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| Travel Guide of Goa |
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India's beautiful State of Goa is a great place to go to on holiday with it's generally speaking wonderful
and consistent weather - fairly hot days (but usually tempered by a sea breeze or two) and lovely relaxing evenings
where you can wander around in shorts and t-shirt quite happily. Goa can be as quiet or busy around it's beaches and hotels depending on which
part you chose to stay whilst on holiday with generally
the further south you go the quieter it all is. |
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Bogmalo Beach. This fairly small cove is located about 4kms off the Vasco da Gama -
Margao main road (Vasco da Gama is around 8kms North). Goa's airport is close by but we did not
notice aircraft noise to be any problem/annoyance. |
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Vasco da Gama is the nearest town of any size to Bogmalo -
it's a busy bustling working town with quite large fish and fruit markets as
well as a really enclosed but huge general market area - this was actually like
a maze. In reality there was not a great deal to see and photograph and we did
not note any restaurants that looked appealing to go into. |
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Goa Airport
Goa Airport is one of the busiest tourists airports in India. It caters to both domestic and international flights. Tourists visit this tropical paradise which serves as a recluse hub for them far away from the stressful city life. Dabolim is the main entry point in Goa. It is situated at a distance of around 29 km from capital Panaji on the coast near Vasco da Gama.
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Mormugao Port
One of India's top-notch natural harbours, the Mormugao port is a premier hub of maritime trade in Goa. With its location at the mouth of the Zuari River, the Mormugao port is a crucial component in the flourishing export industry of the state. |
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Old Goa is one of those places which is on "the
list" of places to go whilst on holiday in Goa and you can surely tell
it is - full of locals trying to sell you various things, lots of
stalls and all the usual clutter which goes with a well known tourist
area. The buildings both inside and out were very impressive so the
stop over on the way to Panaji was worthwhile but we did not hang
around too long once we had looked around Xavier and then photographed
the Church of St Cajetan opposite. |
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Panaji is Goa's State Capital City and where needless to say all the "governing" takes place
- the city easily has the best shops in the area (probably in all of Goa)- catering for whether you want well made
brand goods or the cheaper copies - and there are of course extensive markets where you can buy fish, fruit and general goods. |
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Food and Drink in Goa. Even the smallest restaurants generally
offer an extensive menu - the variety of fish, prawns, currys made with
all manner of spices - hot, mild whatever you want - all you do is ask
and they are so willing to give you what you want. There are also of
course loads of vegetarian dishes on offer - wide use of peppers, lots
of different vegetables - the main problem is picking out what you want
this time and what you will have next time instead etc. |
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Taxis are the answer - we used the same driver many times
over our two weeks holiday - often hiring him for the day. Depending on
how many miles/kms you went on a day you could probably have your own
driver for around 1800 rps. Our driver was excellent and often went
round the various places we wanted to visit with us - giving us a guided
tour sometimes in places like Panaji. If you want to travel further
afield then Trains might be the answer - we took a train out of
Vasco da Gama when we did our jungle trip into Kanataka - somewhat slow
ride but really inexpensive. |
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The Local People
We met quite a few Goans and also quite a few locals from the neighbouring state of Kanataka - the people and especially the children living in the villages we walked around whilst in Kanataka did not really seem used to seeing Europeans wandering around but they were always quick enough to smile a greeting. |
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Shops. As mentioned there are several shops
clustered around Bogmalo - a lot of them selling the usual t-shirts, beach wear,
ornaments and flip-flops and so on - we did before we left make a point of
visiting most of them and buying a few things from each. Spending a
couple of English pounds here and there is not a big deal for us but it
is significant for a small Goan shopkeeper. |
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| Goa Map |
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