Welcome to Goa Singham :)

It was time for another trip and we were thinking where to go this time. From the time of marriage Rakeu was planning for Goa and it never worked out. So this time we thought of going to Goa.

Goa has always been my dream destination since childhood. J And this was my third visit to Goa and Rakeu’s 5th visit.

I have gone there with my friends first time and second time with my cousins. And this time with my hubby… ;)

First time when I visited Goa I have covered almost all the Beaches like Calangute, Vagator, Baga, Miramar and also visited DonaPaula, Old Goa etc. And I went for all the water rides which includes Water scooter, Parasailing along the shore and sea which included dipping in the sea, banana ride, etc. And 2ndtime again I have visited Old Goa, Calangute,etc. And by chance we visited Church of Saint Augustine which was in ruins but had a great time visiting this one. This has been a place which most of the tourists doesn’t cover. We also went for Go Karting and enjoyed our rides. Few of the funny incidents that I remember during these visits are google maps asking us to take sharp left and right when we were in the middle of a field and when we reached dead end with no path to turn.

This time we started planning 3 months in advance and we booked train tickets to Goa. Even though we planned well in advance we still got one of our ticket in waiting list. We also booked at Estrela Do Mar Beach Resort.

Day 1&2: 22nd  and 23rd December 2017

It was Friday and after office we went home and packed all our stuffs and off we go to Railway station. We parked our car at Railway station and entered the satation. Our train Rajadhani Express was at 10:30PM but as it was running late by 30 minutes. Train reached Ernakulam South by 11:05PM only. We got into the train and as it was late our blankets were missing. Someone else might have taken it – We thought. We waited for some time and the attendees provided us with blankets. We had a sound sleep and I got up when someone came and said that I am laying in his seat. I told him that his seat is 22 which is upper birth. He didn’t believe it until TTR came and told him that his seat is upper birth. This happened at around 6:30AM and then I saw my hubby had woken up. I asked him whether he had a good sleep and he said yes. Then he brushed and came back. By that time train attenders started serving tea. I got a coffee and tea from them. I too went and brushed. After that Rakeu drank tea and myself coffee. We understood that train was running late.

After some time they provided us newspapers along with breakfast which includes bread with omelet and a veg roll. And Rail Bandhu magazine was also there. We noticed that on the way there were 3 tunnels which took around 30 seconds each to cover. Apart from this there were many more small tunnels. We reached Madgao station at around 10:45AM. Train was late by 45 minutes. When we got down itself taxi drivers surrounded us asking to take their vehicles. We said no to them and kept walking. Still one guy followed us and asked whether we need bike for rent. He said for Honda Activa he will take 700 but we opted for Avenger and he told it will be more costly. He charged us 1000/day for avenger. We paid Rs. 3000/- rent + security charge of Rs.500/-. We started off to our resort and thought on the way we will fill petrol as the guy said there is not much petrol in the bike. Even before we covered 1km bike jerked and stopped. We were really worried as we had our luggage and we were not sure where exactly next petrol pump will be. Fortunately we could see petrol pump opposite to the road which was some meters apart. I took all luggage and kept it at the roadside and Rakeu pushed the bike and went to petrol pump to fill it. The night journey and the heat and struggling with bike made us tired. Our resort was more than an hour’s journey. So we had our lunch when we reached Panaji from a small shop nearby. We reached our room by around 2PM.

Estrela Do Mar Resort premises and Calangute Beach

Resort was really beautiful with its ambiance and settings. After completing the check in formalities we slept for some time. We got up by 3:40PM and freshen up. We got ready and made some tea at room itself and served ourselves. We got out by 5PM. When we were out of the resort we saw a way to beach so we took the path up. On reaching the beach we realized that it is Calangute beach. We started strolling while enjoying the breeze. There were so many food shacks available across the beach. This is one of the happening places in Goa. Almost all the water sports are available in this beach. As it was about time for sun set we thought of enjoying the sun set while we are feeding ourselves with some snacks. We choose one of the shacks named “Bosco’s Beach shack” and ordered Strawberry sheik, coffee, cheese tomato sandwich and fried eggs on toast. The food was not that great but the ambience and view of sun set made it add on advantage making the food tasty J. Once sun hide and moved to give light to the other side of the world we started walking again. On all the previous visits to Goa we have always used vehicles to go from Calangute to Baga beach. For the first time we walked from Calangute to Baga beach. We started from Om restaurant and walked to the right till Baga and to the end of the beach and walked the whole way back. We thought that we will cover the left side of the beach on the next day ;). Then we took our bike and went for a ride. While roaming around we came across a Tibetian market which had a large variety of antique collection. I wished to buy few items but satisfied myself with window shopping. The walk made us a bit tired and hungry so we choose Navtara Veg restaurant and had a sumptuous dinner. Then we went for some shopping here and there and finally returned back at around 10PM. The journey along with the walk through the shores had made us really tired and soon we were sleeping like logs.

Enjoying Sun set at Calangute

Day 3: 24th December 2017:

We got up early morning and as planned went for walk towards the left side of Om café restaurant though we didn’t cover the whole way till the end. We came back to the room and freshen up and then went straight for our complimentary breakfast. Breakfast timing was from 7:30AM to 10:15AM in case you would like to know about the serving time. The food was great. After filling our stomach we went straight to fort Aguada. The sun was at its peak tanning our skin. This fort was constructed in 17th century and was constructed by Portuguese. 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, meaning Water. Fort Aguada is stands on the south of Candolim beach. After spending some time we went to Aguada light house which costs Rs.10/- per person. The top of light house had a small opening and only one person can walk through the stairs at a time. So we waited for people to come out and then we went up to get a full view of the Arabian sea and the beauty of Fort. We set out to Aguada jail after light house but the jail was closed and no entry was permitted for outside people. Nearby the jail there was a small beach where we got down and took few snaps. Then we went to “Sinquerim Fort”. The is an extension of the larger upper Aguada fort. The lower fort consists of a bastion and a section of fortified wall on both sides. During the 16th and 17th Century ships used to anchor next to the fort. Fort Aguada's ramparts overlook Sinquerim Beach and the Arabian Sea. 

In and around Aguada Fort

The long walk along the fort is really a good experience. When I visited the place last time the path was full decorated with flowers which blossomed along the fort walls on one side. From there we started off and had lunch from Punjabi classic family restaurant which was at Calangute. Then we filled petrol in our bike and went straight to Dona Paula view point. We did some shopping from the entrance of the view point. Dona Paula view point is the place where the famous film Singham’s shooting took place. Me and my hubby who were big fans of the movie were reciting few dialogues from the film while enjoying the site. The place was bit crowded so we didn’t spent much time there and started off. 

On the way back we visited Bambolim beach which is nearby Grand Hyatt hotel. This beach is not that famous so only few people were there in the beach. Some guys were playing beach football. We enjoyed our time in each and every place and we made our memory unforgettable by making pictures of look and corner J. On the way back we bought some fruits and reached our room at around 5PM. As the climate was hot we felt exhausted so we took some time off. We had some coffee and then we went out in search of a good restaurant and we ended up to have our dinner from Rasoi pure vegetarian restaurant. After dinner we went to cross of St. Alex church which is situated at Dolphin circle. As it was Christmas eve all the churches including our resort was beautifully decorated with lights and Christmas tree. St. Alex Church is one of the oldest churches in Goa and is the first chapel church. And from there we went to Mae de deus church. One of Goa's finest architectural marvels is the Mae De Deus Church in Saligao. It has the typical pointed arch, with buttresses supporting its exteriors, belfry, and spikes all which have come together to create a wonderful piece of Gothic architecture. Besides the main altar, this church has another six other altars, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sacred heart of Mary, Christ the Redeemer, Our Lady of Asssumption, St.Francis Xavier and Our Lady of Piety. The altar, which is carved and gilded and tapers gracefully toward the ceiling. This was my second visit to these churches. Off we go to Panjim. Mandovi river had large number of cruises which were turned out to be Casinos. They were decorated with lights. The view was awesome. The whole river looked like a bride. J Then we went in search of “Our Lady of the immaculate conception church” which was at Panjim. I remember visiting this church during my first Goa visit but was not sure about the exact location. We roamed around and finally found the church which was really hard to miss. We bought some souvenir from outside shops. The church is located in Panjim and sits atop a hill facing the square below. The exterior facade of the church, rich with Portuguese Baroque style architectural elements is painted a bright white to signify the Immaculate virgin, Mary. The tall belfry centered atop the facade houses the bell from the Augustinian Monastery. The decorations made in the church were superb. Christmas crib(Pulkoodu) was the size of a man. The size of the people inside the crib and their movements which was robotic were really good. The decorations were mainly done with plastic bottles which we threw after drinking water/juices. Whoever had done the decoration had used their creative side of the brain and nailed it. Unfortunately none of the churches were open so we satisfied ourselves by visiting the premises/outside view. We came back to our room by around 11PM.

Our Lady of the immaculate conception church

Day 4: 25th December 2017:

We got up by 7AM and had our complimentary breakfast after freshen up. Breakfast served in the resort was in such a way to satisfy all sort of people visiting here. It had options like Indian breakfast, English breakfast and also few Italian combinations. We have tried almost everything we could and then we went straight to Anjuna beach. Google took us in the wrong side of the beach. Even the last time google trapped us at Anjuna beach. We wasted nearly an hour of time roaming around and ended up at the same place. Even though google took us at the wrong entrance the beach was nearby so we walked towards the beach. Anjuna beach has a Wonderful picturesque view with rocks all over the shore .Not at all advisable to plunge into water due to the rock formation. It is a good place to take some exclusive pics. The night clubs mentioned in Goan tourism website mostly located around here for instance Curly's. There are many shacks at the beaches but staying at shack for night is an expensive option, even at the off season they are asking for 4000 @night for AC room.  Most carried out activities at Anjuna beach include jet skiing and para gliding. For water sports enthusiasts this can be a disappointment as only some and not all water sports are carried out here. Yet some of these can be enjoyed here at reasonable prices which are costly at other beaches. Shopping lovers can enjoy lot of bargaining at the famous Anjuna Beach Flea Market. A good mix of Gujarati, Kashmiri, Tibetan shops make this one of the most sought after places.  Shop here for souvenirs, artificial colourful jewellery, hip – hop dresses and decoration items in this market which is lively at night too. After spending our time at Anjuna beach we went straight to our resort checked out and off we go to “Mall DE Goa”. We spent some time roaming around and watched a movie from INOX theatre. Then we had some food from the food court of the mall. We went straight to railway station and returned our bike which we rented from a place nearby railway station. When we entered the platform we saw a jam packed place with no place to sit. Somehow we find a place to sit and waited for our train hoping that we will plan for a trip very soon to rejuvenate ourselves.