Whoa!. Review on Goa

Whoa! What does one write about Goa? [No, I'm not trying to pen a poem.] Simply put, it's a must-see place in India.

Goa is possibly just the size of a district in neighbouring Karnataka or Maharashtra, but actually is itself composed of 11 districts. The Portugese influence is on the face, with ladies in skirts and the European-style architecture. As one moves North, the Marathi touch is evident. There is a tinge of Karnataka too. The primary language seems to be Konkani, though Hindi and English are used too.

From a tourist?s perspective, go to Goa if you enjoy beaches. For other things, there's not much point visiting. Oh, I forgot (cashew / coconut) fenny -- alcohol consumers would want me to include that too! Small for 5 bucks, anyone?

The region is divided into North and South (like Mauritius), though I'm not convinced about the line of division.

North

• Vagator beach, seen in many Indian movies, has a lot of rocks and coconut trees, and even a cliff, providing a beautiful setting. It doesn't seem to attract hordes of visitors though.

  
  




• Anjuna beach also has a cliff and rocks, to the extent of making it difficult to get into the water. But this is a great place for sunset view.

  
  




• Baga beach is crowded, but a little lesser than the next one.

  
  




• Calangute is supposedly the most famous beach. It reminded me of Marina (Chennai), seeing the large number of people and shops there.

  
  




• Candolim beach had people in single digits when we went there in the afternoon! The waves are large, fast and many in number. Though that might sound exciting, it was a bit scary too with hardly anyone around.

  
  




• Aguada Fort (recently acquired fame for featuring in Dil Chahta Hai) provides a fantastic view of the sea and adjoining areas. It used to serve as a point for water-filling and monitoring the sea, even having a functioning light-house till 1978.

  
  




• Divar Island is a small island created by the Mandovi river. You can go there just for some seclusion and also to enjoy the ferry ride. The place has a couple of old churches.

  
  




• Nearby is the Bom Jesus Cathedral, which houses the remains of St. Francis. If you're interested in getting a first hand experience of Portugese architecture and culture, don't miss this place. There's also a museum across the road. I was amazed by the road itself, which seemed straight out of some Arabian country, laid very well with palm trees on both sides.

  
  




• Mayem Lake (reachable from Divar Island or Mapusa) is just an ordinary lake, possibly bigger than normal though. You can sit and relax in the garden or go boating.

  
  




• An hour-long evening cruise on the Mandovi might be exciting if you haven't done it elsewhere. The boats are replete with entertainment and food.

  
  

South

• Miramar beach is just a normal beach off the city (of Panaji), thankfully not very crowded.

  
  




• Dona Paula is a jetty and not really a beach. It's just a place to hang out and also catch marvellous paintings by the sun (if the clouds permit you to).

  
  




• You can visit the Panjim Church while you're in the capital. It's operational and it looked like they used Portugese during the prayers.

  
  




• Bogmalo is a lovely little beach, possibly less than a kilometre long. You have some rocks and good amount of sand.

  
  




• Majorda is another not-so-visited beach, made famous by the resort of the same name. You can catch some foreigners here.

  
  




• Colva is supposed to be next only to Calangute in its popularity. But definitely, there were lesser shops and people.

  
  




• Benaulim is another small beach, where there was quite a bit of fishing activity going on.

  
  




• Palolem is one beach which seemed to attract maximum foreigners. We stayed in the resort (not as grand as the word may sound) next to it and had a great time spending the morning, afternoon and evening there! You'll be amazed to see the range of international food available around; even the Indian food was tailored to suit foreign taste-buds.

  
  




• Ancestral Goa is a place which documents the culture of Goa. It's quite interesting, though it would probably appeal more to foreigners. This place also houses the Big Foot, a huge foot impression, said to have been created by a virtuous and generous person who performed penance standing on a single foot of his. It is believed that if one places the foot on it and wishes for something, it will come true.

  
  




• Shantadurga and Mangueshi are a couple of famous Hindu temples, if you care to visit. The architecture is unique, with the pagoda-style structure in front of the main temple standing out.

  
  

[The beaches are listed in order from North to South.]

Tourism being the primary industry, all kinds of facilities are easily available. The tourism department has done a good job, establishing centres at various places, which provide a variety of information. The one thing you should get from there is a tourist map. Accommodation is available in a wide range, from dormitories to 5-star luxury. For moving around, cars and bikes can be rented; state-owned and private buses too are there.

Cars would take you on North tour or South tour. Most of the places mentioned above would be covered. The routes are fairly flexible; you can choose to skip some places and see some others. But we enjoyed the bike trips the most. The roads are quite good and the place is sparsely populated -- sometimes we hardly saw a soul on the road! Moving on a bike also gives you a ground-level feel of Goa. For both vehicles, some amount of bargaining would give you a good deal.

To really experience Goa, you'd need nearly a week. That time needs to be split into two places to make travel less. Panaji is certainly a good place to stay -- most places in the North are not very far. Vasco is an important place due to the railhead there; but I felt Margao (Madgaon) would be a better gateway to the South. If you can have accommodation booked for you in these places, you can move around Goa better.

The cities are actually small towns, compared to the rest of India. The pollution and hustle-bustle are all minimum. Panaji though is famous for crawling traffic in some places, due to the old narrow roads. The people are lethargic and that really sets you in relaxation mode.

Sometimes, that can get onto you though. At restaurants, be ready to wait a little longer than usual for your order to arrive. For vegetarians, I'd say the food options aren't good. You never know which place will provide good food -- there seemed to be no relation between the class of the restaurant, the price of the items and the quality. Out of the twenty or so meals that I had, maybe a few were satisfying.

As is now famous, the time around the New Year is peak season in Goa. Guess it's more due to the hype. October to February is the season for the year, possibly due to the high temperatures and rains during other months. I've heard that some choose to go in September, just before the season starts, braving the rain. We went in October and there was rain for one or two days. Heat and humidity was okay, definitely less than Mumbai or Chennai.

To get to Goa, I guess it's well-connected with Mumbai (road / rail / air). It even has an international airport. From Bangalore, rail options are limited; so, you may want to