26th Dec 2009, Evening we just went to bed as we all were very very tired because of looong drive. Next day early morning (
27th Dec 2009) we thought of leaving without breakfast so that we can visit more churches and then can spend more time on beaches. But because of little babies we made to leave the guest house only at 10am. We headed towards North Goa.
After 3 hours drive and 80 kms hill drive we reached the
Agua Fort at North Goa. The fort was constructed in 1612 to guard against the Dutch and the Marathas. It was a reference point for the vessels coming from Europe at that time. This old Portuguese fort stands on the beach south of Candolim, at the shore of the Mandovi river. It was initially tasked with defense of shipping and the nearby Bardez District. A freshwater spring within the fort provided water supply to the ships that used to stop by. This is how the fort got its name: Aguada = Water. Crews of passing ships would often visit to replenish their fresh water stores. On the fort stands a 4-storey Portuguese lighthouse, erected in 1864 and the oldest of its kind in Asia built in 1612.
We had our lunch at Sweet Chilli Restaurant on the Fort road. Food was good, but very delayed service. Wasted precious time there. After the lunch we left for Old Goa to visit churches. On the way we had an experience of travelling in a Ferry with our chevy. It was a great experience. From the Ferry we drove back to the road, and after Around 20 kms from the Fort to Old Goa, the road via Mandovi river was awesome. The roads in Goa are pretty cool and maintained good. In Old Goa we visited 3 churches which are next to next in a 1000 meter radius.
Se Cathedral (Sé Cathedral of Santa Catarina) is one of the oldest and most celebrated church in Goa and is one of the largest churches in Asia. The Se Cathedral was built to commemorate the victory of the Portuguese under Afonso de Albuquerque over a Muslim army, leading to the capture of the city of Goa in 1510. Since the day of the victory happened to be on the feast of Saint Catherine, the cathedral was dedicated to her. The actual construction began in 1562 under the reign of King Dom Sebastião. The Cathedral was finally completed in 1619 and was consecrated in 1640. It originally had two towers, but one collapsed in 1776 and was never rebuilt. The architecture style of Se Cathedral is Portuguese-Manueline. The exterior is Tuscan, whereas the interior is Corinthian. The church is 250 feet in length and 181 feet in breath. The frontispiece stands 115 feet high. We also attended a goan wedding in this church. The bride, groom, decos, car etc were good. Worth to watch the wedding spending some time.
The Church of St. Francis of Assisi stands contiguous to the Se Cathedral but is less impressive in appearance. The Church and the nearby Convent was built by eight members of the Franciscan friars, a religious order within the Catholic Church which seeks to live the Gospel in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. The chapel they built was subsequently modified to a church in 1521 and consecrated to the Holy Spirit. In 1661 the original structure of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi was demolished and the present church was built retaining the exquisitely carved old gate made of black stone. Consequent to the closure of the Convent by the Portuguese government in 1835, it remained in a state of dilapidation for a long time. Since 1964 it houses the Archaeological Museum set up by the Archaeological Survey of India. The exterior of the St Francis of Assisi church is a manifestation of Tuscan architecture while the interior blends the mosaic-Corinthian style.
The Basilica of Bom Jesus or Basilica of Good Jesus (Portuguese: Basílica do Bom Jesus) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The basilica holds the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier. The Jesuit church is India’s first Minor Basilica, and is considered as one of the best examples of baroque architecture in India. Construction work on the church began in 1594 and was consecrated in May of 1605. This world heritage monument has emerged as a landmark in the history of Christianity.
After visiting these 3 churches, we travelled towards Panjim which is around 10kms from Old Goa to visit
Miramor beach. We reached Miramor beach at 6pm and it was dark. This beach is located near to Panaji. This is one of the overcrowded beaches in Panaji, which remains full with local and international tourists throughout the year. I was dead tired and took a tablet and got flat in the beach. My nephew and bil played in the beach waters. After one hour we went to
Panjim market. We had our dinner at a famous veg restaurant Navaratra.
After dinner at 8pm, we left Panjim to come back to our stay place Galgibagh. I was driving at 60 to 80kms speed in that hill curves and thanks to Spark for its stability and grip built. At 60kms speed and at top gear I was able to take U turn. We reached our guest house around 10.30pm. Day-2 of our holiday trip was very tired but worthed.
Day three’s early morning at 7am (
28th Dec 2009) I left alone to
Galgibagh beach to watch our some turtles as the beach is famous for rare species of turtle. Believe me . The beach is only 2 to 3kms drive from my stay place. But I couldn’t see not even single turtle other than the warning sign boards from govt. that not to swim or don’t throw garbage etc. In the beach other than me and my chevy, no one was there. After taking some nice pictures of Arabian sea waves I left the place.
After Breakfast, we all left again for another 80kms travel. Now going to Margoa and Ponda. We reached Margoa at 11am and visited
the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary. Among the beautiful old churches in Goa, Church of Our Lady of the Rosary is the oldest surviving church in Margoa. This church is a reminder of the Golden Era of church building in Portuguese rule. This church stands on the site where the Portuguese leader Alfonso de Albuquerque defeated the Bijapur Sultan in the year of 1510. This church is believed to be a sign of victory and gratitude. This church is established in the year of
1598.
The Rachol Seminary is a major tourist attraction in Goa and is visited by numerous tourists all through the year. The Rachol Seminary Goa was a Muslim fortress which was later converted into a church by the Portuguese. The site was later converted to a prison. The Rachol Seminary in Goa was considered to be a seminal center for Theological Studies in the 16th century. The church was built in the year
1576 and was dedicated to Saint Ignatius Loyola who was the founder of the Jesuit order which is maintained even today. In 1762, the building was concerted to a Diocesan seminary. The seminary housed the first version of the printing press which used to produce Christian religious literatures. This press could manage to produce 16 books and the most prominent of them was the Gospels translation to Indian language. The Rachol Seminary Goa is also known for its unique architecture. One will find the well carved statue of Saint Constantine, the first Roman Emperor who got converted to Christianity. The wonderfully carved and gilded main altarpiece is equally impressive. The seminary used to house the Museum of Christian Art that displayed the church artifacts collected from all corners of Goa. Rachol is only 7 kms away from the commercial town of Margao. We also visited another Rachol Church nearby. After this we headed towards Ponda 10 more kms from Rachol Seminary.
The reason to visit Ponda was to visit Ancestral Goa and Cross museum at Loutolim. A theme park called ancestral Goa has been built in Loutolim also called
big foot. The largest laterite sculpture of Mirabai is present in this theme park. Entry ticket per person is 50rs and the museum is boring and waste or time and money. The bigfoot cross museum is closed on Monday and so we couldn’t see this. From there for lunch we went to
Sahakari Spice Farm at Ponda-Belgaum Road, Curti. There were huge crowd and lot of cars standing at the farm most of them were western tourists. The food was only buffet and it was priced high. 400rs for adults and 200rs for kids. So we didn’t have lunch there, we headed back to
Ponda city. There we had lunch at a restaurant called Café Masala.
After lunch we headed towards beach road via Vasco. We reached
Miramor beach at 5pm. The soft white sands will not fail to sweep you off your feet. The gorgeous greens are clubbed well with the wondrous whites. The beach had perfect silence responding to the humming of the sea, where we can sit engrossed in a book and look up to catch the picturesque scene of the sea dressed in golden orange frills sprayed by the rays of the setting sun before sinking into oblivion. There were less and descent crowd. We head good time in the sea. Krista and Kim enjoyed a lot. After taking bath in the sea, we headed back to our guest house at 8pm. Thro beach road, we reached Margoa. From there again took the regular NH 17 route to Galgibagh. We reached home at 10pm because of my fast and furious driving.
On
29th Dec 2009, we paid our bills at the guest house. 4600rs for 3 nights, 2 times food and misc. We went to
Palolem beach which is only 7 kms away from Galgibagh. Palolem is one of the most beautiful beach in all of Goa and is surrounded by hills on both sides, resulting in a calm, idyllic sea in which you can walk into upto 100 metres. The beach is largely occupied by the restaurants and fisher men boats. There are lot of foreign tourists who live in shacks along the shore. The depth of the sea increases gradually, it being shallowest at the northern ends of the beach, making it safe for average swimmers, and the currents are not fast. However, there is a high chance of encounters with killer sharks and dolphins. We took a boat trip to see Dolphins, as the best time is sunrise, we were lucky to spot around 10 dolphins. I also captured one in my frame. Its also called Goan lost paradise as the long beach now entirely filled with rooms and huts and restaurants, sometimes with live music. There's also a market for tourists. We also went nearby to the butterfly island and saw few tourists taking private bathing there. The boat trip costs us 600rs for 5 adults and 2 babies.
After the dolphin boat ride, we visited
Agonda beach. Agonda beach is a nice long pristine stretch of beach. Agonda is definitely a place for those who want to quit on a week day morning. This is a right place to a quiet and relaxed holiday. Agonda Beach basically has one long road parallel to the beach line, most rooms and bungalows for rent are located either between them or on the opposite side of the road. In the center of the beach, there is Agonda Church and even a local school/college (funny enough called Agonda University) to the right of it. Its just 10 kms from Palolem beach. We had morning sun bath there. Awesome it was. Only very few tourists were there and all of them were blonde.
Around 12pm, we left the beach actually we left Goa heading back to Bangalore. :(( yup was sad. But on the way we stopped at Karwar beach and also stopped at Jog falls. From Jog falls we left at 6.30pm and reached Bangalore at 4.15am on 30th Dec 2009. Part-3 has travelogue details from Goa to Bangalore.
