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Back
from Goa !!
After
a looong gap of 6 days, I am back again !! Actually, I had gone out
on a trip to Goa. It was an exhilarating experience. Though it
was a short trip (2 days only), it was a nice break from the hustle and
bustle of city life. And what a break it was !!
I
thought it might be a nice idea to write about my experiences in Goa.
We had prepared a rough plan before itself as to the places we will
visit. We had a tourist map of Goa also with us. From my
experiences, having a map really helps greatly if you are going to a new
place. We left on a Wednesday evening from here by sleeper bus and
reached Panaji in the morning at 7. We took a room where the bus
dropped us. Hotel rents come out to be cheaper if you are a group of
4 or 5. (Who cares about rooms anyway !! They are just to dump our
luggage.) We did just that and went as per our plan to Calungate
beach. It was like any other beach. We had a nice
bath there and took a taxi and went to Vagator beach.
This is a sexy rocky beach and a sort of fort on top of a hill. We
went trekking up the hill and went to the fort. It was like the fort
that comes in the movie Dil Chahta Hai. Don't know whether it is the
same one or not. Had a real adventure coming down the rocky cliffs,
getting stuck in between etc etc. It is a very lonely beach and we
had another bath after our adventures.
Next
we went to Anjuna beach. It was a small beach with a rocky
cliff overlooking the beach. Next was Baga beach. It
is a really great beach with clear and shallow water. Also, a small
river joins the beach at that place and so the sea water doesn't appear to
be so salty as in other places. Again a nice bath and swim there
also. Next was Sinquerium beach. There is a fort called
Aguada fort nearby that beach, but we couldn't go there becoz of
time constraints.
We
returned to our house, changed and then went for a one-hour cruise in
Mandovi river. Cruises are famous among tourists in Goa.
We sit on the upper deck of a small cruise ship with lots of entertainment
and we are taken for a small ride in the river. There were Goan and
Portugese dances with lots of music. Next
day, we went to Dona Paula beach. Its actually not a beach,
but more like a point with good views all around. After that, we
went to Old Goa to see churches, cathedrals etc. Old
Goa has lots of great churches with long histories of its own. The SE
Cathedral and The Basilica of Bom Jesus are some of the famous
ones. The cathedrals are really huge and big with lots of frescoes,
paintings and such stuff. For a die-hard Christian fan, there is a
plethora of stuff there. The last stop was Colva beach in Margao.
It was the longest and the widest beach that we saw in Goa. We
had a nice bath there also ;-)
I
think it was a well planned trip and we covered most of the famous
places. There are many other good beaches such as Arambol beach and
Agnoda beach. But they are far away and cannot be covered in
two days. If somebody plans for a trip for more than 2 days, these beaches
can be covered. Also, you can view a lot more churches and
cathedrals.
One
of the good things about Goan beaches that I noticed was that they were
kept really clean even though lots of people flock there. It was as
if you are in direct contact with Mother Nature. We had a really
great time playing in the waters We went really deep into the sea
and had fun with the rising waves. Surfing was the only thing we
didn't do ;-)
Overall,
a great place, though nothing like Kashmir. Still, a must see at
least once in you lifetime .......
Send
in your comments to Ganesh
C.N.
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