The Universal Post: Bangalore to Goa

After a long days, I thought that we should go out somewhere for a short vacation. After Sohan was born, we never went out as such other than traveling to my native place. As the kids are yet to be grown up, we decided that near by Goa is the best place. Accordingly I booked our company guest house and for an extended stay Calangute Hotel as guest house accommodation is limited to only for four days. Though I was preferring train journey, I didn't get the train ticket. And hence Banaglore to Goa was booked in bus (Seabird) and the return journey was arranged through train directly from Vasco to Bangalore.

SeaBird Nuisance (7-Jan) - My daughter Ishita was too excited about Goa as she has never been to a sea side. It was 7th of January. We packed up everything and were ready for the week long vacation. As I have two kids, my wife always prefers to travel with bulky luggage. We had two big suitcases and few other small bags. As mentioned in the bus ticket, the pick up point was from Jayanagar 9th block, which was hardly 5 Km away from our place. So we booked a taxi and reached the designated pick up point (one travel agency). But after reaching there, we came to know that the Bus pick up is actually from Jayanagar 4th block. Fortunately we didn't take out all the luggage from the car. We took the same cab to Jayanagar 4th block. We left the cab there. However because of the extra travel they charged me a hefty Rs 450 (Rs 200 extra). But we couldn't see any Goa bound Seabird bus there. The only bus, that was standing there, was supposed to go to Belgaum. I called up the Seabird office and they told me to catch the same bus and come to Majestic office. With all the pain I put my entire luggage in the bus. Remember I had my wife, 5 years old daughter and one year old son with me. The bus took around one hour to reach Majestic. Once I approached the guy in the booking counter, he told that the bus is having some problem (I seriously doubt this and guessed that the booking was not full) and I need to take semi-sleeper and the cost will be the same. It was quite ridiculous. I was quite furious and told that it was not possible for me travel like this (three semi-sleeper seats instead of three sleeper seats at the same cost). I asked them if it was the situation, why I was not informed. They replied that whoever directly purchased ticket from SeaBird, they have informed. I called up Redbus (I purchased my tickets through Redbus) and there was no one to take the call. I got utterly frustrated and asked my money back. After waiting there for another half an hour, they gave me the money back at around 9-45 PM. And I had to pay one and half times of the fare to auto (two autos as I had luggage) to come back to my home. So without going to Goa we spent Rs 900 and came back to square one.

While coming back to home by Auto, we decided that we will go to Goa by Car. We came back home and reorganized our stuffs. We took out all stuffs from the suitcases and put it in different small bags. I spent around an hour to browse through Computer for the directions and road map. Since I don't have any printer, I couldn't take print outs of the maps. We packed foods as dinner which we were supposed to eat in the bus. But unfortunately we had to consume the same food at home.

The Marathon Drive (08-Jan) : We all waked up early in the morning at around 5-00 AM. Quickly shifted all our stuffs to the car and took a quick bath. We started our journey at around 6-30 AM. It was still dark outside. Soon we hit the NICE road and paid Rs 100/ toll tax at the entrance. While covering NICE road itself, the Sun rose and it was quite charming to see the red sun in the deserted NICE road. After NICE road, we took NH4 and from there onward it was non-stop driving. We liked some of the places on the way.

On the way to Hubli

We again stopped during our lunch time at around 2-00 AM. It was a road side restaurant adjacent to a Reliance Petroleum. NH4 road condition is very good and one can comfortably drive above 100 Km/hr. I didn’t go beyond 120 as I had a small kid and it was my first long drive. The only problem, that I faced from time to time, was that sometimes the cars were coming from the opposite direction. We reached Hubli at around 3-30 PM. After reaching Hubli, we did a mistake. We asked the local people and they directed us to Dharwar Road. We took the Dharwar road. The Dharwar roads are good but not very wide. And also the roads are full of ups and downs. However we enjoyed the scenic beauty of this place. From Dharwar, we went to Belgaum and from Belgaum to Sawantwadi. The road from Amboli to Sawantwadi was very bad. The road was narrow and in many places it was broken or under construction. Over and above, the roads don't have any lights. Amboli to Sawantwadi road is full of ups and downs. In the dark, I couldn't understand much, but it was looked like the area was covered with forest (like the ones that you can see on the small hills). There were not many cars plying on this road and my wife was very scared. I also got bit scared as if some problem happens in the car, we would be in big soup. But fortunately we crossed that hilly area without any problem. Once we crossed Sawantwadi, we took NH17, which directly took us to Goa. The company guest house is just behind the University and we had a tough time to find out the guest house. It is around 2 Km inside from the main road.

Dona Paula & Old Goa (9-Jan) : We had a good sleep yesterday night. everyone was tired because of the long journey. The guest house was quite decent. This place is called "Samudra Darshan" as you can see the sea from the guest house itself. The caretaker Santosh, his wife and another fellow take good care of the guests.

Guest House

We had our breakfast in the guest house itself and went out. Doan Paula is quite nearby from the guest house. We went there first. There is a story about Dona-Paula. Doan anad Paulo were and lovers and committed suicide here. The truth behind this story isn't very reliable though. However, you can see that there is a statue nestled on a rocky hammer shaped headland. We didn't stay long in Doan Paula as it was very hot there and there was nothing much to do other than limited water sports, which we were not interested at that point of time.

Ishita in Dona Paula

We headed towards Miramar beach then. Miramar beach is hardly 2 Km from Dona Paula. The word Miramar in Portuguese means viewing the sea. This is in very good location and the nearest beach from the capital Panaji. The beach was not crowded at all and the sand color is blackish yellow. You can see the far away light house from Miramar beach. There are good number of beach side snack shops developed along the side of the road. As my daughter was too much excited, she went down into the water and played for long time along with her brother. As there was not much wave, both Sohan and Ishita enjoyed a good time there.

Miramar Beach

Next we drove down to Old Goa. All of us were feeling very hungly. However we saw that most of the restaurants were shutting down as it was close to 3-00 PM. We found one roadside restaurant open. It was pretty cheap by any standard. After finshing our lunch, we headed towards the church Basalica Bom Jesus. With this my memory revitalized, as I came here almost fourteen years ago in 1996. The church has not been changed a bit. It's standing with the same grace and glory defying the passage of time. This church is after Francis Xavier's. He was one of the foundation members of the society of Jesus, also known as Jesuits. This church is the main church of Goa and it was built in the year 1605. Many people don't know that it is a world heritage site. This church has preserved the mortal remains of St. Xavierin a well decorated casket. This is made open for public viewing every ten years (last held in 2004). It also has a church museum inside. The inside sculptures and decorations can spellbound anyone in the world.

Basalica of Bom Jesus

Mortal remains of St Xavier

Rima, Ishita and Sohan

We came back from Old Goa and again went to Dona Paula. It was around 6-30 PM in the evening. The place was much crowded than that in the morning. We spent some time here. Rima and Ishita went up and saw the Dona-Paula statue. Sohan and me were waiting there in the charming environment of Dona-Paula jetty. Sohan was running after the dogs and I was running after him. Once we came out of Dona Paula, we went to Miramar beach to have some snacks and then returned to guest house.

Dona Paula Statue

Explore Panaji (10-Jan) : In the morning, we waked up early. We already planned yesterday that we would wake up early and go to Miramar beach. Accordingly we went to beach around 7-30 AM. There were not many people taking bath. We found one Bengali family there. They also came all the way from Banaglore. Ishita and Sohan enjoyed there to the full extent. We spent around two hours and finally came back to the guest house. We took bath to get rid of the sands that we carried from the sea and went out again. We already planned that we would explore Panaji today and would try to take ourselves to the old Portuguese colony Goa while we would walk on the enchanting roads of Panaji. But before that we needed to fuel ourselves as we lost all our energy in the morning. We thought that we would try some Goanese special today. Mum’s kitchen is the famous restaurant there. We went there to have our lunch. But I understood that everything was over-hyped here. The ambience was not that great. It just matched any of the decent restaurants here in Banaglore. The food was exorbitantly priced. One dish of Goanese chicken curry did cost us 500+ bucks. The food taste was compared to any other restaurant. The waiters were not humble at all. Anyway, we finished our lunch and started our Panaji exploration.

Panaji is the capital city of Goa. In Portuguese, it is called Panjim. The meaning of Panaji is “The land that never floods”. Panaji is situated on the bank of mandovi river. Walking on the road on the side of Mandovi was really fabulous. You can get a feeling that you have come to old Goa, which was used to be a Portuguese colony. We had a Goa map with us. We already pin-pointed the places that we would like to go. Accordingly, we went to the Adil Shah Palace first. First of all, we couldn’t recognize it as a palace. The palace was closed and it was undergoing maintenance. Initailly it was the summer place ofGoa’s 16^th century muslim ruler Adil shah. Later it was used as residence of the Portuguese governors till 1695, and was afterwards used by them on festive occasions. Today it is used as Goa’s state legislature building. The panjim market is situated just opposite to the Adil shah palace. The statue of Abbe Faria is also adjacent to the Adil Shah Palace. Abbe Faria was a Goan catholic monk.

Adil Shah Palace in the backdrop

Panjim Market

Statue of Abbe Faria

We came out of this place and went to near by children’s park. The park is pretty big and on the bank of Mandovi river. Ishita enjoyed her time there. After spending around an hour there, we had some snacks in the restaurant adjacent to the park and came back to home.

South Goa (11-Jan) : It was 11^th January and the destination today was South Goa. There were two spots in today’s itinerary. The first one was Colva beach and the second one was Paloleam beach. Colva was approximately 35 Km from our guest house (40 Km from Panaji). Colva is the second largest beach in Goa. On the way, we cut across Margao route. Margao is the main business area of Goa. On the way to Colva, we were caught by traffic police for not tying the seat belt. However I explained the police that as we were from Karnataka, we were not aware about this rule. The police was seemed to be convinced and let us go. Finally, we reached Colva beach. It was huge parking area there. We parked our vehicle and directly headed towards one beach side restaurant. Last time, when we came to Goa, we boarded in the Colva Residency of Goa government. The restaurant was just adjacent to the Colva residency. We had a good meal there. The price was quite reasonable. Now we went to the beach. The beach was very much crowded. We saw good number of water sports as well (which we didn’t see in Miramar). Also, we saw that the watch guards were on Patrol in car. We didn’t see many foreigners here. Most of the people were local people. In between, we got a call from one of my colleagues, Santanu that they reached Palolem beach. So, we decided that we would wrap up here quickly and move to Paloleam. We started walking along the waterline of the beach. In between, Rima and Ishita expressed their interest to go for water sports. Rima was very much enthusiastic about the Parasailing after watching “Honeymoon Travels”. This is a hindi cinema, where actress Riya Sen went for the parasailing and when the parachute went high in the air, the breeze took away her Saree and she was hanging from the Parachute in Petticoat and blouse. This movie was shot in Goa itself. When we were discussing all these things, one guy approached us with an offer of Parasailing. We agreed. Rima and Ishita went for the parasailing. The parachute was kept on the land and it was tied to a high speed steamer through a cord. Both Rima and Ishita wore life jacket and it was tied to the parachute. Also there was support under the hip through a belt. Thus it was kind of three support systems, 1) On the belt where you keep your weight 2) The life jacket tied to the parachute, which ensures stability of your position and 3) You hold the cord with your hands and transfers some weight there as well. The steamer started moving and the parachute went high up in the air (Later Rima told that they could see almost the entire Goa from there). The horizontal motion of the parachute was along the coastal line. It went for around 500 meter and finally came down. I saw the glistening eyes of both of them. They were literally spellbound. Ishita liked it so much that she wanted to go for another round. But we pacified her by saying that we would go for some other water sports.

Obliging Ishita’s wish, we opted for Water bike as our next sports. I would love to ride it alone with Ishita. Though, the guy, who was taking care of the bike, didn’t agree. So Ishita sat first, next me and the driver was at the end. The seat was pretty much the same as the normal bikes that run on roads. The control is also pretty much the same. The water bike started in high speed. I was slight scared because of Ishita as the bike was in good speed and also moving up and down along with the tide. As the tides were coming and the bike was thumping from above, the water was splashing all over us. All of us got totally drenched. But both Ishita and me were exhilarated with this ride.

Now it was time to leave Colva and start heading towards Paloleam. Santanu and his family were waiting for us there. From Colva, Paloleam is around 25 Km. Paloleam beach is situated at the extreme southern part of Goa. From Colva to Paloleam, we took more than an hour as the roads were full of ups and downs. We reached Paloleam at around 06-00 PM, when the sun has already plunged into the water. We parked our vehicle in beach side parking area and went on to beach. Santanu and his family were sitting in a beach side sack. Both the families were got introduced. Santanu has small kid of around three years. Ishita got very excited after getting a play friend after long time. The beach was quite peaceful. We didn’t have the hullabaloo of Colva here. There were less number of people here and majority of the people were foreigners. This beach was very scenic. We could see the trees grown up far off from the coastal line, where we were standing. In the twilight, the beach was looking fabulous. Unlike colva beach, we saw number of beach side sacks here. All the sacks were decorated with lightings. Also the sacks were having arrangement of candle light dinners. In some places, people put fire to make the place warm and comfortable. Overall the place was mesmerizing. We took a long walk side of the water. The beach is quite huge. As we were also required to go back, we didn’t continue our walk long. We sat down in a beach side sack and ordered some snacks. The food was not good compared to their price tags. After the snacks , we bid good bye to Paloleam and returned back to our guest house.

With Santanu and Family

Paloleam beach

Calangute (12-Jan) : 12-Jan was supposed to be the last day in the company guest house. So we have wrapped up our stuffs and set out towards Calangute after our breakfast. Calangute is around 20 Km from Panjim. Calangute came from the word “Kolli-Gutti”, which means the land of fishermen. It is the main beach of Goa. It is also called the queen of all beaches in Goa. The golden sand and the palm trees offer a heavenly environment for any of the tourists coming from any part of the world. Calangute beach has been the most popular destination for the foreigners. This beach was discovered by group of hippies in the sixties. For going to Calangute we crossed Panjim and took the bridge over Mandovi river. After an half an hour drive from Panjim, we reached Calangute. The road towards the Calangute beach was quite crowded. We could observe good number of traffic vehicles here. We booked hotel in Calangute residency, which was just on the side of the beach. The hotel was kind of Ok type. We checked into the room. We got a sea facing room. It had a nice balcony, where we sat and enjoyed the blue sea for around half an hour. The balcony was facing a reasonably good swimming pool of the same hotel. Next we went to the beach and spent good couple of hours here in the water. The sea was also highly crowded. Lots of local people were having bath and playing in the water. We could see good number of water sports e.g. para-sailing, water bike, banan boat, boat cruse etc. The people were coming every now and then and begging for water sports. After taking bath in the sea, we came back to our hotel by walk. We freshened up in the hotel and went to the nearby restaurant called Blue Bay.The restaurant was quite reasonable. However it was full of flies.

Busy Calangute Beach

Our next agenda was to go to the flea market. This is Anjuna Flea market and it is very near to the Anjuna beach. This is held every Wednesday. The historical background of the market also revolves around the hippies. They used to party the whole night on the beach. The market came into existence ever since the hippies started selling their old items for some quick money. The market has wide variety of items starting from second hand two wheelers to sandals. The market is kept open from morning till the dusk. As we were unaware about the timings that time, we reached there at around 5-00 PM. The place was very much crowded and the parking area was hardly having any place. When we reached the market, they were just wrapping up things to close the market. The market was huge. So much so that, you need good 15-20 min to just walk from one end to the other (without entering into any shop). We saw whole lot of foreigners here. We checked few items but everything was exorbitantly priced. However after much bargaining we bought one bed sheet and four show pieces. We came back to home at around 8-00 PM. All of us were feeling very exhausted after sea bath and shopping. So we ordered our dinner at home and retired for the day after our dinner.

Baga-Anjuna-Vagator (13-Jan) : It was 13^th Jan and we had a big program on that day. The hotel provides free breakfast everyday. So as usual, we had our breakfast in the morning and went out for Baga beach. Baga is just an extension of Calangute beach. If you keep walking on the Calangute beach towards north, you will reach Baga beach. However the demarcation of Baga and Calangute is not very clear. The beach is named Baga after the name of Baga creek. Baga beach is very famous for its night life. Tito’s lane has got the same popularity among the foreigners and as well as Indian. However, we were not interested in night life. We reached Baga beach at around 11-00 AM in the morning. It was bright Sun and already we were feeling very hot. Once we reached the beach, we found some difference from the other beaches that we had seen that far. The beach was having four five rows of Sun lounges, which spanned for around half a kilometer. We hired two lounges and started enjoying the beach. The beach was equally crowded as Calangute beach. The number of water sports was far greater than that of Calangute. And the number of people begging for water sports was more than that of Calangute.

Relaxing at Baga Beach

We relaxed for around an hour and then Santanu et al came there. We were already planning for some water sports. Once Santanu came, we went for Water bike again. First Rima and myself went and next Santanu alone. As Ranu (Santanu’s wife) didn’t want to go for any water sports, we kept Sohan and Ishita with her. Next, we planned to go for the para-sailing. Here the para-sailing is slightly different. Again we kept Sohan with Ranu and Santanu, Rima, Ishita, Santanu’s daughter and me went for parasailing. We boarded a boat (few other people were also there) and they took us to a high speed steamer far away from the beach. All of us boarded the high speed boat. The parachute was tied to wheel through a cord. Each time, two persons were going for the parasailing. Once the people were tied to the parachute, they were releasing the cord through the wheel (machine operated) and steamer started moving in high speed. As a result of this the strong breeze was taking the parachute up. It is the same concept when you release the string of a kite and start running in high speed. The other group of people went first in the parachute. In the last but one group Santanu and me went. It was an exotic experience for me. Since, we were all having life jacket, I was not much scared. However, when it was started flying down, I was sensing the feeling of weightlessness. It went up quite high and we could see far off. The last turn was for Ishita and Rima. Ishita was eagerly waiting for this. And she was least scared. She was also waving her hands while flying high in parachute. After our para-sailing, we returned to land by the same boat, which took us to the main boat. After getting down from the boat, we saw that Sohan was there in the lap of the guy, who offered us the water sports. We came to know that he was crying and was reluctant to sit in the lounge with Ranu.

Sohan, When we were away

Once we came out from the Baga beach, it was quite late 3-00 PM. Instead of having our lunch in Baga beach, we decided that we would try it out some where else. Our next destination was Anjuna beach. So we started driving towards Anjuna. Santanu also came along with us. On the way, we saw one road side restaurant. The environment was quite charming. One canal was flowing beside this restaurant. The canal was having good width. One tree fell down in the canal and number of birds was sitting on it. Over all the ambience was looking good and serene. We decided to have our lunch there. The food was also delicious. After lunch, Santanu and us parted. They went back to Calangute and we started our driving towards Anjuna beach. Yesterday only we came through this road while going to flea market and hence the road was known to us. We did know from where we were required to take diversion towards Anjuna beach. Anjuna beach was not like the other beaches, where you can park your car in front of the beach. Here you have to walk a good half kilometer to reach the beach. You can see number of shops on both the sides of the road while walking towards the beach. As both my kids were sleeping, we left them in the car and moved out briskly to the beach. Anjuna beach is the extension of the Baga beach. However, you can not swim in Anjuna beach, because here the sea has strong under current. Also Anjuna beach is full of solid rocks. The beach was not very crowded, no water sports and hardly any sun lounge. We saw few foreigners here. After a long walk on the beach, Rima became busy in collecting dead shells. Both of us were standing on the rocks. Sometime the wave was coming and flowing over our feet. In some places, the rocks were slightly down compared to others. While the wave was coming, it was filling that part with water and again it was getting empty through some channels. I was king of glued to this natural phenomenon. In some places, we saw crabs. They were getting drifted sometime by the wave and sometime they were holding the rock surface with their tentacles with their full energy. Far off, one foreigner was sitting facing the Sun and it was looked like that she was doing some kind of meditation. I was engrossed in all these things, while Rima was continuing her “Operation Shell Collection”. She collected lots of colored shells and stones, some of which were really looking good. We didn’t waste much time here as we were supposed to go back to car. Returning back, we saw that sohan already waked up and started crying. Ishita was trying to pacify him.

Rima Collecting Shells

Our next destination was Vagator beach. The Chapora fort comes on the way to Vagator beach. It needs right diversion while going to Vagator beach. We couldn’t go to Chapora fort as time didn’t permit but we could see it from far distance. This fort was built by Portuguese after 1717. There was another fort in place of the current one, which was there before Portuguese came to Goa. Vagtor beach is divided into two beaches by the seaside headland. If you face the sea, the one comes to your right hand is called north Vagator and the one comes to your south, is called Little Vagator. When we reached Vagator, we saw lots of people were waiting there to see sun set. From the hilltop, the beaches were looking panoramic. Number of coconut trees on the beaches was undulating with their own rhythm. The people were looking minuscule from the top. The chapora fort on the back drop was creating a mesmerizing world of Portuguese era. And a few strolling people on the top of the fort was giving an impression of the Portuguese soldiers on patrol. On the other hand the Sun started diving in the sea. The red color of the Sun was scattering on the seabed and creating a romantic ambience. In the mean time, a group of foreigners started singing song, which made the entire environment more enigmatic. All of us were sitting on a rock and watching the whole show. All of us were lost somewhere deep in the mystery of nature. We regained our sense while few birds flew above us with shrill voice. We saw the Sun already dived deep in the sea and the people started returning back. Slowly and reluctantly, we also started heading towards the car parking area.

North Vagator, Chapora fort at the backdrop

Little Vagator

Preparation for viewing Sun set

Fort Aguda (14-Jan) : It is 14-Jan and supposed to be our last day in Goa. Tomorrow morning we will be returning back to Bangalore. Yesterday night Ishita was filling stomach pain and vomited twice. Today morning also, she was not feeling well. However we wanted to have a walk on the beach in the morning. So we left Ishita in the room and went to the beach. It was far less crowded in the morning. The cold ocean breeze was very much soothing for us. We started walking towards north and reached almost the Baga beach. Sohan became very cranky and he was always trying to go down to the water. As we left Ishita alone in the room, we hurriedly returned back to our room. Ishita was still sleeping there. We had our breakfast in the hotel itself and started packing our luggage. The Calangute residency was also having some facility for Ayurvedic massage. I went there and had a good massage. They took around an hour to massage whole body with Ayurvedic oil. After the massage, we directly went to the beach. The plan was to have good time in the beach today. The waves are much bigger than the other beaches that we had seen so far. Ishita enjoyed a lot here. She was standing on myRima’s knees when the the waves were coming and was giggling a lot. After an hour or so, I finished my bath but Ishita and Rima were still wanted to continue. So I came back to the room along with Sohan. Around an hour later, Rima and Ishita came back.

In the afternnon, we planned for Aguda fort. This was around 10 km distance from Calangute. Aguda fort was built in the 17^th century. Portuguese people built this fort to defend from the attack of the Mughal and Dutch. The fort is on the shore of Mandovi river overseeing the Arabian see. All the ships previously used to stop here to replenish their water. From that fact only, the fort has been named as Aguda (water) fort. Later this was used as prison and many western people were inmates here for drug trafficking. There is a light house just next to the Aguada fort. The light house is the oldest light house in Asia of its type. First we went to the fort. The fort was quite big. Though the entrance is small compared to its over all size. Once we went inside, we found a big open space surrounded by high walls. The walls are quite thick and one person can easily walk over it. There are multiple staircases, which take you to the top of the wall. I had never been to any fort or prison. I was quite thrilled by seeing the fort. It was giving some impression of an ancient structure. It might be somewhat identical to the collosium in Greece that we saw in many films. Surrounding the fort there was a down area artificially made. This was to safeguard attack from outside. The dip area was around 20 meter wide and we came to know that it was used to be filled up with water . Though the construction was quite old, it was standing there defying the passage of time. Rima, Ishita amd Sohan didn’t want to climb up the wall. So I alone took a round. Once I climbed up the wall, it was giving a beautiful picturesque landscape. It was overseeing Arabian sea and I was feasting my eyes by beholding the far off blue ocean just beneath the green small forest kind of area. It was close to 5-00 PM and the guards were calling all the visitors as it was the closing time for them. We came out hurriedly and started walking towards the light house. Light house was simple in its structure. Children are not allowed inside and one needs to climb up the staircase to go the top. As we were all exhausted, we didn’t go to the top and came back to the car parking area.

We came back to our hotel room carrying back some splendid view of an anarchic engineering. In the late evening, we again went to the beach. In the night, the beach was looking mesmerizing. The main entrance of the beach was properly lit. There were few shack restaurants, who lit their candles and fires and turned the environment more romantic. But we were not by lured by them as we planned to go Souza’s Lobo beforehand. But it was quite crowded. We waited for sometime there to get our seats. We enjoyed the ambience and the food and liquor. We fished our dinner quite late at round 11-00 pm.