My First Trip To GOA!!!

Finally literary finally GOA plan is successful.. one thing i observed that when you strive for something you get it.. 3 yrs back there was project pressure and i dropped the plan at end time..this time also situation was the same but i decided to go and i went..

It was a very good plan by Mota... we visited most of the places.. from south Goa to North Goa.. Dona Paula Beach, Mira-mar beach, baga, calangute, Anjuna, Vagator beach, Aguada Fort, Chapora Fort, St. Cathedral Church, Church of St. Francis of Assisis, Basilica of BomJesus Church. Mangeshi temple and finally Gapanati pule. Awesome trip.

We started on 25th night.. i reach Mulund at 10:15 p.m. and we started at 11:30, Mark waited for 3 hrs in office ...Mark was waiting but Vaibhavs 15 mins was not ready to end :P. at around 12 Mark join us.. after around 9 month i visited Patni ..we were very hungry.. we had diner at Shree krishna restaurant ( My Patni friends will remember it..).
As per plan we catch Pune-Kohlapur highway... its really very good road to travel.. then thru Amboli ghat headed towards Panjim ... at around 12:30 PM on Republic day, we reach to Dona Paula Beach.. there we got very good accommodation at comparatively cheap rate (Michael 9823321133)..we had our lunch and then started sightseeing from

Dona Paula Beach..At the place where two of Goa's famous rivers meet the Arabian Sea
Our [PhD holder :P] Motus Wikipedia search says "A Love Story Named after Dona Paula de Menezes, this place is called the Lovers Paradise due to a myth that has been attached to this place. According one legend the Viceroy's daughter after facing objections from her family about her love affair with a poor fisherman jumped of the cliff.
Another legend says that punished for captivating Francisco de Tavora, the Count of Alvor with her charm the Viceroy's daughter was pushed off a cliff to drown in the waters below. Her irrepressible spirit still continues to haunt every visitor with legends of her lovers. She is even supposed to have been seen emerging from moonlit waves wearing only a pearl necklace."
( Vaibhav who took photo with the Dona Paula statue.. also experience behavioral change at night :P)

Then we headed towards Mira-mar beach... to have bhel..our 2 mins walk becomes a 2 hrs walk when we actually reach Miramar ..(then we realize that its good location to have boat tours with diner.. but we were out of time)..

2nd day morning we said bye to Dona Paula.. we had our breakfast which was not at all fast (coz we waste 45mins in search of parking itself)..
our second destination is historical churches
St. Cathedral Church
The Portuguese Viceroy Redondo commissioned the Se, or St. Catherine's' Cathedral, southwest of St. Cajetan's, to be "a grandiose church worthy of the wealth, power and fame of the Portuguese who dominated the seas from the Atlantic to the Pacific".It took eighty years to build and was not consecrated until 1640.


Basilica of BomJesus Church
The Basilica of Bom Jesus is the most august and famous of all the churches in Old Goa. It contains the relics of St.Framcis Xavier, Patron saint of Goa, Apostle of the Indies. The construction of the church began on the 24th November 1594 AD. It is built of black laterite stone. The relics of St Francis Xavier were kept in this chapel from 1623-55 AD. The Blessed Sacrament was earlier kept on the main altar under the statue of St Ignatius and now is preserved in a gold tabernacle. The body of St. Francis Xavier was brought here from the College of St Paul after his canonization in 1624 AD. It was shifted to its present location in 1655 AD. The crystal urn was made in the Casa Brandizzi at Rome and was brought to Goa on January 30th 1955. The old wooden coffin with its three keys is now kept in the museum at the Professed House of the Jesuits.
( Sp. attraction of our visit is some eye catching natural beauties which our camara missed out :( )

Church of St. Francis of Assisis
Built in the 17th Century, a beautiful octagonal tabernacle ornately decorated has two statues, one of St Francis of Assisi and the other of Jesus on the cross. Vows of poverty, humility and obedience of St. Francis of Assisi are scripted right below these two statues

Then we visited famous Mangeshi temple.
In 1560, anticipating the onslaught of the Portuguese, the devotees had moved Shri Mangesh Shivalinga from Kutthal to a safer place under a Hindu prince. Surrounded by hillocks and covered by forests, the Shivalinga was kept at a place, which now is known as Mangeshi.The Peshwas donated in 1739, the village of Mangeshi to the temple on the suggestion of their Sardar, Shri Ramchandra Malhar Sukhtankar, who was a life-long devotee of Shri Mangesh.

From there we headed towards Aguada Fort but it was very dark that we could not able to see the site.
Then we went to Baga beach .. to search our second accommodation.. which again eat a lot of time.. around 1 and half hour.. and we were late and tired and had to drop pub and disk plan..:(
Then we had our diner at Baga beach ... its an awesome experience to have diner at seashore ...( we had veg though :( Vaibhav remember 120 and mine 240 :P ) At around 12 AM we finished our most lavish & expensive diner ...and went back to take rest coz we want to get ready for water sports next morning..

our second last day of trip we started on Baga and Calangute beach.. simply awesome experience in all sense..
swimming in sea, bouncing ride on water scooter, flying in the sky with para sailing, stunning bumper ride and lot of masti on banana ride .. and all of these in just 500/head. also one free thing .. lot of eye catching natural beauties.. spread-ed across GOA
and then we walk to Calangute beach where Our animal lover (Rahul) give tennis ball to dog..but
sad is the love was only one sided :P
Then we had most delicious and expensive fish in lunch and headed towards Aguada Fort, Chapora Fort which we missed last day..
Aguada Fort
Built in the year 1612, Aguada Fort derives its name from the Portuguese word, ‘Aguada’, meaning water, A hotspot of various natural springs, a part of this famous fort has been changed into central jail.
Chapora Fort
Constructed in the year 1617, Chapora Fort is located 22 km from Panaji, the capital city of Goa. The fort is entirely built of red laterite, it was built as a watch post of the border. However, during 1892, the fort was left deserted by the Portuguese.


Then we went to Anjuna beach ... mostly made up of rocks..
and then to Vagator beach huge and mostly empty calm beach.
Then we went for shopping at Calangute beach... where i spend 2 hrs for shopping..bargaining with cashew seller was very complicated :P.. and Vaibhav trying to explain calculation to him ..hahahaha and we had cheapest but awesome diner of the trip :)...followed by deep discussion evergreen politics topic on Calangute beach shore..

while coming back to Baga .. Vaibhav desperately wants to eat ice-cream ... and we also :P.. we roam around for around 30 mins to search ice cream parlor...and that too around a pub where lot of babes where roaming (i guess waiting for partners to went inside pub... coz mostly entry is allowed only for couples :) ) Finally we had ice cream ...
The day end with usual event of my fight with Rahul.. without which any of our trip is incomplete :P

The last day we directly started our journey back to home..
In between we visited Ganapti Pule ..It houses the famous Swayambhu Ganapati temple... an awesome and auspicious place...surrounded by a beautiful beach..



Finally our last spot Vaibhav's home town.. our journey from Ganapati pule to Vaibhavs home was filled with lot of haunted stories and finally a haunted site visit..on the way .. didn't saw any ghost though :)..

It was very good trip.. filled with love, fight, seriousness, stupidity and Bhankkasss....

-----------------------------------Amey Kudalkar, Rahul Nadarajan, Vaibhav Jadhav, Mark Alapatt and Shine Jose..