Even if you have seen the best of beaches, you’ll still have a lot unseen till you arrive in Goa. You become a local here in a matter of a day even if you have no one to host you. In Goa you learn on your own, fend for yourself, burn your skin in the midday heat, fall prey to touts, overpay, and yet while sipping the last drink of the day feel a gush of nostalgia, a sense of unbridled freedom.
Once home to the flower children of the 60s, Goa, particularly its Northern beaches, reverberate with the legacy left by them, making even the most snot-nosed traveller abandon caution to embrace the hippie way of life. Of late a lot has been written about the beach state’s deteriorating law and order situation, yet as we biked down from the restaurant post a late dinner a dozen miles away from our service apartment, there were pretty young white girls boldly dressed for a night out walking all by themselves, some even without company, on a shallowly lit beach road.
In the day topless men sporting pink tans come riding their bikes from far distances, women in their bikinis with a wrap around their waist walk down to the local market to buy supplies, beach bums throng breakfast cafes in their bathing suits straight after a swim, and as the day wears on the gazillion shacks dotting the beaches roar to life with some old classics as they dish out beer and fish to their ever-surging clientele.
Evenings here are about long bike rides, stopping by to listen to a band in concert, bargain hunting, and eventually settling down with a soothing drink at an open-air restaurant and watching the world go by. A few days and you end up picking your haunts, yet you feel struck by wanderlust each time you rev up the engine to take another ride down the green countryside past quaint boutiques and cafes to a new beach everyday.
Goa is not particularly clean, not the least bit pristine, a quality one would associate with beach getaways, but it has an infectious energy that makes you forgive its unrelenting noon sun, and the vendor-infested beaches as you wander about with the wind in your hair like the hippies of yore. That Goa is best explored atop a bike requires no contesting, but if you are running low on gas it might be several miles before you get to the next fueling station.
Sticking to this rule of thumb can save you a lot of hassle especially when you are headed to a farther place with the sun on your back. Do not flinch if asked to submit original identification proof while hiring a Scooty or motorbike, for that’s the way things go around here. You will be handed over a rundown vehicle whose fuel meter has nearly hit rock bottom, and offered a bottle of petrol, for a price of course, for good measure.
Bike rentals are a booming business in Goa, for which you don’t even need a shop. Even housewives from their homes manage this dealing with great efficiency. Surprisingly you never wish to sleep on well into the morning here despite being on a holiday, for the streets, the beaches and the cafes are already abuzz with activity.
If you are staying on for a longish period consider renting out a small cottage (there are some very beautiful ones lining the Candolim beach road), or a service apartment, and then, not to mention, hire a two-wheeler to get around the markets and the beaches. We picked North Goa, the Calangute beach road to be more precise, for our stay as it is the hub of all activity in Goa.
North Goa’s extensive coastline interspersed with patches of greenery, rock formations, pretty houses spilling with flowers, bustling marketplaces, and quaint street cafes breathe life and character into the place that can be quite amiss in the Southern part. South Goa on the other hand is more spaced out, more posh and austere. You’d love it too for its colonial charm reflected in the street lamps, the churches and the old bungalows lining the road, but might find it less lively and more idyllic compared to the colourful North.
Begin your North Goa exploration with Calangute beach, the largest, and perhaps the busiest, in North Goa. It is an endless stroll from one end of the coastline to the other opening up views of a rocky promontory crowded with palm trees. Abundance of water sports activities are available here from speed boating to parasailing for enthusiasts and amateurs alike.
Oddly though it is the amateurs mostly who find their way to these water sports shacks of questionable origin. After a fresh lime soda at a beach shack proceed to Baga beach, only a few minutes from Calangute. The scenery is pretty much the same, save for its rocky end that has some serene patches for bathing or simple dipping your toe. Further up are the Arpora and Anjuna beaches known for their Saturday night flee market and party scene respectively.
But most enjoyable is the drive to Anjuna past a lush countryside through narrow winding roads. The beach is a tiny one compared to the magnanimous Calangute, but it is striking for the scenery it affords. A narrow downhill walk past souvenir shops brings you to a rocky beach that receives more turbulent walls of water compared to the rest. In the day, the place is almost dead, but post sunset comes to life with full night beach parties and what-have-you.
If history interests you, or you are looking for a fresh perspective, a visit to the 17th century Portuguese water tower, Fort Aguada, is highly recommended. With ramparts skirting the Arabian Sea, the ancient fort opens up a panoramic view of Goa’s coastline, the adjoining Sinquerim beach and the dense coconut groves fringing it.
A dried-up moat, an underground water storage chamber, gunpowder room, bastions and lighthouse make up the ruins of Fort Aguada, though currently the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is working on restoring a part of its massive open terrace. Keep a full day aside on your Goa holiday to explore Panjim, the capital city, boasting a wealth of churches including the famous Basilica of Bom Jesus and the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in the adjacent compound.
Old Goa is dotted with marvellous churches, and is a delight to stop by for a quick photo op. With the Mandovi River on one side and lush jungles on the other, the narrow strip of tarmac leading to old Goa is a sheer delight for biking enthusiasts. Drop by at the Miramar beach, a vantage point where the Mandovi river meets the Arabian Sea, and continue to Dona Paula beach only a mile away from Miramar.
Shrouded in romantic myth, the clear waters of Dona Paula still reverberate with the legend of Dona Paula de Menzes, the daughter of a Viceroy from the colonial era who jumped off a cliff here when not permitted to marry her lover, local fisherman Gasper Dias. Eating out is a euphemism for mindless bingeing in Goa. For reasons unknown, hunger pangs strike all the time as to your aide come countless shacks and hawkers dishing out seafood like it was paani puri apart from the most soughtafter festive specialty of the locals, the Bebinca.
It’s a ritual in Goan homes to bake this seven-tiered pudding out of flour, sugar, butter, coconut milk and egg yolk, and then enjoy it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Most eateries lining the beach road operate out of the front yard of their houses transformed into a sunlit dining room, while the balcony doubles up as the mezzanine dining floor. Don’t be compelled to order a Continental or European dish because the menu boasts of them, instead ask for the local favourites such as the Goan fish curry or the fiery pork vindaloo served with fresh steamed rice.
You don’t have to believe everything they say about Goa’s callousness, for even the touts do not depart without a polite ‘have a nice day’, and the locals rush to your side when you can’t find your way around. Despite hurtling down the path to quick commercialisation, a holiday in Goa is all but overrated.
