♦Guest post by Dhruv Sud♦
“So are you here for the beaches, the partying, or the architecture?” – The taxi driver’s question could not have summed up Goa any better. Not too many places can boast of calm beaches on the Arabian Sea, a top 10 ranking in the world for nightlife, and a unique Indo-Portuguese heritage from over 450 years of Portuguese rule. If that’s not enough, Goa boasts of the highest per capita income, the best quality of life, and the highest biodiversity of any state in India – while also being it’s smallest state. Talk about packing a punch.
Goa was our reward after racing through an incredible few days in Jaipur and Agra, including some over-stimulating road trips. The differences between these places and Goa are evident as soon as you drive out of the airport. Jaipur and Agra have a semi-arid climate with dry vegetation, while Goa was a robust 90°+ and humid everyday (even in February), with soaring palm trees and dense tropical vegetation. Jaipur and Agra were more accessible by land, so Mughal (e.g. Mongolian) rulers, originally from Central Asia, had a significant impact on the Islamic-style architecture seen there. Goa was more accessible to European invaders arriving by sea, and the houses along the way to our hotel definitely had the clean lines and pastel notes of plain-style Portuguese design.
Tourism in Goa also draws a very different crowd than our previous spots, because….beaches!!!
In fact more than half the tourists in Goa are of Russian or European origin. Being more cost-effective than better known beach towns, Goa is known to attract the hosteling crowd looking to vacation on a budget, and this was evident in the throngs of scooter-driving hipsters everywhere. Efforts have been made recently to try and attract a more upscale demographic, and arriving at our hotel, the W Goa, we could tell that it was clearly part of that effort.
A sprawling resort set on 25 acres amongst tropical gardens and on a hill overlooking Vagator beach, we were greeted in an open-air, boho-chic lounge with fisherman’s ropes, with a chilled Simba Wit (a Belgian-style Indian microbrew) upon arrival. And of course, there was a DJ and a bar mixing some killer tropical drinks right there in the open-air lobby. We knew that we could get used to this pretty quickly; however, it had been a long day of travel and a long week of sightseeing, and we hit the sack after a few sumptuous tandoori bites.
We were all STILL exhausted and determined to get some R&R the next day, which started with us discovering the hotel’s huge breakfast/brunch buffet. We thought we had it good at the Palace in Jaipur, but the W Goa took it up a few notches. Other than the usual items (breads, omelet station, etc.), there was an extensive South Indian menu that included upma (rice porridge), idlis (fluffy rice cakes), vadas (chickpea fritters), and a dosa (rice crepes) station, and similar variety of the North Indian kind that included dal (lentils), pakoras (vegetable fritters), egg curry, chana masala, and a paratha (thin stuffed breads) station. This brief description is NOT commensurate with the obscene amount of time that we spent there every morning.
We followed up breakfast with an amble around the resort and down to Vagator beach, musing that other than the disappointing and underwhelming small pool area by the restaurant (we like big pools!), this place was pretty great. The Arabian Sea waters were warm and gentle, and there was not a soul in sight, except….a beach cow, also out on its morning stroll. Hopefully this is not surprising at this point.
The beach had quite a few promising food shacks on it, and there was a performance stage being set up for a band that Friday night. We figured we’d make it back out later to check it out; in the interim, it was back to make the best of that disappointing pool. We came upon a separate entrance to the hotel, and upon checking it out, were intensely surprised to see that it lead to….the Rock Pool!!!!
And we finally ran out of things to complain about. With panoramic views of the Arabian Sea, the beach, dramatic red cliffs, and the 300-year old Chapora Fort nearby (more on this later), not to mention abundant pool-side cocktails, we had inadvertently stumbled upon one of the best sunset destinations in Goa. Jimmy, Jeffrey and I set up shop, and watched time whiz by with more Simba Wit, bubbly, food, and excellent service by the high-energy pool crew. Alysia decided to get her workout on (can’t keep that girl down!), but made sure to catch some quality Rock Pool time later as well.
We were really digging this ‘do nothing’ day, and kept it going with evening cocktails at the lounge’s Woobar, followed by a delectable Indo-Chinese meal at the hotel’s Spice Trader’s restaurant for Jeffrey’s 40th Birthday celebration. Indo-Chinese was probably everyone’s favorite cuisine of the trip, and for good reason – the combination of bold spices (think cumin, coriander, hot chillies, lots of ginger and garlic, whole black peppercorns, etc.) typically used in Indian food with Chinese recipes provides a flavor profile across meats, vegetables, noodles, and rice dishes unlike that found in traditional Indian or Chinese restaurants. Of course, purists think that Indo-Chinese has little semblance to real Chinese cuisine….but who cares its delicious!!! The meal included edamame bean dumplings, goat cheese wontons with mango sambal, and garlic prawns stir fried with peppers for starters. The main course included hakka noodles, mushrooms and bamboo shoots in oyster sauce, and other perfectly spiced meat dishes.
While we weren’t done for the evening, no one was really feeling like hitting up the beach party, so we made the ‘can’t go wrong’ decision of returning to the Rock Pool for after-dinner drinks. The pool now had a DJ and was the busiest we had seen it all day! The Goans really do enjoy their music. They also enjoy, in copious amounts every year, a local liquor known as Feni, produced by the fermentation and distillation of the juice of cashew apples. The cashew version is the most popular, though palm feni, made from fermented toddy from the coconut palm, is also widely consumed. Alcoholic yet light and fruity, we all had our first of many feni cocktails by the gentle sea breeze that night to close out the first day of our Goan escape.
It was impressive how we all were solidly in a routine by the very next day – a couple of hours of brunch, a workout to ward off post-brunch guilt, and Rock Pool time happened before you could blink. While at the pool, the enthusiastic crew informed us about two very important events in Goa that day. First, it was the day of Sunburn, arguably Asia’s biggest electronic dance festival, with DJs from all over the world flying in. Second, the Rock Pool was hosting a famous Bollywood DJ (Bollywood = India’s popular song-and-dance film industry) that evening for a dance party at the Pool. These Goans exhaust me, but while it was too late for us to get tickets to Sunburn, we totally wanted to see what went down at the Bollywood Dance Party that night.
In the interim, part-guilt and part-curiosity finally drove our lazy selves to head out for a walk about the town of Vagator, a place firmly entrenched in Goa’s rave culture and a somewhat popular location for sunset viewing. As opposed to the well-heeled crowd at the hotel, the tourists of Vagator are more the scooter-riding Western backpacker sort, and hostels, dive bars/restaurants, and souvenir shops litter the sides of the road. That, and cows, obviously.
After buying some knick-knacks with a healthy amount of haggling (you really shouldn’t pay more than 40-50% of what they ask for), we made our way over to the Portugese Chapora Fort for our first stint of Goan culturing.
Taking a step back, the Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama (also the name of Goa’s largest city now) was the first European to reach India by sea, in 1498. With little opposition, spice routes were quickly established and significantly boosted the fortunes of the Portuguese empire. Portugal maintained a virtual monopoly on the Cape Route to India for decades before the Dutch Republic, England, France, and Denmark followed suit and challenged the Portuguese dominance along India’s coast. Similar to Goa, several places in India retain some of their colonial heritage, a popular example being Pondicherry with its French-style city design.
The Portuguese arrived in Goa in 1510, and built the Chapora Fort in 1717, replacing an older fort that had exchanged rulers several times. While little more than some stone walls remain of the Fort and the church within, the same reasons that made the Fort effective are now why it’s a tourist attraction – an expansive view of the Arabian Sea and Goa’s rugged coastline in all directions, and steep slopes that form the dramatic red cliffs visible from Vagator beach. A trail from the Fort all the way out to Vagator Hill and back provided for some great photo ops of the Vagator Delta, and with the blistering sun, the breeze at the top was a welcome respite.
We hiked all the way down to Vagator Beach, which was abuzz with parties and sun-bathers. We made our way over to the Sunset Shack where the happiest dude on the planet served up some ice-cold Kingfisher beers, and of course some stellar Indo-Chinese chilli paneer, gobi Manchurian (fried crispy cauliflower coated in a garlic, chilli and soy sauce that the group decided was one of the best vegetables of all time), and chilli chicken (seriously, we could not get enough of this stuff!).
Hot, buzzed, and full, we headed back to the Rock Pool, and had to stop on a narrow rock crossing for….another cow, on its way to the beach shacks. Nothing to see here.
After a few more hours at the pool for Jimmy and Alysia, and time spent getting massages for Jeffrey and me, we drove out to a popular Saturday night market in the nearby town of Arpora. The market is a sprawling field littered with stalls selling clothing, jewelry, accessories, and knick-knacks, a beer garden, and a performance venue for showcasing local talent. Like the rest of Goa’s touristy spots, the crowd is a mix of tourists from around the globe. Of greater interest to us was obviously the food stalls, selling everything from Goan, Greek, Israeli, Mexican, and Indian street food, with some organic options too. The dishes of choice included lamb gyros, momos (south Asian steamed dumplings), pav bhaji (buttered bread roll with a buttery potato and pea stew), and papri chaat (crispy chickpea wafers doused with tamarind, mint, and yogurt sauces), and more local microbrews.
Well-stuffed, we made our way back to the hotel to check out the Bollywood dance party, and managed to grab a seat before the place got packed – and packed it did get. Feni cocktails in hand, we soaked up the pulsing beats in the Goan heat, and while the opening DJ doing a very respectable job, the main DJ really brought the young ones (seriously, no one over 30) to the dance floor. The highlight was Jimmy and Jeffrey cracking up whenever the DJ would stop the hindi music to drop some wisdom on the crowds in English, such as the phrase “sexy….sexy….RAUNCHY!!” In any event, with Alysia having tucked in early, us guys gladly played the part of creepy old dudes checking out the dance floor. Of course, like most creepy old dudes, we packed in well before the party ended.
The next morning came too soon, but we had a few hours before our flight in the evening, and were determined to check the ‘architecture’ box of our trip. We headed to Old Goa, a historical city that was constructed in the 15th century and served as the capital of the Portuguese empire in India. The Churches and Convents of Old Goa are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and were a part of our first stop, which was the Basilica of Bom Jesus. The Basilica holds the remains of St. Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
It is considered a minor Basilica, and is a good example of Baroque architecture. A silver casket inside the basilica holds the body of St. Francis Xavier, and was gifted by Cosimo III, The Grand Duke of Tuscany.
We then visited the Sé Cathedral, also part of the World Heritage Site. Sé is Portuguese for See, and the Cathedral was built to commemorate the capture of Goa by the Portuguese, and was dedicated to Saint Catherine. Architecturally, the Sé Cathedral style is considered to be Portuguese-Manueline, with a Tuscan exterior and a Corinthian interior.
Next, we took a quick spin through the historical streets of the Fontainhas neighborhood in nearby Panjim, which is an old latin quarter that maintains its historic Portuguese architecture with narrow and winding streets, old villas with projecting balconies, and painted in pale yellows, greens, and blues. The houses are repainted after every monsoon season, an old Portuguese rule that is nevertheless still followed as a tradition today.
The Chapel of St Sebastian anchors the south end of the Fontainhas neighborhood, and is most famous for containing a crucifix that is a testament to the Goan Inquisition, established to punish heresy against Christianity in the region.
For a celebratory last meal, we made our way over to the Black Sheep Bistro nearby for lunch, an eclectic venue delivering globally-inspired cuisine. The highlight of the meal was fish cakes with Indian spices and garlic chili aioli.
And our collective hangover notwithstanding, Alysia did manage one last celebratory Feni Sour, a feni equivalent of a pisco sour with cashew feni, lime, sugar, and egg whites.
Jaipur, Agra, Goa…as we all made our way back to colder locales, we couldn’t help but wonder about the diversity of culture, history, food, and architecture that permeates these places. More importantly, we wonder, as we did after Thailand, after Easter Island, after the Galapagos, and now after India…..what’s our next big adventure together??
Leave a reply