Goa

The Cathedral in old Goa

 Our hotel Mateus off a quiet road in the center of the old Portuguese part of town.

Let sleeping dogs lie... we came across many dogs ,some in quite large groups but never felt worried. They mostly seemed well fed and happy to bounce around before finding something more interesting. 

Inside one of the churches in old Goa, still the largest in Asia aparently. I didn't realise that the Portuguese were in Goa for 400 years before the Indian army fought them and won the war in 1961.

Our bus to Old Goa for a princely sum of 15 rupees(around 20p)  each

Oh well it had to happen , pictures of food, in this case a fish Tali in a busy lunch spot in Panjim. 


And while on the topic of food and drink here is the bar that even brews it's own craft beers about 3 min walk from the hotel. 


We are leaving Panjim and the Mateus hotel to seek out of the beaches of Goa. But before this blog moves on here are a few more pictures from Panjim.
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This was the garden contractor's 'van', you can tell by the equipment on the back.


A lingum in front of a fire hydrant.

Mandrem 

Typical Goan fishing boats, they have to launch from the beach and look very heavy when they are dragged back up, but crews help each other and even include beach shack staff and casual passers by.

Arambol beach, about an hours stroll from where we were staying .

This is our hotel, greataccommodation and friendly staff but best to eat out.

A rather posh loo in one of the beach resorts. 

We did a lot of walking on the beach. It was good to get out and exercise and swim after the time spent in towns .

We were not the only people to walk the beaches,  this was a boy scout troop on the March. 

Every evening we managed to get to a bar and watch the sun go down .

Cathy got chatting with someone in a bar off Aramble beach and we met a very nice Russian who wad a model in Mumbai, liked the British and wanted to visit London. 




Colva 

We had a great time in Mandrem but we had a busy road to negotiate with 10 or 15 min walk in the increasingly hot sun (32 midday most days). Not helped by typically hatchet faced Russians driving big motorbikes too fast or small mopeds too slow for safety in the traffic. 

We took a taxi for the two hour trip to Colva and found the beaches just as splendid but with fewer people, cars and better roads. We even felt confident enough to go shopping and visit the local museum on bikes.

The road outside the self-catering apartment hotel Coastal suites.  Very clean nice pool and friendly staff and guests. 

The area feels a bit more like a real community rather than just a holiday spot.

Great coffee 

Buying groceries at Benaulim crossroad stores.

Our favourite spot for drinks or dinner. 

Typical evening with the locals playing football  (although many games of cricket are  also being played )

All year Christmas tree -one for Tiffer I think. 

Cathy on her way for a swim

Ok yet more food photos but I think we can be forgiven for this meter long dosa that tastes as good as it looks. 

The 'boys' sorting out the nets for the early start in the morning. 



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