After multiple failed attempts, me and 4 of my friends successfully visited the Rome of East!
Group of DSLR guys, Negotiator, Planner and Wanderer.
This is how the trip went.
Day 1 :
We reached Goa by morning 9:00. We boarded bus by 18:00 previous day, in Hyderabad. We traveled in Kadamba travels and it was a good experience, except for the hilly route after Belagavi, where nausea wave hit the bus!
After getting down at Mapusa, our original plan was to get a bike and travel to our room (we booked a room in prior, at Calangute). But the bike rents are bit costlier there as that is the North Goa drop point for many travels. The least we were able to find was 400/day for scooters. So we went to calangute by bus and decided to rent bikes from there.
Buses are frequently available to Calangute and we didn't find any trouble in getting bus or finding our room in Calangute.
We booked room at Angel Guest House, in Calangute Baga circle. For 5 person, 2 nights, we were charged ₹3,100. Since it's off season (April), we got room for cheap cost. During season time, getting a room near Calangute is a challenging task, even if you are ready to pay big amount.
Room was pretty decent with AC/Fridge/TV. After quick fresh-up, we went for bike hunt.
The best deal we got was from Mr.Antony in a nearby rental shop, 250/day/scooter. On submission of one original ID proof, we got our Ride ! 3 scooters for 5 folks.
Since it's Good Friday, our first visit in Goa was to Basilica of Bom Jesus. We had no idea that church will be closed for outsiders and mass will be held in closed church for the whole day :(
Though the environment was good, though we got a chance to admire the building and architecture, the feeling of not seeing the church from inside - hurts!
To fulfill the void created by not visiting the church, we moved to Archaeological Museum, which is located just opposite to the church. But our bad luck continued! Even that museum was closed on Friday! We were just allowed to watch the outskirts. But even that was mesmerizing <3
So, my suggestion to people who visit this spot is, plan a Saturday/Sunday visit. There are lot of churches in the surrounding and the museum will also be open on those days.
Though the visit was not up-to the expectation, the travel was. The ride to church was good, the road and environment was lovely. We got a chance to see the colorfulness and natural places of the city.
To loose the heat of all day roaming, we spent the evening inside water. And those who booze, in our gang are already high. As many of us already heard, it's easy and cheap to get alcoholic beverages in Goa. Even in grocery stores, you can get them. Plus they are pretty cheap compared to other parts of India (almost half rate). On the other hand, food items are costly. Compared to Hyderabad, where I currently reside, it's almost double in Goa!
Back to that evening, we spent it in Calangute beach. It was crowdy. For that much crowd, the cleanliness of beach is totally unexpected. It was so clean than it should be :)
Next stop - Night Club! Goa. Night time. Where else would we go.. We went straight to Tito's lane.
Now guys.. A personal advice due to the pain we got there. Either go there as couple. Or be a girl by gender.
In almost all clubs, it was free entry for girls and they get up-to 50% concession in drinks as well. In many clubs, it was free for couple entry and in clubs where it was charged for couple entry, the entry fee was moderate. In many clubs, stag entry is not there :( . Clubs which allow stag entry charge more! We had very tough time finding a club which allows stag entry with considerable fee. After a long struggle, we found Club Ivy.
Fee was good (500/person, which will be covered with drinks). Ambience was also good. But not our luck. There's not much crowd that day. The club members said it's because of Good Friday. They also informed that Easter night will be awesome.
There will be lot of crowd in that area and finding a spot to part your vehicle will be pain in the ***. So it's better to use cab or something, instead of self driving.
Half past midnight, we decided to eat. We decided to eat in the tito's lane itself and get back to club soon. I forgot the name of hotel we entered. It was on the opposite side of Cape Town Cafe. The service was awful :( I placed 5 orders. Every time the waiter picks up the order, goes in, come back and say it's not there. Couple of my friends tried Cashew Feni. They almost puked !!
Totally frustrated, we went back to club, finished our drinks and went back to room.
Later that night, around 2:00, just had a night stroll at Calangute and Baga purely to enjoy sea and beach with less crowd :) There were scattered groups of people even at that time, but the crowd is not heavy. We called it a day around 4:00 that morning :P
Day 2 :
After morning discussions on where to go, we started to Chapora Fort.
There's nothing much left in the fort. Just part of walls. But the view from there is breath-taking! You can see sea in one side, forest in other sides. After admiring the views and completing 'Dil Chahta Hai' spoof photo shoots, we decided to visit the beach that was visible from fort top. The beach view was awesome and attractive from fort top.
When we made our way to that beach, we came to know that it is the famous Vagator Beach!!
We spent some good time there and spent some time in Chapora beach as well.
Finished our lunch at Bobby bar and restaurant (at a four road junction which you have to cross to go anywhere from Chapora fort). It was around 15:00 and there's not much left. We got fish thali and there's nothing to complain about it :)
Evening plan was to watch sunset from viewpoint/lighthouse @ Aguada Fort. But till we reach there, we didn't knew that fort will be closed by 17:30. So much for the sunset plan!
We rushed to find a better spot and found one as well. Sinquerium Beach. Just 5mins from fort and we are there well before sunset!
I have no words to describe the beauty we witnessed there. That is the best sunset I have witnessed, till date. A long time dream of 'watching Sun going down into water' also got fulfilled :)
We didn't find any proper place for food till that time. Dinner we decided to try with the hotel recommended by guest house. The hotel guys said it will take one hour as they prepare on order. When food arrived, we felt bad that we didn't visit this hotel earlier. Food was better than all places we ate till that in Goa.
That night, plan was Saturday night market. Heard a lot about it before going to Goa. But was a bit disappointed that it was not up to the mark. We were expecting lot of cultural diversity there, but we didn't find much. One thing we found awesome there was the live concert!
Day 3 :
We split into two groups - One group went looking for good Massage center and other group (TBH one guy :P) went looking for water games. Though the first mission was unsuccessful, second one succeeded :)
We got a good deal from 'Dream in Goa Watersports'. 5 rides/1500/person. The office is near dolphin circle. After enrolling for sports there, they gave us a map which led us to the southern part of Calangute beach. That's where we took the rides.
We thoroughly enjoyed the whole part - Boat ride, parasailing, water scooter, bumper ride, banana ride. Went into water couple of times, but none of us knew swimming :P. There will be folks from water sports who will be with you, to save you :P.
After the whole part, returned to room and extended the room till 15:00 with extra payment of 250/-.
For late-lunch, we decided to go to the same hotel we had dinner the previous night. We had breakfast also in that hotel only. The food lover inside all of us found a right spot ;)
Returned bikes (after some check from bike owner), bought some souvenirs from Calangute. Got bus from Calangute to Mapusa. Boarded bus by 17:00.
Successfully completed Mission Goa B-)
P.S:
- Negotiation can get you things so cheap.
- The major checking inside Goa is for Weed. They check every nook and corner of your belongings if they get suspicious. Beware!
- Fill petrol in advance when you find a petrol station. There are not many petrol stations.
- Be ready for Sun tan :)
- Quality food will be tough to find. Find a good shop and stick to it.
- Don't miss night party and casino. We missed casino :(. But my cousin who visited recently told me that it was a memorable experience.
- For those who drink alcohol, Goa IS THE spot. You will find better quality in cheaper price.
- Don't try to carry any alcoholic drink from Goa. Police checking in border is pretty intense and you will be fined on-spot if you get caught possessing any alcoholic drink.
- Try not to miss any beach, especially Baga, Calangute, Vagator, Sinquerium, Candolim beaches. Every beach we visited during this trip had something different.
- The water games and rides are full of fun! We didn't see any age limit for any game or ride.
- We missed few places in South Goa. Make sure you don't.
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