Whenever I said ‘I haven’t been to Goa,’ everyone used to be, ‘What!!!!’ with that, ‘You must be kidding me ‘ expression about their faces. The reason – I’ve been living in Bangalore for 17 years!
Are you shocked too?😝
Well, let me ‘un-shock’ you and everybody else.
Last month I broke my Goa ‘virginity’😉 and travelled there for a long weekend holiday with my family. We stayed for five nights.
I won’t describe the place like I do in my travel blogs as I’m sure half of the world has been there already. So what am I going to write about?
My hits and misses…
To start with… I don’t think North Goa is an ideal place to visit with children… unless the motive is to relax at the hotel and play in the pool… which we did amply(The second hotel we stayed in had a jacuzzi bar and it was lovely). However, this we can pretty much do at any warm place. Goa is Goa because of its hangouts by the beach, the casinos and night life. Unfortunately, with two young humans with us, we were entering our hotel when the rest were leaving.
Since we stayed in North Goa and since it was raining, we didn’t spend time at the beaches. The three we went to were crowded. In Vagator beach, the crowd was kind of cheap and scary. We went and returned almost immediately… ofcourse not without taking some pictures. In Baga beach, there were more cows than people… I’m not kidding. But we did the karaoke at St. Anthony’s and it was fun. And the third, (I don’t know its name because it was like our hotel’s private beach), although crowded, was decent and there were people swimming in it. It was beautiful to see our hotel by twilight from there.
The restaurants are over priced even in ‘off -season.’ Come to think of it, I don’t think there is any off-season these days. People are going everywhere, anytime. Even a more than normal restaurant had exhorbitant rates. We had a pathetic experience at the Ritz Classic in Gymkhana, Panjim. It was one of the worst places I’ve eaten in and we paid a heavy price for it… quite literally! My elder daughter had severe tummy pain that night and the next day.
After all this you may think I didn’t like the place… well, I did. And here’s why:
Goa has an amazing vibe, something that I have experienced only rarely. It made us feel welcome and at home.
The view from our first hotel room was ‘million dollar.’ The type I could sit and stare at the whole day.
Goa is amazingly tourist friendly. Ofcourse it is a tourist destination and it ought to be… well! some places aren’t! A small example, all sign boards there, whether in the city or small neighborhoods, are in English.
The people understand and speak hindi well… it’s a huge relief.
The lanscape is so comforting… it’s neither entirely hilly nor entirely plain and the place is neither entirely a city, nor entirely a town. For me this was the best part.
The drives are full of surprises. We were travelling on the main road one minute and suddenly it went uphill into a fully green, narrow ‘jungle feel’ road and then again back to the main road. We were pleasantly surprised.
There are some nice sight seeing places. Since it was our first time, we visited some old and beautiful churches. We even went to the ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ fort… somehow i wanted to see it. I love the movie. It was hot and humid but we still went all the way up… just my husband and I. We left the girls at a shop on the way. It was safe.
Walking on the streets of Panjim lined with those colourful and quaint portugese houses; it transported us to a different place and age. But, photography is prohibited there. There are boards with ‘No photography’ hung on every house window. I really couldn’t figure out why. However, we managed to steal a few pictures and how… one of the home owners was yelling at the top of his ‘Portugese’ voice at some tourists. He was distracted and didn’t notice me posing… lol.
We had an amazing sunset experience at one of the sundowner(fancy term for sunsets) restaurants. There are plenty.
The food although expensive was good(except in Ritz) esp. the sea food. My husband and I indulged in Peoples Lager, the ‘made in Goa’ beer. Cheap and best… 🍻
Shopping at Calangute: The junk jewellery collection and tiny collectibles is mindblowing. I felt like shoplifting one place🙈🤫. I bought some jute bags… loved their design, colours, quality and price(after bargain). We bought back liquor too… quite a lot. They allow five litres per flight ticket.
The clubs, hangouts, pubs… there are all so many and all so nice. We couldn’t explore the casinos at all. We will go back, minus the kids, for that and the nightlife, and for South Goa.
Yes we will go back. There is so much more left to explore and experience.
And, I can’t end this post without mentioning this fascinating fact… something I will laugh about all my life, so much, that whenever I hear ‘Goa’ these days, this is what comes to my mind.
In my hometown, we hear hawkers carrying those dabbas around their necks and calling out, ‘Jhalmuri, jhalmuri, jhalmuri.’ It’s a roadside savoury snack made of puffed rice, onions, chillies and condiments. In Goa, we heard, ‘Tattoo, tattoo, tattoo’ everywhere in the market… hahahaha! Do they come at the price of jhalmuri?… lol… going back soon to find out.
Till then… Tchau!
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P.S: My friend Manish recommended some restaurants and hangout places… thank you MK😊. A very special thank you to my friend Vini (from Hyderabad), who helped me a lot with places to eat and visit and other things in general. She even offered to let me stay at her South Goa home that she lets out to tourists…❤
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This blog post is a part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’
hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Outset Books.
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