Charm of Old Goa and the beauty of FontainHas

Previous day we had been to Anjuna beach after our little adventure, couldn’t roam around in flea market though, as it was closed by then. After our breakfast at Man U (this was suggested by a friend of mine, or rather I thought so. She suggested Eclipse and I thought it was Man U:bonk-The breakfast was ok but highly priced) we headed to Panjim and Old Goa. By 11.30 we reached old Goa and visited Bom Jesus Basilica & Se Cathedral. In the same compound as Se Cathedral you also have Church of St.Francis of Assisi,which is converted to an archeological museum by the ASI. Due to the heat we got tired after visiting first 2 church itself and decided to head back. All in all it will take only a maximum of an hour to visit the entire place.






We left for Panjim which is 9Kms from Old Goa. We just followed the sign boards and without any difficulty we reached Panjim and then saw the GTDC from which we can book for the river cruise. There are many types like sunset , sundown, dinner cruise etc. We got two tickets for sunset cruise and left to roam around Panjim. Most of the shops were closed in account of Dashami. After walking up and down the streets we finally settled for a south Indian hotel for lunch. That was the cheapest meal we had after landing in Goa. 180/- bucks for two meals and two juice!! :thumbsup
The only time we felt lost in a city of Goa was when we tried to visit FontainHas. Since most of the shops were closed we didn’t have many to ask around. And there weren’t any sign boards, thus we completed one round starting from church of Our lady of Immaculate Conception (this is such a beautiful church with huge stairs leading to it) and ending right there. So we decided to first visit the church and then try our luck again. Alas! The church was closed since it was noon, we sat there for some time clicked some pics and again went in search of FontainHas. We took our map and decided to find the route anyhow. Finally we succeeded; there are five roads from the church, one to your right, one straight and three to your left. In this you have to take the middle road on your left side. Now what is there in Fontainhas is , the old style portugese houses. Or the colonial kind of homes built in portugese architecture. The Portugese consulate, Bombay highbourt of Goa, CM’s residence all you can see in Fontainhas. All the house were really lovely, only if I had known someone in there could have got an inside view as well.







Miramar and DonaPaula beach are near to Panaji, so we decided to spend our evening there. When we reached Dona Paula the sun was at his best. So we didn’t feel like spending much time there. Just went to the view point spend 5minutes and headed to Miramar. Miramar beach is like the beaches you see in Kerala, lined with coconut palms. There is a small park just in front of the shore and a canteen for tea and snacks. We had to reach “Santa Maria” by 5.45PM for our sunset cruise which begins by 6PM. After a quick cold coffee and snack from nearby café (I forgot the name, but this café is seen almost all places in Goa. And to be honest didn’t live up to my expectations) we started back to Panaji. The ride was all the more exciting with heavy rain pouring on us. It was my first experience, on scooter drenched in rain. But I loved it and yeah won’t mind for more such experience:cheersBy the time we reached our boat, rain had subsided and the boat was so full that we didn’t even have a place to sit down at first. (Since it’s a government boat didn’t have my hopes high about the boat and I was proved cent percent correct.) But the cruise was a good one. It lasted almost an hour and we also went a bit into the sea, where the river empties itself into the vast Arabian Sea.





Once back in our room we freshened up quickly and headed for our dream dinner, candle light dinner on beach. It was around 9PM when we reached Baga beach and so most of the restaurants with this facility had their tables full. Finally we settled for a restaurant which had a few free tables. I don’t remember the name now; the food was ok not so great. But fish was way too overpriced. One pomfret (small) ,BBQed cost around 400/- {All those couples who are getting ready for a romantic candle light dinner on beach be ready to have your food in dark. Because it was almost like eating when there was a load shedding:boo:} You won’t be able to make out what is on your plate. But I should agree that this was one of a kind experience. After relaxing around 2hours on the shore we headed back to our room, fell on our bed flat and snored away to deep sleep.