10th October 2008, 20:29
| #31 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Day 3 Tuesday Colva –Varca - Karwar –Ankola – Gokarna – Ankola – Karwar – Palolem – Panaji – Candolim We were ready by 8AM, since for the next 5 nights we were booked at Santana Resorts in Candolim, we checked out of LaBen. Rooms at Laben were pretty decent and this is a no frill accommodation, budget type. We checked out by around 8.30AM and took some photographs there.  Since we will head to north Goa by evening we decided to check out Colva and Varca beach in the morning. COLVA We were at Colva beach for an hour till 9.30AM. Nice white sandy beach and calm waters. Colva I guess recently became a hub in the south and has quite a lot of shacks and has good night life. It could be your hub if you stick to South Goa. Mickeys at Colva is a good eat out.   VARCA Varca on the other hand is occupied mostly by private players like Taj, Leela, ClubMahindra, etc.. Beach is similar to Colva, except 5star resorts are nearby. Varca is in the same coastal line as Colva.  GOKARNA After the quick visit to Varca, we started to Gokarna by 10.00AM. We reached Gokarna by 12.30PM. (ODO shows 1510Km, 160Km from Colva). You’ll get a right to Gokarna in NH17, and from there it is a 10Km drive. Before entering Gokarna you have to pay a toll of 10Rs. Gokarna is called the Kashi of the South. Gokarna literally means Cow’s ear. I do not know the story, but it seems Lord Shiva came out through the ear of a cow. Since it was after 12.30 Mahabaleshwara temple was closed. The darshan will again start at 3.30PM a localite priest told us. Here is where atmalinga is kept. According to Outlook travellor this is opened for viewing once in 40 years. Now you will be shown only the tip. The roads are very narrow and near to the temple I was quite tensed whether Civic will get to the other end. To my relief I saw an Innova in front and followed him and took the very narrow roads with care as he did to exit at the Gokarna Beach. It’s a ritual that you have to bath in this sea to wash away your sins before worshipping in the temple. Beach is not very clean, and there were a few shacks there.    Spent 15 minutes there and started searching for a place to have lunch. Looking at Outlook travellor book it says go to Gokarna International's Down Town Restaurant for local coastal cuisines or go to any of the shacks. We checked out the shacks - nothing was available than biscuits and tender coconut. Enthusiastically my wife finds out the hotel, and all of us walk in. Oh my god it is horribly unclean, it is a bar with locals drinking like hell, and to see us in that state of affairs - I blamed myself for not asking any BHPians about Gokarna's good hotels. Since there were no hotels in sight we had to eat there. Horrible food as well. We threw the book then to the dickey, why waste space for that in the cabin, and that was the end for referring Outlook travellor. OM BEACH - Gokarna After lunch we came to the entrance of Gokarna town and took a right to Om beach. It is a 10 km drive up the hill through some scenic routes.   This route actually takes you to the top of a hill from which you can see OM beach at a distance. We reached this point by 2.00PM. If you want you can climb down and go to the beach. But the idea of climbing up the way back was not attractive hence decided to sit at the top of the hill and enjoy the nice breeze. Since lunch was just over, it was very good to sit relaxed.   We left this place at 2.30 quite hesitant, because of the breeze and the view. Interesting plant in water on the way back from Gokarna  KARWAR It was another 60Km to Karwar (ODO shows 1582Km). We reached Karwar by 3.45PM. On the way to karwar you could see quite a lot of defense establishments before reaching the port. Since all are national defense areas it was quite very well secured. We stopped near the port to take the look at a ship docked and hit the Rabindra Nath Tagore Beach. We lazed around in the nearby park.       We wanted to go to Devbagh Island, and return to Karwar for the sunset. But the majority vote went to sunset at Palolem and hence left Karwar by 5.00PM. This marks the end for places in Karnataka for this trip. Now on it will be hard core Goa. Day 3 continued.. |
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10th October 2008, 20:48
| #32 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Day 3 Continued From now on it will be Goa.. Palolem Reached Palolem by 6.00PM, 50 Km from Karwar. You have to take a right turn in NH17 to go to Palolem. Palolem was crowded. It ought to be, it was indeed one good beach with long plain beach and calm sea. Unwound here and enjoyed the sunset and stayed till 7.30PM there.         [Fort Cabo De Rama is nearby. According to Goa Tourism website only two walls are remaining and there is a church there which completely nullifies the old beauty of this place. Hence it was decided not to go there and dropped it from the plans earlier.] Filled petrol at Margoa. 39.78litres. Adding to the 20 litres from Honnaver for 59.78litres Civic did 692.4Km. FE 11.58Km/ltr. We drove through Panaji and reached our resort at Candolim by 9.00PM. Odo shows1710Km. Had dinner at the resort with some local delicacies and fenny. Food is average at the resort, and quickly decided not to have food at the resort except for breakfast. Hit the bed at 10PM. Total 362 km. Total driving time - 6.5 hours excluding all breaks 55Km/hr Will continue soon.. |
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11th October 2008, 15:18
| #33 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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11th October 2008, 19:06
| #34 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Akroys travelogue was reffered extensively while we decided on the places to visit in Goa. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...tml#post382048 A word of appreciation once again to him.  Hopefully mine also will be helpful to all bhpians. Day 4 onwards it is a Goa travelogue  Day 4 01 October 2008, Wednesday Candolim - Aguada Fort - Calangute Beach - Baga Beach -Anjuna Beach and Island Beach by boat - Baga Beach - Chapora Fort - Vagator Beach - Candolim The resort was pretty good and had good spacious rooms. The location was also good. Central place to all, but yet away from the crowd. Beach is just behind the resort. Got upto a very lazy morning and leisurely went for the breakfast at the resort. Breakfast was a buffet, including toasts, eggs, some Indian varieties (paratha, puri, idli etc..), juice , tea etc. Had a long breakfast till 10.00AM and walked behind the resort to the beach. This is one of the beaches in Candolim. CANDOLIM Beach is just behind the resort though not private to them. In fact the other part of Candolim beach is fully taken by Taj Holiday Village. Candolim like Varca, is not crowded since all resorts have occupied most of it. Hence this beaches are mostly free. To our surprise we saw a huge ship anchored there. The sea here is rough and felt it would be dangerous to play in the waters here. Even then we simply wetted our legs.  By this time my kid was sitting on one of the benches kept there, and to my annoyance a fellow came and told me to pay up Rs200 for the bed in the most unpolite manner after shooing away my kid, which just spoilt the day. My wife could not understand what just transpired and she felt so horrible that even when the place thrives on tourists, they do not know how to retain them. The place only knew one language - Money. I understood my lesson – everything you touch in Goa costs. Irritated we walked back to the resort. By 11.00AM we took the car and got out of the resort to explore Goa. The road where the resort is located is the ideal road to explore Goa. If we drive north in this road you go all the way to Terekohl through the coast line, and if you drive south it goes to Aguada. Infact it is just resort is just 2Km from Aguada. AGUADA FORT We reached Aguada Fort very soon. While climbing the hill to Aguada, I saw a board showing Aguada Jail. Just drove to that direction and saw there is nothing interesting from outside. It is still being used as central prison in Goa. While taking a boat trip later we saw the jail from the sea, and the boat driver told us that there are underground dungeons where prisoners are kept. On the road to the jail, there is a huge and beautiful mansion which overlooks the sea. I was told by the boat driver that it belongs to a guy in Bombay and he uses it as his holiday home. Lately he modified it for 40 crores, and it was at this place Haseena maan Jao was shot. Don’t know the authenticity of these information. The Mansion near Aguada  We returned to the Y junction and went to Aguada Fort.   The old light house   Near to the fort there is the new light house which is fully operational and a Helipad. The entry to the light house is only in the evening, hence we kept it for the last day, when we will be lazing around. Helipad is just one open area for the purpose. But I wanted to use the helipad to test some capabilities of Civic on the last day– where do I find open grounds in Bangalore? More about this on Day 7 CALANGUTE We looked around the Fort and left to Calangute, which is the most happening beach in Goa. We reached there by 12.30PM. It was as expected – crowded. All youngsters from excursions thronged the place and let us gasp for some space in the beach. Again the waves are strong and we are restricted to some are where life guards can watch you.   Spend some time, but the crowd was maddening and decided to get to Baga which is nearby for lunch. BAGA, Anjuna by boat Baga, though not as much crowded as Calangute, is still a happening place. Water sports have just started and they had water scooters in plenty there. Costs Rs200 for two to take a ride. A person will drive quite dangerously while you sit clinging on the scooter. Is a good experience.   We took a boat ride from Baga to see Anjuna Island Beach and Anjuna Beach. Took 20 minutes to go around and come back. It was an experience when the boat was jumping over the waves and landing with a thud. Costed 500Rs for family. Just a boat ride, nothing special. But if you have not gone in the sea before its worth a try. Anjuna beach as seen from the boat  Anjuna Island  Anjuna Island beach  Baga beach as seen from the boat while returning.  After the boat trip we went to a shack next to Brittos, called St Anthonys shack for lunch. We took some biriyanis, rotis, Goan fish curry and Chicken kafreal. The food was delicious and we noted the place for a comeback if required. After lunch we relaxed there for a while, while the kids were playing on the sand.  Day 4 continued.. |
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11th October 2008, 19:27
| #35 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Day4 Continued CHAPORA FORT (Dil Chahta Hai Fort) After the rest and lunch, we started to Chapora Fort. We reached the fort at 3.00PM. It is a very steep climb to reach the top. My kids started looking at me with a question. Seemed difficult to climb for the small ones. We quickly decided that we will just walk a bit and see, if difficult we’ll drop the same. But once they started climbing, one by one some nice views came up and they got interested and climbed fully without much effort. I guess the view of the sea around motivated them enough. The Climb to Chapora Fort   The fort was amazing.     The Dil Chahta Hai Location   Could see Vagator beach to the left and Morjim, Aswem and Mandrem beach to the right. Morjim and Aswem beach as seen from Chapora  Vagator Beach as seen from Chapora    Exit from Fort  Going down - you can see vagator to the right.  VAGATOR We left Chapora at 5.00PM to Vagator beach. We had bath here.    We waited for the sunset. Saw sunset and left to our resort by 7.00PM.  Reached resort by 7.30PM. We took a walk outside the resort to look out for some good restaurants. Saw any eye catchee Flambee restaurant. Food was a horror. Thoroughly shaken I bought a quarter of Smirnoff and retired for the day. Will continue soon... |
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12th October 2008, 13:45
| #36 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Day 5 02 October 2008 Thursday Candolim - Arambol Beach - Tiracol Fort - Aswem Beach - Morjim Beach - Mandrem Beach – Candolim The order of the places visited is not exactly as it would appear on the coastline. This was done because we wanted to be in Arambol first, and Mandrem for sunset. Every where in Goa there was a board – “Today is Dry Day” and additionally “Smoking here is an Offence”. The new non smoking law in place I guess. After a very lazy and leisurely breakfast we left the resort by 10.30AM. I had two options - one is to go through the road near the resort all the way up to north or take NH17 from Mapusa and then take a deviation later to the north Goa coast line. I preferred the latter because it was a holiday (Gandhi Jayanthi) and Calangute and Baga will be crowded and to pass through these points would not be as much fun since the roads are narrow and full of traffic. ARAMBOL We reached Arambol beach by 11.30AM. Do not ever attempt to take your car all the way down till you get the beach. Roads are very narrow and already it would have been occupied by vans, Tata Sumos and horribly parked Honda Activas. There is no place to take a u turn also. I did the mistake and I had to come all the way back in reverse. How much good a driver you are this sure is a nightmare. There is some Travels shop near a transformer. This is ideally the best last point with your car. Park here and walk down to the beach. You’ll get the beach in 5 minutes. But this beach is unimpressive and very much unclean. But this is not the place you must see here. Keep walking along the beach to your right till you see some rocks.  Place is unclean, but keep walking. Then you’ll have to get on to a narrow walking path amongst the many shops. This path is unimpressive as well. You’ll have to walk on this path at least for 10 to 15 minutes till you see the other beach in Arambol which is quite clean and secluded. You’ll have to cross some rocks to get to the other side. If there is a high tide, then it is dangerous as you cannot walk in between the rocks due to water, but have to climb over it.  The beach is like any other beach, but there is a lake near it and behind the lake, mountains. I have not seen a lake, sea and mountain so near to each other before. We spent some time near the lake and sea. I could see some people bathing in the lake, though I had my apprehensions about it. Many foreigners were seen here.    You can see the lake to the right near the umbrellas.  A funny picture - Dont know what this guy is thinking.  TIRACOL Fort We left Arambol by 1.30PM and reached the Ferry point by 2.00PM. Every hour there is a ferry towards Tiracol fort and it returns from the other side on every quarter past an hour. It costs Rs10 for your car to be ferried. Unbelievable is it not? Be very careful while driving in and out of the ferry. You risk either your tail pipe or bumper scratching the ground if you are careless. Being very slow helps and mostly the ferry guys will tell you how to drive in and out avoiding such things.   The ferry is across the Tiracol River.  There is another alternate to the ferry. You can drive on NH17 and cross Maharashtra border and from there drive to Tiracol. It is roughly additional 20Kms I was told. We reached Tiracol by 2.30PM and returned from there in 30 minutes to catch the ferry back. There is very less to see. The Fort is now a heritage hotel.  A view from the restaurant.  There is very old St Anthony’s church inside the fort. This church is not open to public.  ASWEM Beach We took the ferry and got to the same road, and drove back passing Arambol to Morjim beach to see Chapora fort from there. On the way we passed Mandrem beach, which we wanted to come back for sunset. We saw a clean and calm beach on the way, which was Aswem. Though not decided earlier to visit Aswem, the cleanliness welcomed us. We stopped here for at least an hour. This was like a beach completely for us.     I saw the biggest crab in my life here amongst the rocks. I could not capture it as my movements scared him away. My guess is, he is at least 6inches in dia. Day 5 continued.. |
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12th October 2008, 14:05
| #37 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Day 5 Continued MORJIM The only idea to go to Morjim beach was to see Chapora fort from below and due to the calmness of the beach. But once we reached Morjim, equations changed. I could see people racing bikes and scooters on the beach. It was almost a dream for me to drive on the beach. Took the car and drove through the sands near the sea, never went to the water to do a splash as I did not know what will happen. But this drive was amazing and our energy levels again touched a high. Kids were screaming their throats out when we did that drive.    From here you can see Chapora Fort above the mountains.   There was some kind of white migratory birds everywhere.  Sea was very calm, not deep. I guess this area is a lagoon as there was a big river joining the sea. I was told later that this is the Chapora River. We ended up spending more than an hour here and were quite a pain to leave this place. This memory is still fresh in our minds, and our family believes we will visit again. MANDREM We reached Mandrem by 6.15PM for the sunset. We parked the car on the road above near a park. Took some photographs of the sunset from there.   Slowly walked down to get to the beach. The beach was deserted and did not look very clean. We had to cross a small wooden bridge over a stream to the beach.  We took some more sunset photographs and relaxed in the beach for a while, while the kids enjoyed making sand castles and playing in the water.    We started back to our resort by 7.00PM, this time the taking the road which is passing in front of our resort. On the way we passed the St. Anthony’s church at Siolim. Stopped here for a few moments.   Since the food in the resort, and the restaurant nearby was hopeless, we stopped at Baga and went to St Anthony’s shack again. Indulged in some delicacies and enjoyed the Baga beach till late night. The shack had some one singing some good English songs, and the crowds requesting their favourites, it was indeed a great night. Will continue soon. |
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12th October 2008, 14:17
| #38 |
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12th October 2008, 15:56
| #39 |
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12th October 2008, 16:58
| #40 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Quote:
Yaana came as a surprise to me too. | |
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12th October 2008, 17:01
| #41 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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12th October 2008, 18:53
| #42 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Day6 03 October 2008 Friday Candolim – Reis Magos Fort - Coco Beach - Old Goa - Divar Island - Miramar Beach -Dona Paula – Dabolim - Bogmalo beach – Candolim These days a leisurely breakfast has become a norm. After stuffing ourselves we got out to the streets by 10.30AM. REIS MAGOS Fort This is a protected monument, and restoration is planned. But the place was deserted and had a very creepy look. The road up to the fort is too steep and too narrow. Turning the car on the top to return was difficult, but somehow did it. Never take longer cars up there. From here you can see Panaji coast line. There are cannons all over the place. Somewhere I have read there are 33 cannons, but could find only 3 to 4. I did not try to find either becuse of the thick bushes.  The place was scary so left there at the earliest.   Below the Reis Magos Fort is a church, but there was no board to identify which church it was. It too was a protected monument.  My GPS showing if you drive staright you are in the sea   Near by is the Coco beach, which according to locals is the best beach to bath. Here in season you’ll get boats to take you to sight dolphins. But the beach did not impress us, may be we have seen many good beaches already, so we drove on. OLD GOA Continued to Panaji and took the NH4A bypass to Old Goa. 5 minutes drive takes you to Old Goa. Alternately you can take the road along the river Mondovi, which is the actual NH4A to Old Goa. But this road is too narrow and has traffic. We took this road on return. At Old Goa, we visited the Basilica of Bom Jesus, Se cathedral and the ruins of St. Augustine’s church. All these are very nearby to each other. Basilica of Bom Jesus We first went to Basilica of Bom Jesus.    Here you have the 500 year old body of St. Xavier.  There is a Museum as well as art gallery inside the church. Se Cathedral Opposite to the Basilica of Bom Jesus is the Se Cathedral. Crossed the street and visited the church as well.     St. Augustine’s Church After Se Cathedral we went to the ruins of St. Augustine’s Church. Excavation is still going on.    Day6 Continued.. |
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12th October 2008, 19:04
| #43 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Day 6 Continued.. Divar Island After visiting the ruins we took NH4A and continued to Panaji. Before reaching Panaji, we took a ferry to Divar Island to visit the church above the hill on this Island. But unfortunately the church was closed for restoration. The island was very small, could find a few houses. Every 15 minutes you have a ferry.   Miramar Beach After Divar Island we went to Miramar Beach in Panaji. As expected a crowded beach in the capital city.    Dona Paula From Miramar we drove to Dona Paula. Before a kilometer to Dona Paula, there is a Cross road junction. From Miramar side if you turn right you’ll get Raj Bhavan in a kilometer. If you turn left you’ll reach NH17 and if you go straight you get Dona Paula in a kilometer. We took a right turn and drove to Raj Bhavan. You can only go till the gate, the building was not visible and also since it is a secured area no photography was allowed. Drove back and went to Dona Paula. Since parking was full, dropped family at Dona Paula and came up on the road and parked. I guess it is good idea to park on the top and walk down to save time; else turning around at ground zero is very difficult with lots of people and vehicles. There is a view point here, and water sports.   Maintenance was going on at the view point and hence it was not that comfortable. But the top point was free from such activities, sat there for a while. BOGMALO Beach By 5.00PM we were back at the cross road junction. From there we took NH17 and headed to Bogmalo beach. We exited from NH17 and took NH17A to Dabolim airport. From the airport we took the 4 lined road to Margoa and exited to the right to go to Bogmalo. From the airport till we reached Bogmalo beach airport boundary wall was seen on the right side. By the time we reached Bogmalo, sun has already set and we felt a bit disappointed.  Bogmalo Beach Resort in night.  But still we spend half an hour on the beach and returned to the resort via NH17. Since everybody was tired we had dinner at the resort itself. Hit the bed by 10.00PM Will continue soon. |
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14th October 2008, 22:17
| #44 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Day 7 04 October 2008 Saturday Candolim - Panaji - Saligaon - Aguada - Sinquerim - Baga -Candolim PANAJI After a lazy breakfast we drove to Panaji. On the way we stopped at the Captain of ports office side, and took some look on to the bridges on NH17. It looked pretty long and amazing. When you drive on it you never notice the length of the bridge.  A street in Panaji  We then moved on to see the old Church at Panaji.  From here we moved to an art park, which overlooks the lagoon. Children played there for a while, while we were thinking what to do next.  We decided to give a try to the dolphin spotting boat trip. From Aguada, there are a few boats which go for this. Hence returned to Aguada. SALIGAON CHURCH On the way to aguada, we stopped by Saligaon church.   We also saw some lotus pond nearby.  AGUADA Dolphin trip From there we reached Aguada. Took a boat to see Dolphins. This was a good boat ride. He took us near Aguada Jail and Fort. Aguada Jail, old lighthouse of Aguada is seen above   The mansion  From there he took as to Miramar beach and a little further where we could see Dona Paula, but not too close. Miramar beach as seen from the boat  Near to the miramar beach he stopped in the sea, and asked us to look around for dolphins. My kids counted 14, I could see around 5 - I was trying to photograph them, but they were too fast for me.  The costs are like 200 per person or 1000-1500 for your own private trip. On return we saw a yacht belonging to Kingfisher guy.  Light House After the dolphin trip, we went up to Aguada to see the new light house. From the top it was an amazing view. Aguada Fort as seen from the lighthouse  Old light house as seen from the new lighthouse  Saligaon church as seen from lighthouse  Helipad Out of curiosity I went to the helipad near Aguada fort. It was an open area. I wanted to try the cornering capabilities of Civic and did some circles with gradually increasing the speeds. It was fun. Played with the car, as if I was a small child playing with my toy car. Where do I get such open places in Bangalore to try these. Brake test!!  Cornering!!  Day 7 continued |
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14th October 2008, 22:30
| #45 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| The last picture in the previous post is Coco Beach as seen from the boat. Day 7 Continued SINQUERIM Beach Then we went to Sinquerim beach. Water scooters were there, but we did not take it here, there were not much waves, so the ride is a plain water ride.    BAGA After lazing around here we went to Baga. We tried the scooter here, it was fun in the strong waves. After the scooter ride, we took bath there and saw sunset. Brittos! Then by 7.00PM went to Brittos for dinner. Lobster, tiger prawns, king fish, squid, pomfret etc.. was on menu.     We orderd tandoori pomfret and grilled tiger prawns along with other delicacies.   Food is as good as any other restaurant, nothing so special. But they have varieties. I found Brittos to be pretty crowded. They do not accept credit cards, bills here can run into pretty good figures based on your indulgence. Next day we had to start back to Bangalore, but nobody was even thinking about the same and dinner went on till 10.30PM After the heavy dinner we reached the resort by 11PM, and retired for the day. |
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