Getting There
Okay, so we took a government run non air conditioned sleeper bus from Hampi as the private bus was full, it cost us 800 INR each. Our bed was just above the axle which it turns out is the bumpiest place to be, and it also turns out the road from Hampi to Goa is a particularly bumpy road. This was capped off with an emergency door rattling and banging all night, and curtains flailing everywhere as all windows were open trying to get some heat out the bus. The bus picked us up at 7pm and we arrived into Panjim in Goa at 6am. The local buses in Goa didn't start running until 7am which was ok for us as we were trying not to arrive to early to where we were staying.
Accommodation
Couchsurfing.......this was amazing, we were lucky enough to be hosted by a fantastic host named Ajay, He and his family could not have been better hosts, and actually meeting Ajay and his family has been one of our highlights of India. We loved eating dinner with them and talking about all the differences in culture between India and England, as well as the food his wonderful wife Minnie was cooking up, she showed us how to make Aubergine curry, as well as home made chapatti's. Ajay and Minnie had two older children both in their twenties who gave us some useful tips for travelling through the rest of India, (such as using Uber in Mumbai to save endless haggling with taxi/autorickshaw drivers). Ajay helped us with booking trains and gave us some great tips on the best beaches in Goa, as we were there in the off season the tourist beaches were not all up and running and he helped us with where to go. Again, this experience was brilliant and one we cannot thank Ajay and his family enough for.
Panjim
We were staying with Ajay in Dona Paula which is a nice part of Goa, quiet by comparison, easily accessible by bus, this accessibility worked wonders for us, as the first day, we arrived in Goa, got the bus to Dona Paula, where Ajay came and picked us up and we had breakfast at his house with him and his wife. We then got the bus back into Panjim, then onto Old Goa where we looked around 5 churches in the area, all walking distance from each other, these included the Basilica of Bom Jesus. In this church they have the body of St. Francis Xavier, this is over 500 years old and is adorned in alot of decoration. From Old Goa we got the bus back to Panjim and went wandering around an area Minnie had told us about called Fortunas, in Panjim and we were advised to go to a restaurant called Viva Panjim, this was around a 10 minute walk from the bus station, across the footbridge over the canal. The food was amazing, this traditional Goan restaurant served up a fish vindaloo (Goan specific, and nothing like a vindaloo in England) and a Kingfish curry with Goan rice. It was brilliant, the tastes were amazing, and the food was great value too. 2 main meals and two beers only cost us 500 INR. We continued to stroll around Panjim until around 6pm, where we saw the church of the immaculate conception, but we got caught in a heavy rain shower which dampened our spirits a little, so we got the bus back to our hosts at Dona Paula. That evening we had dinner with the family, and spent the evening discussing all sorts of interesting topics on culture and differences
Cruising the beaches
On the advice of the family we were staying with we decided to hire scooters and go beach hopping the southern beaches. the scooters cost 300 INR a day to hire, including helmets. we opted for two scooters as neither of us had ridden one in a while. they were really easy to ride and the roads around Goa are oretty easy to navigate, all well signed etc. we rode for over an hour to get to the southern beaches we were told to check out, and then had a late lunch at a restaurant in Colva Beach. It was pretty expensive for a meal, but there is not a great amount of choice in the off season. a lot of the bars and restaurants were closed, but this did mean we were able to walk onto the beach and see nobody for miles around. The beaches were beautiful in the south, and we sat their enjoying watching the waves, there were plenty of Indians swimming in the sea, but we chose not too (most Indian women bathe in clothes so Abi did not fancy getting her bikini out to draw even more attention to us!). We sat there till about 5.30 and then started making our way back to Dona Paula, it took about 1hr 30 mins to get back, via the highway, although the highway in dimming light, and at rush hour was not so enjoyable as the ride down to the southern beaches. If we did this again, we would have got out the house earlier and visited more beaches, as we were told by our hosts that Agonda beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in Goa, and their advice had been great so far. Other travellers have also highly recommended Arambol beach right up in the North but we weren't able to see it ourselves.
The Hunt for an off season Goan party
Goa is famous for parties if you didn't know, and we didn't want to miss out on this, so our quest to find one began. we moved on from where we were staying with Ajay, and on his advice went to the beaches north of Panjim to investigate, we got to Candolim beach which was quiet and very beautiful, but no sign of any off season party. so reading through lonely planet we decided our best bet would be to get up to Anjuna beach. we took a taxi and found some accommodation, at evershine guesthouse. It was nice and clean and a good price for a double room, with solar powered hot water, which worked loads better than we had imagined.
So now we were checked in we took a stroll to the beach, and had a drink in Curlies bar, asking if there were any parties, much to our disappointment the waiters said no, not in the off season. we were there the last week of August and it was very apparent it was off season, half the beach shacks were still boarded up for monsoon. and they were being unwrapped and fixed up ready for the season whilst we were there. Anjuna beach was a long way from the nicest beach in Goa, but it was busier than most others. It had lots of cliff top bars where you could enjoy the sunset with a cold beer. (The beer in Goa is as cheap as we have found it in India). There were some great places to eat in Anjuna, one was The Burger factory. You do not see beef on the menu in India very often and this place was not cheap for a burger, but it did not disappoint. the burgers were big and full of flavour, the chips were crispy, and the atmosphere and service in this place is brilliant.
Despite being out of season, Anjuna had many other travellers, this was nice, as up until this point we had mainly just had each other for company, so it was nice to have someone else to talk to about good old Blighty, roast dinners and all things British.
It also allowed us to get lots of advice for the north of india as most people travel north to south (opposite of us) which no doubt will be very useful as we move on!
Okay, so we took a government run non air conditioned sleeper bus from Hampi as the private bus was full, it cost us 800 INR each. Our bed was just above the axle which it turns out is the bumpiest place to be, and it also turns out the road from Hampi to Goa is a particularly bumpy road. This was capped off with an emergency door rattling and banging all night, and curtains flailing everywhere as all windows were open trying to get some heat out the bus. The bus picked us up at 7pm and we arrived into Panjim in Goa at 6am. The local buses in Goa didn't start running until 7am which was ok for us as we were trying not to arrive to early to where we were staying.
Accommodation
Couchsurfing.......this was amazing, we were lucky enough to be hosted by a fantastic host named Ajay, He and his family could not have been better hosts, and actually meeting Ajay and his family has been one of our highlights of India. We loved eating dinner with them and talking about all the differences in culture between India and England, as well as the food his wonderful wife Minnie was cooking up, she showed us how to make Aubergine curry, as well as home made chapatti's. Ajay and Minnie had two older children both in their twenties who gave us some useful tips for travelling through the rest of India, (such as using Uber in Mumbai to save endless haggling with taxi/autorickshaw drivers). Ajay helped us with booking trains and gave us some great tips on the best beaches in Goa, as we were there in the off season the tourist beaches were not all up and running and he helped us with where to go. Again, this experience was brilliant and one we cannot thank Ajay and his family enough for.
Panjim
We were staying with Ajay in Dona Paula which is a nice part of Goa, quiet by comparison, easily accessible by bus, this accessibility worked wonders for us, as the first day, we arrived in Goa, got the bus to Dona Paula, where Ajay came and picked us up and we had breakfast at his house with him and his wife. We then got the bus back into Panjim, then onto Old Goa where we looked around 5 churches in the area, all walking distance from each other, these included the Basilica of Bom Jesus. In this church they have the body of St. Francis Xavier, this is over 500 years old and is adorned in alot of decoration. From Old Goa we got the bus back to Panjim and went wandering around an area Minnie had told us about called Fortunas, in Panjim and we were advised to go to a restaurant called Viva Panjim, this was around a 10 minute walk from the bus station, across the footbridge over the canal. The food was amazing, this traditional Goan restaurant served up a fish vindaloo (Goan specific, and nothing like a vindaloo in England) and a Kingfish curry with Goan rice. It was brilliant, the tastes were amazing, and the food was great value too. 2 main meals and two beers only cost us 500 INR. We continued to stroll around Panjim until around 6pm, where we saw the church of the immaculate conception, but we got caught in a heavy rain shower which dampened our spirits a little, so we got the bus back to our hosts at Dona Paula. That evening we had dinner with the family, and spent the evening discussing all sorts of interesting topics on culture and differences
Cruising the beaches
On the advice of the family we were staying with we decided to hire scooters and go beach hopping the southern beaches. the scooters cost 300 INR a day to hire, including helmets. we opted for two scooters as neither of us had ridden one in a while. they were really easy to ride and the roads around Goa are oretty easy to navigate, all well signed etc. we rode for over an hour to get to the southern beaches we were told to check out, and then had a late lunch at a restaurant in Colva Beach. It was pretty expensive for a meal, but there is not a great amount of choice in the off season. a lot of the bars and restaurants were closed, but this did mean we were able to walk onto the beach and see nobody for miles around. The beaches were beautiful in the south, and we sat their enjoying watching the waves, there were plenty of Indians swimming in the sea, but we chose not too (most Indian women bathe in clothes so Abi did not fancy getting her bikini out to draw even more attention to us!). We sat there till about 5.30 and then started making our way back to Dona Paula, it took about 1hr 30 mins to get back, via the highway, although the highway in dimming light, and at rush hour was not so enjoyable as the ride down to the southern beaches. If we did this again, we would have got out the house earlier and visited more beaches, as we were told by our hosts that Agonda beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in Goa, and their advice had been great so far. Other travellers have also highly recommended Arambol beach right up in the North but we weren't able to see it ourselves.
The Hunt for an off season Goan party
Goa is famous for parties if you didn't know, and we didn't want to miss out on this, so our quest to find one began. we moved on from where we were staying with Ajay, and on his advice went to the beaches north of Panjim to investigate, we got to Candolim beach which was quiet and very beautiful, but no sign of any off season party. so reading through lonely planet we decided our best bet would be to get up to Anjuna beach. we took a taxi and found some accommodation, at evershine guesthouse. It was nice and clean and a good price for a double room, with solar powered hot water, which worked loads better than we had imagined.
So now we were checked in we took a stroll to the beach, and had a drink in Curlies bar, asking if there were any parties, much to our disappointment the waiters said no, not in the off season. we were there the last week of August and it was very apparent it was off season, half the beach shacks were still boarded up for monsoon. and they were being unwrapped and fixed up ready for the season whilst we were there. Anjuna beach was a long way from the nicest beach in Goa, but it was busier than most others. It had lots of cliff top bars where you could enjoy the sunset with a cold beer. (The beer in Goa is as cheap as we have found it in India). There were some great places to eat in Anjuna, one was The Burger factory. You do not see beef on the menu in India very often and this place was not cheap for a burger, but it did not disappoint. the burgers were big and full of flavour, the chips were crispy, and the atmosphere and service in this place is brilliant.
Despite being out of season, Anjuna had many other travellers, this was nice, as up until this point we had mainly just had each other for company, so it was nice to have someone else to talk to about good old Blighty, roast dinners and all things British.
It also allowed us to get lots of advice for the north of india as most people travel north to south (opposite of us) which no doubt will be very useful as we move on!
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| Southern Beaches, Nobody in Sight! |
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| Gary's new friend in Anjuna |
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| Our superb hosts! They were Great!!! |
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| Beach Map Of Goa, it is useful to get hold of one of these ( we got ours in a bookshop for 30 INR) |
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