Different places to travel

Trip to Goa (India) (land of beaches, greenery and churches) – Part 3 – Visit to Churches and more beaches

Asia, Beach, Christianity, Church, Goa, Hindu, India, Monument, Statue, Structure, Temple, Tourist, UNESCO, World Heritage - No Comments » - Posted on January, 12 at 8:20 pm

Part 1 (link) and 2 (link) of this blog talked about travel to the beaches and forts of Goa. Goa is also famous for its churches and cathedrals, and also for a few Hindu temples. The other things that are normally also visited in Goa are some of the beaches in South Goa as well as a cruise on the river Mandovi. All this was still to be done, and was planned for the 3rd day of our trip.
To add, this was probably the most rain-filled trip that we ever had, since it had been raining steadily ever since we had arrived in Goa (although the level of rain was very low or zero sometime, or strong rain at some point of time). In the morning, this time we were more resolved to start the travels for the day early no matter whether it was raining or not. We had made some taxi arrangements to start early soon after breakfast (and our morning means leaving around 10 AM, not the 7 AM you were thinking).
And so, being well prepared (carrying umbrellas and cameras was the extent of our preparation), we set off.
The first place that was on our itinerary was this magnificent ruins of a tall church, called St. Augustine’s Church, located on Holy Hill. It is 46 meters high, and was built in the year 1602 through the effort of 12 Augustan friars. However, the Portuguese authorities forbade the use of this church, and the church and the convent was abandoned, with just a 46 meters high Bell Tower remaining in ruins. The bell was removed from the Church and relocated to the Our Lady of Immaculate Conception at Panaji in 1871, where it still works even now. The church however, being abandoned, had stated crumbling as early as 1842 with more ruins falling in 1931 and 1938. The ruins of the Church are visited by a number of visitors even now. However, due to heavy rain, we could not go inside, with the gate also being locked at that time.

The still remaining tall structure of the St. Augustine Church in Goa, now in ruins

Base platform of the ruins of St. Augustine Church in Goa

Next up, we visited the 2 side-by-side churches called the Dom Basilica Church, and the Se Cathedral. Both of them look real difficult. To reach there, the parking is located on the road next to the Dom Basilica Church and there is a short walk through a path lined with trees on both sides.

People braving the rain to go the Dom Basilica

Downpour outside as visible from the Dom Basilica in Goa

The Basilica of Bom Jesus or Basilica of Good Jesus (Portuguese: Basílica do Bom Jesus) is a World Heritage site located in Goa, and also holds the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier, with the church name referring to the infant Jesus. The church construction was started in 1594 and completed in 1605 when it was consecrated by Archbishop, Dom Fr. Aleixo de Menezes. The church is also famous since it holds the remains of the Saint Francis Xavier, who founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) along with St. Ignatius Loyola. The remains of the Saint attract a huge number of visitors, especially once every 10 years when the body is made available for public viewing (last done in 2004). The inside of the Church was very beautiful and solemn, although sections of the Church seemed like a Spanish villa with an inner courtyard having a garden.

The body of St. Francis Xavier in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa

View of inner greenery of the courtyard inside the Dom Basilica in Goa

Statue of saint inside the Dom Basilica in Goa

Next to the Dom Basilica (across the road) is the Se Cathedral, also known as the Sé Cathedral of Santa Catarina, is dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria, and is a huge and beautiful building, with some excellent indoor structure and very beautiful outdoors. The Cathedral was built starting in 1562, completed in 1619, and consecrated in 1640, and was built to celebrate the victory of Portuguese under Afonso de Albuquerque over a Muslim army in 1510 (which led to the conquest of Goa), and was named after Saint Catherine since the day when victory happened was on the day of the feast of Saint Catherine.

Beautiful view of the Se Cathedral from outside with greenery

Inside the Se Cathedral in Goa

Chandelier hanging from the roof of the Se Cathedral in Goa

Sculpture of Jesus Christ on a cross inside the Se Cathedral in Goa

After spending a couple of hours at these 2 beautiful churches, we moved on, visiting a Hindu temple, the famous Shri Mangueshi Temple, Goa. It was drizzling slightly, so there was some amount of mud and ditches, but the inner compound of the temple was relatively much cleaner. We went inside the temple, said our prayers, visited the tower, and then moved on. By this time, we were ready for lunch, and we were also enticed by the prospect of visiting a local spice plantation. These are large tracts of land on which spices are grown organically, and they also give you an organic lunch and a trip around the plantation where you can see their growing habits and learn about which spices grow on which plants along with seasons. It was pretty exciting to go there. The trip to a spice plantation can however cost you around Rs. 400 per head to go inside and do the trip.

Exterior architecture of the Mangueshi Temple in Goa

After the spice plantation, it was back to the water. We were not interested in visiting the Miramar beach since we were running short of time and light in the sky, and so we headed to a different type of beach, called Dona Paula. The place is a expensive and luxurious place to live, and is named after the daughter of a Portuguese viceroy who threw herself off the cliff when she was refused permission to marry a local fisherman. However, this is not a typical beach, more of a beachfront and where there is an observation tower located at a height from where you get a good view. You typically do not work along sand with water next to you.

After all this, we were attracted by the notion of a 1 hour cruise on the River Mandovi. There are these numerous water cruisers (not very attractive) which carry you aboard and for a one hour cruise for Rs. 150. You sit on plastic seats, with a local band providing the music or can go to the open upper deck (but since it is night, you do not see anything much). Having done this cruise, I can say that you will not miss much if you do not do this cruise.

On board entertainment on river cruise in Goa – boring

Many photos of Goa at this location.

Posted in Asia, Beach, Christianity, Church, Goa, Hindu, India, Monument, Statue, Structure, Temple, Tourist, UNESCO, World Heritage | No Comments »

Trip to Goa (India) (land of beaches, greenery and churches) – Part 2 – Visit to fort and beaches

Asia, Beach, Fort, Goa, India, Monument, Nature, Ocean, Structure, Tourist, Water, Weekend - No Comments » - Posted on January, 2 at 7:28 pm

The first post in this series (link) was about our first day in Goa, including the arrival and spending many hours at Calangute, accompanied by rain throughout. It was still fun, even though there was a lot of rain. When we reached back at the resort, we decided to plan for the next day and soon enough discarded the option of using the standard package tourist bus (not enough time when we want to spend more time at one place), and decided to hire a taxi for this purpose. Soon enough, we had tied up with a taxi for this purpose, and decided to start at 10 in the morning the next day.
However, when we got up the next day, it was still raining, and we decided to wait it out. The problem was, time moved from 9 to 10 to 11, and yet the rain showed no sign of letting up. So, we finally gave up and decided to call the taxi operator and he soon arrived, and we were ready to start. Dropped were any clothes that were meant for the beach, and included were umbrellas. The sights we had to see were basically 2 different types – one was the old fort, and the other was the beaches located ahead of Calangute.
The first place we were headed off to was the Aguada Fort, located on a hill.

Entrance to Aguada fort along with view of Arabian sea in Goa

The older lighthouse inside the Aguada fort in Goa, a historic structure

People wandering on the concrete platform in the middle of the Aguada fort in Goa

The Fort is a place of historic significance, and a protected place. It was also the scene of a few Hindi movie sets, and was built by the Portuguese in the 17th century, in 1612 precisely, to guard against Dutch and the Marathas. The fort is fairly well-preserved, standing on the Sinquerim beach, overlooking the Arabian Sea. It is south of Candolim, and was tasked as a reference for vessels coming from Europe (with its lighthouse providing that purpose). The name of the fort refers to the word ‘water’, since Aguada means water, and refers to a fresh water spring within the fort that provided water for drinking purposes. In a later part of its history, during the Salazar administration, the fort was used as a prison. Now, the area around the fort is owned by the Indian Hotel Co, owned by the Tata group, and is a 5 star resort.

People at ruins of the fort near the Taj resort near Aguada Goa

Rain hit path right next to the Tata Indian Hotels Resort 5 star resort in Goa

There is parking outside the fort, and then a slight uphill journey from the place of parking to reach the fort. Once we get inside, there are two levels inside the fort. The main ground inside the fort contains a main structure that shows the water tank, and is fairly large. The slightly elevated inside the fort is along the perimeter wall of the fort, which is a good walk as well as provides a good view of the Arabian sea from there, and of the surrounding green hillside.

Perimeter wall of Aguada Fort in Goa along with moat

Photo of view of green countryside next to Aguada Fort in Goa along with the Arabian Sea

The signboard giving the history of the Aguada fort in Goa along with an explanation of the upper and lower portions of the fort

After spending many hours in the fort and enjoying the view (the rain would lessen in between, but the overall weather was excellent). From here, we decided to try to see whether going to the other fort would make sense. There is another fort nearby, called Chapora Fort, much less preserved than the Aguada Fort. The Chapora fort is much older, and is built overlooking the Chapora river. Built over an earlier fort, the current fort was built in 1717, and with steep slopes on all sides. The guides over there discourage you from going to the fort since it is a steep climb, and is in a much more ruined condition. However, the views are supposed to be excellent; we however could not visit the fort since it was raining a bit harder and the climb was not really recommended.
After the forts, we decided to move to the beaches in that region. The most famous beach that we visited was called Baga beach, and is a long beach. At one end of the beach, there is the Baga creek, and makes for a good view, since it is not often that you get to see a view of a creek or stream flowing into the sea. A huge number of visitors visit Baga beach on a regular basis, and the beach is also fairly long. We spent some time in the water, although with lifeguards coming forward to warn visitors not to go too deep into the water. However, it was pleasant spending some time in the surf. And then, since we were getting hungry, we decided to eat at a recommended place over there, a shack called Britto’s where there was some excellent sea food (but not much choice for vegetarians). Once done with Baga beach, we moved onto 2 more beaches, the Vagator beach and the Anjuna beach.

The road outside Baga beach in Goa, a narrow road with many vehicles passing by

The water of the Baga creek merging with the sea at Baga beach

Line up of beach chairs at the Baga beach

Enjoying at Baga beach, waiting for the water to inundate and cover

Relaxing at the edge of the water at Baga beach

Vagator was a nice beach, although one had to again walk for some distance (including walking down a very small hill) to get to the beach, but once at the beach, it looked beautiful. You could see a group of people enjoying themselves in the water, and we spent some time at the beach, enjoying ourselves. Then the light started dropping, and it was time to move on to the last beach for the day, Anjuna beach. I had heard that Anjuna beach was very famous, but somehow I did not get the same impression; it was rocky and seemed dangerous for somebody who would venture into the water, unless they were somewhat skilled. It was fun walking on the rocks though, heading farther out into the water.

People enjoying the surf at Vagator Beach in Goa

View of Vagator Beach from a height, a bit of rock, but also some beautiful beach

View of Anjuna Beach in Goa, seen from a height

People standing on the rock at the edge of the water in Anjuna Beach

Water lapping the shore of the Arjuna beach, with the rock getting hit by the waves

The water hitting the rocks at the shore pretty hard at Anjuna Beach

And with sunset having fallen, we headed back to our resort, a nice comfortable day. As you might see, we were not the more adventurous type, not having planned to just hire a bike and go wherever it takes us; although in the rain, hiring a bike was likely to be a daft move.

Posted in Asia, Beach, Fort, Goa, India, Monument, Nature, Ocean, Structure, Tourist, Water, Weekend | No Comments »