The Goan Holiday - January 20th 2007

It was our last day in Goa. I woke up with a heavy heart knowing that the trip had almost ended. We had breakfast at Café Del Mar and enjoyed a live entertainment session of a rope walk by a local girl.

We had been to the nearby market the previous night and we thought of exploring that area after breakfast.

After a long lazy stroll and some shopping, we head back to Palolem to catch lunch. We ate at Ciranas camp, which is a beautiful place on the beach. The accommodation is slightly expensive but its amazing. Its not a food place though since the portions are very small.

My friend had to fill up again at a cheaper shack nearby. There was this Gujarati lady who was selling stuff to people at Palolem and had approached us before as well. My friend was fascinated with the henna tattoos and decided to get one done. We found this lady and my Gujarati was put to use. So here we were, all packed and ready to go with my friend getting a tattoo done on the arm.

We picked up our bags and hailed a taxi to go to Margao (pronounced as Madgaon) from where we were to take Konkan Kanya back to Mumbai. It cost us 600 Rs.

Our trip had ended and we were refreshed and ready to take on the world.

We had no connection whatsoever with the world outside of Goa during this entire trip. We read our first newspaper in 8 days at Margao station.

The trip will be treasured and cherished all our lives by both of us.

It was a pleasure living the trip again with you.

Technorati Tags: Ciranas camp, tatoo, gujarati, Margao

The Goan Holiday - January 19th 2007

We started the day with breakfast at Café Del Mar. Palolem is a different beach in the morning - quiet and peaceful.

We spend sometime in the water and then decided to explore a bit.

There are many beach hut accommodations built on the various hillocks at Palolem. We climbed these various places to catch the view from these heights. It was spectacular.

We also found that there was another very small and rocky beach known as Columb which was separated from Palolem by rocks.

In fact, if we would not have read the sign boards of various accommodations set up there, we would not have realized that this was different from Palolem. This area had a lot of influence of yoga with banners giving details of yoga classes and yoga centres all throughout the stretch.

The accommodation here is expensive because of the height and view it offers thereof.

There are many locals offering boat rides at Palolem. They charge separately for a dolphin trip and a sunset trip and many others. We negotiated with a guy named Umesh and got a boat trip for 250 Rs just for the two of us and we saw dolphins, two beaches – butterfly and honeymoon, a fishing boat collecting its catch for the day for that much. Umesh had not been getting any clients since quite some time and so was happy to get us on board.

Umesh had his two sons with us on the boat. He used to work on a fishing boat in Colaba which used to stay in the seas for days to catch fish. We saw people scrapping clams off the surface of the rocks and Umesh told us that the meat of clams makes a very nice spicy goan dish.

The ride was a memorable one and when we gave money to Umesh, he was sort of overwhelmed. He was a genuine man I felt and prayed that he makes good money for his business.

Once on the shore, it was low tide and I saw some beautiful shells on the wet sand. I collected I don’t know how many of them. It was sunset by then and as the sun disappeared we realized that we were approaching the end of our trip.

We needed to go to an ATM approximately 3 kms from the beach to withdraw money to pay up Café Del Mar the next day. We went to ask Blaise if a transport could be arranged and he was sitting with this Brit guy – Gary who offered us his bike just like that.

We were amazed by his gesture which made things so easy for us. When we came back, Gary and his friend Raffus were chilling with Blaise and they asked us to join them. In no time, we were discussing topics ranging from politics to economics to defense to what not.

Gary had traveled almost all of India on his bike. He now has a house in Palolem and is planning to move to India for good. He had traveled 94 countries and was 35 years old. It was amazing how complete strangers became buddies in Goa.

Technorati Tags: Dolphins, Butterfly, Honeymoon, Brit

The Goan Holiday - January 18th 2007

Palolem grows on to you gradually. I decided that I should try and see if I can like this place. It is a very beautiful beach I realized and even if you are not doing anything there, you can still enjoy yourself by observing the various moods of the beach.

This is exactly what I did on this day. Our hangout this day was a restaurant on a rock from where one can see the whole of Palolem beach. The restaurant was called Chaska.

We were there since lunch time till sunset. Drinking, eating, chatting, clicking. Having the time of our lives.

As sunset came, Palolem transformed. We came back to reclaim our table at Café Del Mar and play audience for a game of volleyball at dusk.

Every evening all the shack owners transform the beach beds into tables on the beach with candle light.

A live barbeque was set up outside Café Del Mar with the manager Blaise cooking for patrons. Some other beach shack had a fireworks display which lit the night sky.

It was time to say Goodnight to Palolem.

Technorati Tags: Palolem, Chaska, sunset, volleyball

The Goan Holiday - January 17th 2007

It was time to leave Morjim to go to Palolem.

We had our regular breakfast of scrambled eggs and cold coffee at Camp 69 and settled our bills. There is a huge Smirnoff vodka bottle kept at the reception counter at Camp 69, with Thank You Staff written on it. We put in our contribution for Thanking the Staff in it.

I left Morjim and Camp 69 with a heavy heart and full of wonderful memories.

Thank You Geoffery, Rupesh, Centhil (waiters), Francis (the bike owner) and Ramnik (the car driver) for making my trip so memorable.

Geoffery had arranged for a car for us to go to Palolem. We paid 1700 Rs for this 1 hr 45 mins trip.

It’s a long drive from Morjim to Palolem. Morjim being the extreme North and Palolem extreme South of Goa.

Palolem

Café Del Mar was expecting us. We were shown our home for the next 3 days – a hut with a huge bathroom and slightly small bedroom. But then, how often would you be in your hut if you are in Goa.

We changed and it was time to check out Palolem and its waters. The beach is cove surrounded by rocks and deep forests on three sides. There is an island on one end of the beach called Cancona island and during low tide, one can walk from Palolem to Cancona. We did just that since when we reached it was a low tide.

We found huts built on rocks overlooking Cancona and a signboard which said “Look back, this is the view from my window” These places were supposed to be very expensive because of this view.

I must say, at first sight, I was slightly disappointed with Palolem after Morjim. Since, when we were planning our trip, we thought that North Goa will be the commercialised beach experience while south will be the calm, peaceful one. But it turned out otherwise.

Palolem was crowded and quite contrary to what we had read. The beach was full of beach huts, shacks and people.

We went kayaking and I was really scared at first because I had never been so deep into the sea. Gradually, I started enjoying it and particularly liked the effortless coming back to the shore.

We had lunch at Café Del Mar after all that exercise of oaring. The food was good but again it was nothing special. It was a regular fare.

But then came evening and my opinion about Palolem changed.

We saw the most spectacular sunset ever with the sky and sun playing in a riot of colours. It’s a sight I will never forget.

Café Del Mar is a watering hole for Palolem folks since it has an all night bar. They play popular music and a table overlooking the beach can ensure that you will never know how much time has elapsed.

The place hosts a barbeque almost every night with specials like seafood, beef and chicken barbeques on different nights.

We were at our table from 6 in the evening till 9:30 in the night that night.

Technorati Tags: Palolem, South Goa, Cafe Del Mar, barbecues

The Goan Holiday - January 16th 2007

This was the last day at Morjim. We decided to dedicate it to our beautiful beach. Again we gave money to a beach shack and hit the water.

This shack was run by a French guy and served French cuisine. The food was delicious and my friend ate a sea food pasta which had stuff which we had never seen before, let alone eaten. The portion however was typically European and hence quite small and the prices were high.

We were starving and so we decided to check if Camp 69 will serve us hungry souls. So we go to the restaurant, call Centhil and ask him if the chef will make something for us specifically. He agreed. I asked him to make me spaghetti with olive oil, garlic and mushrooms.

In no time, I was munching away to glory on my absolutely delicious pasta. Can’t thank the chef enough for this.

By sunset, our cameras were in action again and we captured the beautiful Morjim till light permitted us to do so.

We had seen a shack done up in Arabian style the previous night and we decided to have dinner there that night. Well, it turned out that the shack was only done up well but did not have anything to offer in terms of food.

So we had a drink and moved on. Another Russian shack called Glavfish caught our fantasy and we decided to check it out. This place had a huge screen where some patrons were watching posiedon dubbed in Russian. So when you want to say No in Russian, you say Nyet.
Again the place had nothing much to offer to the poor vegetarian and finally I had to end my day with a hot chocolate and a sandwich at Camp 69.

Technorati Tags: French, Hot Chocolate, Camp 69, Russian

The Goan Holiday - January 15th 2007

The plan was to go to Old Goa and put our cameras to work. We had decided to leave early since we were in for a long bike ride. But people, we were on a holiday, so the day started late.

For the first time in three days we took a wash in the morning :). Breakfast was scrambled eggs on toast and the worlds best cold coffee. Bandanas on our heads and glares on our eyes, we started our journey to the land of churches, chapels and basilica.

We biked from Morjim, passing through Siolim, clicking pictures of the serene Chapora river from the Siolim bridge. Our first stop was the beautiful Siolim church. We tried to capture the calm of this church in our pictures and could also click the holy sacrament.

Moving on, we reached Calangute and decided to stop for grub. An inviting board of Bob’s Inn made us check out the place and well, we were in luck. The place was done up with all things Goan and the delicious food made our day. Do try the Chicken Cafreal (a typical Goan delicacy) if you stop by. Now, before any of you gasp at my recommending a non-vegetarian dish, I must clarify that I tasted the curry and it was refreshingly different from the usual Punjabi fare that we end up getting. The curry is a base of mint leaves with Goan spices.

Bob is your typical, friendly Goan who loves to tell his stories. He started out as a tour guide, which was his father’s business as well. According to him, he quit because of excessive work load and women falling for him. He then went abroad and worked for restaurants. When he came back to India he started Bob’s Inn.

Such stories are typical of the ethos of a Goan holiday. It was time to move on. We reached Verem from where we took a ferry to Panjim. Panjim to old goa was a breezy ride and before we knew it we were greeted by Basicila of Bom Jesus.

The Basilica of Bom Jesus is a majestic building with intricately detailed structures both form the outside and the inside. The magnificient altar is completed gilded and extremely detailed.

Your camera will not stop clicking till the time that you click all the structures adorning the walls of the basilica.

From one wonder to another, just across the road, the chapel of Francis Assisi and the Se Cathedral awaited us. The majestic architecture of the chapel and cathedral continued to enthrall us and our cameras.

Someone had a very good vision when constructing these buildings. He/She made sure all the wonderful ones are in the same vicinity at walking distance from each other so that centuries later when tourists like me visit the place, we don’t need to travel a lot.


The compound has many other attractions like the Cajetan church, the chapel of St. Catherine which we decided to skip.

We wanted to go the Chapora fort as well but the back breaking ride made us decide otherwise and we headed straight to Camp 69.

Dinner was to be had at our humble restaurant and when we arrived there, we saw a huge bunch of Europeans celebrating with the owner of the place – Bosco.

A lot of Europeans have been coming to Goa since many years and stay for as long as 6 months. This bunch had many such veterans. I am sure if we had stayed long enough, we would also have been a part of that group.

The music was Bob Marley and the food was aloo palak and rotis and this was followed by a stroll at Morjim beach underneath the starlit sky. Heavenly!!!!

Technorati Tags: Chapora, Bom Jesus, Old Goa, Bob Marley