October 9 - South Goa Tour

Plan: South Goa Tour

Yesterday we had dropped by a hotel and booked two tickets for this day trip through South Goa organized by the RTDC (regional tourism development corporation) and mentioned of course in our Lonely Planet Guide. After breakfast at our hotel (we ordered jam toast, eggs, and 2 chais the night before and one of the employees brought it to our room this morning), we headed back to the same hotel to catch the bus. The bus headed straight for Old Goa, a short ride further inland.

At one time, Old Goa was the capital of this Portuguese colony and all the way back in the 1500s, it had a larger population than either Lisbon or London! Unfortunately, epidemics and Inquisitions hindered its status and the capital was moved to Panaji in 1843. All that’s really left now are half-a-dozen churches and cathedrals, including Asia’s largest, Se Cathedral. Our first stop though was just across the street, at the Basilica of Bom Jesus, famous throughout the Roman Catholic world because it contains the remains of St Francis Xavier. This particular saint was a renowned missionary, spreading the faith across Portugal’s eastern colonies, but perhaps more interesting is what happened after his death. Dying on December 3 1552 off the coast of China, a servant is said to have emptied four sacks of quicklime into his coffin to consume his flesh, but 2 months later, his body was still in perfect condition. The body was returned to Goa a year later and a medical examination by the Church in 1556 confirmed the miracle. While St Francis’s body could resist normal decomposition and quicklime, it didn’t fare as well against holy-relic hunters. His right arm was removed in 1614, shared between Jesuits in Japan and Rome. By 1636, parts of one shoulder blade and all his internal organs were scattered across Southeast Asia. A century later the miracle seemed over and the body was stored in a glass coffin and stored away. The reason his body remains so well-known however is that since the middle of the 19th century, St Francis’s body has been displayed every 10 years, with thousands making the pilgrimage from around the world to view the body. If you’re interested, the next display is in 2014! Well while we couldn’t view the body from up close, you can still make out its shape through the glass panel up on the altar where it lays. The Basilica itself it also pretty (my architectural lingo) and dates back 1605.

From the Basilica we walked across the road and through some nicely maintained grounds up to Se Cathedral, whose construction began in 1562. Having visited many many cathedrals in Europe, I found it pretty cool to be seeing a comparable one, but this time in India’s tropical climate. Once again a very pretty cathedral with one missing tower which also adds to its coolness factor.

Next our guided tour led us to divine tackiness, Old Goa’s very own wax museum. I’ve actually never visited one of these before (they’re ridiculously expensive in Europe) but I’m pretty sure they’re nothing like this one! No celebrities in sight, well not Western ones anyway. Instead, we checked out wax figures of Ghandi, Jesus and the 12 apostles during the Last Supper, some Hindu Gods, and several gurus known throughout India. Overall it was a pretty humorous stop after what we’d just seen and thankfully it wasn’t too expensive.

Having visited some in the states, I can honestly say that this one was not even remotely close to being the same…there was definitely a huge difference in quality!

Hopping back on the bus, we made our way further south now, through the Goan countryside, to the Shiva temple of Shri Manguesh. This 18th century temple was pretty to look at, and we made our way inside and around, admired the nice white tower beside the temple, and headed back to the bus, ignoring many shopkeepers along the way.

Next we stopped for lunch, not on the beach as had been previously advertised, but instead at an RTDC resort along the way with nowhere else to eat but their restaurant (smart businessmen these RTDC people)…

A little over an hour later, we were back on the bus, listening to the Indian tourists complaining to the guide about the stop at the RTDC restaurant and not the beach, as previously advertised. We arrived soon thereafter at another temple, this time the Shri Shantadurga Temple, which is dedicated to Shantadurga, the goddess of peace. To me, this temple looked a lot like the first one, also had a tower, but its followers were clearly more business savvy as most of the courtyard and surrounding buildings had been fully restored whereas they were still working on it at the first temple. Could it be the creative sponsorship campaign used by this second temple? Depending on the sum donated, you could find your name on a plaque or when very generous, be rewarded with use of one of temple’s sleeping quarters for two weeks a year (but not during heavy pilgrimage season). It’s sort of like an Indian style time-share I guess!

Next stop was Loutolim, where we first visited Casa Arajao Alvarez, a 250-year-old Portuguese Mansion. Fully furnished and kept in the appropriate-era look, this was a pretty cool glimpse into what life as a colonial master must have looked like. Across the street from the mansion meanwhile is Ancestral Goa, billed by our Lonely Planet Guide as a re-creation of Goan village life under the Portuguese a century ago. I don’t think anyone from Lonely Planet actually visited this place because it is nothing more than a tourist trap, Indian style. Aside from the world’s largest carving into a particular type of rock and a foot print magically left behind in a rock by a Hindu saint, this place had nothing to offer but tacky looking figurines in various poses, recreating various tasks like fishing and making pottery. Actually the thing I most remember here is that there were about 10 kids employed as guides here, and each one was assigned no more than 2 displays and about 15 second of text to robotically recite. Each
one led you to a display, spoke, led you to another, spoke, and then pointed to the next guide. Pretty hard stuff!

It truly was the worst thing we’ve visited so far, and definitely a waste of money…lesson learned and an email to Lonely Planet will follow!

At this point I was itching for our next destination, Colva Beach, Goa’s longest and the second-longest beach in India. Located in central Goa, this particular beach is a favourite for many Indians and we sure saw a lot of them there. Trying to enjoy our first view of the Arabian Sea, we were quickly interrupted by “friends” offering jewellery and Indian tourists asking to take photos with us. In fact, I’m accompanied by some random Indian guy in my very first photo in front of the Arabian Sea. Hate to say it but there is an upside to visiting a Western-centric beach, hence our planned visit to Arambol the next day. For now, the tour schedule only allowed for 20 minutes or so here and after a short walk, we made our way back to the bus and headed for the next stop, Dona Paula Bay. This place had a really nicely maintained boardwalk and some beautiful views of the surrounding waterfronts. Also nice was the lookout point built atop a large rock from which we watched our first real ocean sunset. After enjoying t he sight, we did a little shopping (there is always a shopping opportunity around anything remotely touristy here in India) and a stop for lemonade and tea, we hopped back on the bus and back to Panaji, where we enjoyed another nice sea-food related supper and another walk around the pretty church, but this time at night. From there we made our way back to the monkey temple hoping it would be lit up nicely too, but it wasn’t, and so we headed back to our hotel for some well deserved R&R (which for me included watching Monday Night Raw with some of the local boys on the TV in the lobby).

We were actually very happy to have taken this tour! It permitted us to see a lot more of Goa than we would’ve had otherwise.