Goa 2011

For our first anniversary we decided to go on a planned but unplanned tour of Goa. Planned because we applied for leaves unplanned because nothing else was fix, even the bus tickets were booked a day earlier!

Day 1 - Palolem Beach:

We reached Goa and decided to get down at Madgaon (margoa) instead of regular Mapsa or Panji. Madgaon is generally the last stop for Pune - Goa busses and its closest if one wants to experience the less crowded yet more beautiful southern Goa beaches .


We took the bus to Canacona and got down near Palolem Naka that took around an hour and cost us Rs. 50 instead of hiring a Rs. 1000 cab!



Took an auto-rickshaw and reached near beach and decided to check-in in one of the beach side shacks flavia, after some bargaining got a good shack for rs 600 per day.

Had breakfast, and brought some necessary things from nearby shops. Rest of the day was spent relaxing. 

Of all the beaches I have seen, Palolem has thickest cover of palm trees, it's an amazing place!

As sun became a little kind we had a good walk on the beach.

 
 Took a Kayak on rent for Rs.100 and drove it deep in the sea. It feels great when looking back you can't see where you you left the shore!

 As always the sunset  was euphoric...

 
After enjoying the sunset it was time for dinner and that better that a candlelight dinner right on the beach!

Day 2 - One for the road :

Work up early and had a nice walk on beach mornings are as pleasant as evenings in goa.

Got Yahama FZ on rent, they generally ask for rs 450 per day, but if you bargain good you will get it in 300.

With this tone for the day was set. Day 2 was decidated to curvy Goan roads!

We bought a map and circled three things old goa church, Mangeshi temple and Dona Paula.

Road to church was confusing but with GPS on my windows phone we cracked it soon

On the way to old city church we saw this another church. Quite and nice.

 There was some function arranged in the old goa church and the tent there insured I could take no good pictures of it.
 Church is very grand and beautiful. However, very unusual for a church, the only thing missing was  the peace, it has became more of a tourist place, but can't complain I was part of the problem :-)

In church we visited the art gallery on top floor, photography was not allowed there and I wonder why! Even if it was allowed I wouldn't have spent my camera battery there.

After church we left for the Mangashi temple that is around 22 Km far. Lost the way in-between but were back on the track soon.

Reached Mangashi temple in the afternoon, had some food and started walking in the direction of temple, much like other temples road was crowded with small stalls and hawkers selling food, toys, flowers, cloths and almost anything one can imagine, even tattoos, Rs 1000 an inch! I preferred keeping my body flawless ;-)

And finally reached to the temple. The oil and fats we burnt to reach hear was worth it.

Built in white, the gracious architecture of Mabgashi temple is pleasure to eyes.

It was very quite inside that inspired me to take a quick sitting nap, few also call it meditation ;-)

After Mangashi temple we left for the Dona Paula. We were late for sunset and the traffic on the road didn't help either.
 When we reached Dona Paula, the sun had finished it's day's work like an honest government employee.

 So that left me relying on private light sources for the photographs.

I opened the camera lens widest it can and made the shutter wait a long before it can blink to let sensor grab enough light to build a photograph.  Dona Paula by night... Looks good isn't it!

Oh dear! It was dark and road back to Palolem was long.
Trees both side and no one to ask directions, road was scarily quiet, when we reached near our shack the meter was reading 205 KM. This wasn't much compared to 400+ KM I covered in a day during Karnataka bike trip, but that was during day on NH4, this one was real scary!