days worth of explorations. I don’t know how long is it going to take me to complete this travelogue to my satisfaction. ;-)

Goa – Day Three:

We decided to spend the third day visiting the beaches in the southern Goa. The southern part of the Goan coastline boasts of two very famous beaches – Palolem and Agonda. This was what we wanted to see in South; we could utilize the rest of the time in exploring the North Goa.

So, once again, we headed towards NH-17, which passes very close to Palolem. Just before we hit the highway, we noticed this quaint little village church, school children playing all around.

As we passed through Margao, we decided to go to the Monte Church (which we were not able to visit when we had come to Margao earlier, due to the heavy rains). Monte Church is located atop a small hill, called Monte Hill. The directions we received from the local people were rather confusing, and the climb was a little too steep for the bike. But when we reached the top, we were rewarded by a breathtaking sight. On one side, the one from which we approached, stood the church, in a majestic splendor. The rest of the view was open to the vision – we could see the entire city, landscape with a dense growth of coconut trees, the sea in the far away distance to the front and mountains on the sides.

View from the Monte Hill

The church was closed as it was almost noon, and school students were playing cricket in the open area. (I do think that a passion for cricket is the only thing uniform across the diversity of our country!)

Monte Church

We drove on towards Palolem; the road was narrow and uneven, but offered a scenic view. The region is vast and open, and quite sparsely populated. Palolem is undeniably the most beautiful beach in Goa. It is shaped like a cove, and lined with a thick growth of coconut and other trees. Since it is sheltered from three sides, the sea is quite calm, and safe for swimming. Because of these reasons, it is very popular amongst tourists, especially the foreign visitors. There are many shacks (I cannot call the tiny, crowded huts as hotels! And beauty of the location not withstanding, I would not have liked to stay in such a place.) right on the coast, available as cheap as for Rs 500 per day.

The Palolem Beach

Fishermen pulling out the net from the sea

Lodgings at the beach front

Right next to Palolem, in fact, just separated by a rock stretching out into the sea, is the Agonda beach. However, as opposed to Palolem the sea here was very rough, and not safe for swimming – and therefore it wore a deserted look.

We asked the local people for the directions to get back; they showed us a different way than the highway we had come through – we were told that this road was better, shorter and would also take us to the Cabo-de-Rama fort, in case we wanted to visit it. We took this way quite readily, but for quite a while we were anxious because there seemed to be no traffic on the road, and no sign of population nearby! It was a beautiful route thorough the hills, and we found the road to be better as well. A particular stretch included a steep climb; I happened to look back, and found a sight amazing beyond words – down the slope, the sea surrounded the hill we were on, on the front and the sides; and we could see the entire stretches of Palolem and Agonda beaches, which looked tiny from the height. The only regret we had was we could not stop the bike then and there, due to the steep slope.

Above the Palolem and Agonda beaches

We chose not to visit the fort, as we would it would have required another two hours, and we had a long way to go to the hotel. By late afternoon, we reached a picturesque village by the mouth of the Betul river. We spent some time by the river side, enjoying the beautiful sights, and taking a lot of pictures.

At the mouth of the Betul

The village had Holy Cross Chapel situated atop a small hill, which offered wonderful views – of the village, the countryside, the river with thick growth of coconut trees on one bank, as it vanished into the vast expanse of the sea, and a magnificent sunset.

View from the Holy Cross Chapel

The Setting Sun

Errata : Ancestral Goa

In last post, I mentioned that we went to Old Goa, where we saw the huge laterite sculpture of devotee Meerabai. Well, it seems that either I misinterpreted the name of the place as mentioned by the guide, or my memory played up :-)
The place that we visited is actually called Ancestral Goa, and it is an open air museum. It houses an art gallery called Big Foot Art Gallery, and is itself sometimes referred to as Big Foot Museum.
The sculpture of Meera was carved by Maendra Jocelino Araujo Alavres, and at 14m X 5m, is the longest laterite sculpture in India.
Here is a link to an article in The Hindu:Goa Original
And here is a virtual tour of the place itself:
Ancestral Goa

Goa – Day Two

We started the next day again with a walk on the beach. We even dared to venture into the water. I use “dared” because the water was rough (as I mentioned earlier) and neither of us knows swimming. There was no life guard, in fact there was no other soul on the beach. We had the whole stretch of the beach to ourselves - it was beautiful :-))

Testing the waters

In the second half of the day, the resort people had organized a sight-seeing tour for the guests who had arrived in last 2-3 days. So, we decided to visit some of the nearby beaches in the morning, and headed for Colva.

As we drove, we discovered the biggest advantage of having a two wheeler by means of conveyance. We traveled on the internal roads through the villages, enjoying the “real” landscape of Goa. We took a detour whenever we saw a road or lane that looked promising, and in this way we “discovered” many lovely old mansions, pretty houses, quaint churches, and ponds covered with red and white water lilies.

Somewhere...

The beach at Colva had quite a few visitors, and had some basic infrastructure like lifeguard station (no lifeguard in sight though!). The day was sunny and the sea looked a nice blue, just a little bit darker than the clear blue sky.

Colva

Colva is one of the better known sites for water sports. However, since the tourist season had not yet started at the time of our visit, there was not much activity. There was just one parasailing organizer .

Parasailing (No, it isn’t either of us)

We stayed there for a little while before starting back for the hotel.

The bike, the rider and orange flowers

After lunch and a short rest, it was time for the sight seeing tour. I am not a fan of such tours, but the tour included two items that looked really exciting – a visit to Old Goa, and a cruise on the Mandovi river in the moonlight (but both of these turned out to be big fiasco, as we learnt only later! – hindsight wisdom ?!!).

The resort people had arranged a bus for the tour. The bus was not in a very good condition, and had barely enough seats. The guide initially tried to amuse people (with little success), but gave up after some time. It had started raining by the time we reached our first stop, Old Goa. What we visited was not the ancient part of the state, as one might imagine (at least we did), but a kind of museum, which used mannequins and other props to show how Goans lived in old times. It depicted the kinds of huts and equipment different craftsmen used. We did not find this museum particularly appealing. The only thing that interested us was an image of Meerabai carved in Laterite. The image, which is more than 10 m long and 6 m wide, was carved by one man using only basic tools, in a month.

Meera

While we were still there, it started raining very heavily; and since the entire area was essentially open, movement became difficult, delaying our departure. We took shelter in a stretch of path covered with a canopy, and looked like a cave, but with leaks!!

The next stop was at Mangueshi temple, in the village by the same name. It is the hometown of the famous singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and Parvati. The uniqueness of this temple is that this is the only place in India where Lord Shiva is depicted with a beard. When our guide told us so, we had to strain our mind to realize that we have indeed never seen a picture or idol of Shiva with a beard. The legend has it that Shiva came down here to relax from his Himalayan abode – hence the beard. Wow! Interesting!!

Lord Shiva with a beard

Next we went to St. Fracis Xavier Church in Panjim. By the time we reached there, the rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy, making the weather very pleasant. The guide informed us that we were not allowed to wear caps and sunglasses inside. We could take the camera, and even take pictures inside the church, though not of people. This came as a bit of surprise, as we have not been allowed to take cameras inside most of the famous temples anywhere in India, or not allowed to take pictures, if we could take the camera, for many years. In the church is kept the body of St. Francis Xavier, for last 400 years or so. A wonderful story is associated with it. Here is the story, as it was told to us (I later found that some of the facts were not so accurate). After working in India, St Francis traveled to China, but died during the journey. His body was brought back in a coffin to Goa, as he wished to be buried here. When the coffin was opened, the body was found to be intact, two years after his death. A message was sent to Rome, and a special coffin for his burial requisitioned. It took four years for the new coffin to arrive, and when the older one was opened to transfer the body, there were still no signs of decomposition! It has since been in the church, in a glass box in a coffin. Every ten years, it is opened for airing, and for public view. It is said that the body has not decayed at all, in all this time, though it is not embalmed with any preservatives. It is shrinking though, and they say that when it disappears, the world will come to an end. Amazing story, if I ever heard one. (However, given the rate with which it is shrinking, the world is safe for a few thousand years, unless it is destroyed before that by the unscrupulous ways of humans). :-))

Mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier

Yet another story is associated with this church, though I did not make any effort to determine its authenticity. All churches have a cross at the top, this one is an exception. It is said that the church authorities tried to put up the cross several times, but it kept falling off . The reason is believed to be a curse, as the Portugese had demolished a temple that stood at this site, to construct the church. The cross now stands on a pillar a few meters away from the church building.

St. Fracis Xavier Church

We spent quite some time at the church, appreciating the golden décor, seeing old oil paintings on the walls of some of the rooms, and taking pictures. It was almost dark when we left, and proceeded to the bank of Mandovi river for the cruise.

At a point near the mouth of the river (Panjim lies on the banks of Mandovi, where it meets the sea), a large number of “cruise operators” were running shop. There were huge crowds, and long queues (and quite a bit of jostling) to board the “ship”. The “ships” were essentially larger boats, were embellished with lot of lights, and played loud music. After a long wait, we finally boarded our ship, and were directed to the deck. Our hearts sank at the sight we saw. The deck was covered with tarpaulin (hey! This was supposed to be a moonlight cruise !! Where do we see the moon from ?!). Whole the floor space was packed with plastic chairs – as many as possible – leg space and aisles seemed to be an alien concept to them. There was just a little space in the front for the performers, and a snack counter at the back. A little while after the ship started sailing (it sailed upstream into the river), the performers took the stage. The performance consisted of hindi, Punjabi and goan songs, sung tunelessly for most part. What they lacked in the melody, they made up in the volume – the ensuing noise was ear-shattering. We put up with it for few minutes, before going to the lower deck. It did not have fancy lightings or seating arrangement, but was quiet, and provided a view of the river, the lighted buildings on the bank, and other ships sailing on the river. We stayed here for the entire journey which lasted one and a half hours, and watched a lot of other people come down too as it progressed.

Panjim by night

I must say that we did get some pretty views of Panjim by night-time, but we couldn’t capture good pics from the boat in the night. And I would definitely avoid another such cruise, if I ever go there again.

On the way back to the resort, the bus stopped in the market, and the guide referred a “reliable” shop, if people were interested in purchasing ‘Kaju Feni’ (Cashew Wine) and salted Cashews, that Goa is extremely famous for. We passed up on the offer, and wondered if the guide got a fat commission from the shop owner.

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!