Rodrick Writes: My Goan Chronicles

Wednesday, 26 October 2022

My Goan Chronicles

Sunset at the Baga Beach

This October end we decided to visit Goa with the whole family. We left for Goa from the Delhi International airport via Indigo airlines at about 11;40 a.m. and landed in Goa at 2:00 p.m. We had pre-booked two self-drive vehicles which we used to reach the Red Fox Hotel at Morjim at about 5:00 p.m. The first day was spent checking out the hotel, taking a dip in the swimming pool and enjoying some of the delectable dishes conjured by Santosh Otsi, the master chef for dinner. One of the dishes that stood out was the traditional Goan Prawn curry. Later in the night, we visited Morjim beach, which unfortunately we couldn't enjoy since it was rather dark.

Morjim Beach post Sunset

The next day, on the 21st we decided to visit the Chapora Fort followed by the Chapel of St. Catherine Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assisi's Cathedral. Unfortunately, the Basilica of Bom Jesus was not open to the public. Both of the structures are incidentally adjacent to each other. The Chapora Fort is an ancient structure of which only the outer walls remain. The view, however from the walls of the fort is amazing as one can see the Vagator Beach and another one that I haven't been able to identify.

The view from the ramparts of the Chapora Fort

St. Catherine's Church

On the 22nd of October, we visited Baga Beach and Panjim. We managed to do some shopping at Panaji. At Panaji, we were able to visit the Pro Nobis Church. Panaji is the capital of Goa and all the important building and offices are located here. One of them read Administration of Comunidades, Central Zone, Panjim, Goa. Another building had the title, Jesuit House and the one adjacent to it had the title, Clube Vasco Da Gama Est. 1909. Yet another interesting structure was the Ashoka pillar in central park where the lions replace the bust of Vasco Da Gama after Goa was liberated from Portuguese rule in 1968.

Pro Nobis Church, Panaji

The Ashoka Pillar, Panaji

Baga Beach happens to be one of the most happening beaches in Goa. A large number of tourist visit the beach. It also happens to be joined to Calangute Beach. One can see a large number of water sports activities taking place here. At the edge of Baga Beach, one comes across Tito Lane. Tito incidentally was an entrepreneur who was born in Mombasa and settled in Goa. He opened up a place where hippies and expatriots could gather in 1971.

Baga Beach

Tito's Lane

Baga Beach

On the 23rd we planned to enjoy some water sports activities at Vagator Beach. I went parasailing while the others went water skiing or else just wet their feet in the surf.

Jet Skiing at Vagator Beach

Parasailing at Vagator Beach

We decided not to go anywhere on the 24th of October, instead, we got up early in the morning and prepared for our return trip. The back to the Dabolim airport took us a good one and a half hours from Morjim. Our flight to Delhi took off at 3:25 p.m. and we landed in Delhi at 5:45 p.m. On the way to the airport, I was able to photograph a few rusting hulks.

A Rusting Hulk close to the airport

A special thanks to Santosh Osti and the staff of Red Fox Hotel by Lemon Tree at Morjim for the wonderful hospitality offered to us. We spent quite a good time at the hotel when we were not sightseeing. The food was excellent, the swimming pool was clean and best of all, the hotel was merely 800 metres from Morjim Beach.

Basa Fish cooked the Goan way at the Red Fox Hotel

Santosh Osti, Chief Chef conjures a delectable dish

He knows the art of creating paper-thin dosas

The swimming pool at the Red Fox Hotel by Lemon Tree, Morjim

I am sharing below a few photographs taken from the planes on which we were travelling and of the airports we visited. The T-3 terminal at the Delhi Airport was better than the T-2 terminal. Our flights by Indigo were very comfortable both times.