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Old 19th November 2017, 10:44   #1
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Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Long-lasting Memories are carved in stone, but sometimes etched in sand too

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-memories-sand.jpg

Live for moments you can't put into words

The best thing about memories is...making them!

We didn't realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun


*Quotable quotes, none of them my own though, thanks much to the internet and search engines!

Sometimes, behind those great times and memories is a long story, this is no different - of a trip that almost never materialized!

Prologue
One boring Mid-September Saturday evening, a friends group on WhatsApp comes alive with some messages being exchanged. This group usually has the odd joke, news, etc shared and the last time it saw some real-time interaction with messages being exchanged was almost a year ago when some of us from the group traveled to Mahabaleshwar, Kaas and surrounding places - that experience is detailed (Dizzy DriveŽ: Bangalore - Mahabaleshwar - Kaas - Bamnoli in 4 days (1,700 km))here.

Quick glance at the messages and I see that the topic of discussion is the upcoming FIFA Under-17 World Cup. I haven’t been following soccer for several years now, so looked it up and found that matches were scheduled at various cities in India. One friend DM from Bangalore was jokingly asking another friend in the group if he can get us tickets to any of the games since he worked for one of the corporates sponsoring the event. I was still a mute spectator to the ongoing conversation and was wondering where this is going. The conversation quickly changes to why don’t we use this as an opportunity to plan a trip to one of the cities to catch a game during a weekend ? Ok, now that gets my attention since I’m also looking to take a break (great if it’s a road trip and I get to drive!) and a short trip on an extended weekend should be fine too. But which city ? Quick check reveals Goa is one of the cities hosting the matches, so I pitch in saying how about Goa ?
All hell breaks loose at this point as everyone is excited about a trip to Goa and each starts suggesting various plans. Now, the guy who was being asked if he can get us tickets took it a bit seriously and comes back saying he can get us tickets to a game in Kolkata , but no one is listening anyways as their minds are set on Goa.

We agree that if we can take a Friday and a Monday off from work, we will get 4 days to manage a road trip Ex-Bangalore, still no commitments from anyone, just ideas being thrown up in the air at this point. This plan would also be more acceptable to our families who were very encouraging.

So, we agree in principle that we can visit Goa and catch one or more matches while we’re there (obviously we needed to book tickets for the games as well!). Looking up at the schedule, I tell them we can choose between the weekends of Oct 6 or 13. We agree to circle back in a day or two after checking at our work places if we can get the days off from work.

Couple of days later, my friend DM who is all excited about the trip (he was the one who triggered the whole World Cup discussion and got us to this point) says his leave has been approved for the weekend of Oct 6-9! The next day I find out I can’t get time away that week due to work, but can take 13th and 16th off for the trip. Meanwhile, others in the group confirm that they’re fine with the Oct 13 plan and DM updates his leave plans to 13th and gets it approved, so looks like we will go on this trip after all. There is also Mumbai Wala (MW) who has confirmed he is joining us at Goa and he will drive down in his Safari. I will drive from Bangalore with the rest of the team of 3-4 friends. So far so good….but I thought I heard someone behind me say “so what ?” Or was my mind playing tricks ??

Last edited by NPV : 7th December 2017 at 21:14.
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Old 19th November 2017, 10:45   #2
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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Planning
I was disappointed on learning that India’s games were scheduled to be played in Delhi, so my interest level to catch a game of Soccer while in Goa started waning. The following weekend, MW and I take up the planning/organising duties for the trip and we quickly decide to drop the soccer games from our plans since we’d be visiting Goa after so many years and we could spend the time better seeing places around there (we know DM will curse us!).

We decide that I will do some reading and planning so that the following week we can make the reservations at hotels for our stay. The following week is hectic at work so the weekend becomes an all important one from our planning perspective.

I had visited Goa twice earlier, almost 2 decades ago! The first one was completely planned and executed to perfection by a friend and all I had to really do was to board the Tata Sumo taxi from near my home. Back then, I was naive about traveling, maps, places to visit and hadn’t even started driving regularly. That was a great trip and we’d visited Jog Falls, Yana, Karwar and beaches in Goa. I don’t remember too much from that trip in terms of routes, except the names of few places en route - Hubli, Londa & Ponda so my best guess is that we took the Alnavar-Ram Nagar-Mollem route and we stayed near Mapusa. The only names of beaches that I could remember from that trip were Miramar, Colva, Calangute and Vagator.

Couple of years after that first trip to Goa, it was time for my very first self driven road-trip in dad’s Esteem. We were 4 friends who drove to Kumta for a colleague’s wedding, a great trip in those days, very memorable one for me as I had the chance to drive long distance on the highways for the first time in India, would not have been possible without the support and encouragement from another friend who also came along and shared driving duties, he was also the expert with the routes. After the early morning wedding, we had the rest of the day and planned to start the return to Bangalore next day, so we planned a quick drive to Panjim. We reached Panjim around noon and it was too warm and humid to venture out so we checked in to a hotel and spent the evening going around Panjim and the Miramar beach, had dinner at a restaurant near the Immaculate church and returned to the cool confines of a hotel. The next day we headed back to Bangalore via Mangalore, another enjoyable first-time drive for me via Murudeshwara, Maravanthe, Mangalore etc. But now that I think of that experience, the visit to Goa was almost only to enjoy the drive so saying "The Journey is more important than the destination" was already true in our case.
Oops, I digress, so let’s get back to the present task - plan the trip to Goa.

Obviously, my first choice of resource to look up was Team BHP and I started reading threads like these, there’s a treasure trove of information out here:
1. Goa for First Timers by @JLN (superb, informative thread, start here if you’re a first-timer) - (Goa Vacation for First Timers)Link

2. South Goa beaches, an excellent thread by @swsumit - (My pick of the Top Beaches in South Goa)Link

3. Lovely thread by @Dr.AD from his South Goa trip - (Lazing around on a beach in Goa)Link

4. For many people, Goa is only about beaches, but there’s a lot more as Mr.D (@dhanushmenon) has elaborately articulated here - (Goa - Of the lesser known Sojourns)Link

5. While the above threads give you a good insight, it is possible to get lost thinking how to plan a trip that covers the places mentioned.

So, now I needed examples of short trips that folks have done Ex-Bangalore and covered some of the places mentioned and I remembered reading one by mpksuhas a while ago and a search yields another thread.
With good planning, you can do a lot as @mpksuhas proved here and it covered beaches, forts and churches too - (Wanderlust Traveler @ Goa: Beaches, Forts, Churches, Dolphins and a Taxi)Link

My inspiration for several road trips have come from this very forum and it is threads like the above that make it relatively easy to just emulate by following the same/similar itinerary without having to research too much and reinvent the wheel. Being myself, I like to see if the plan can be tweaked to suit our expectations and maybe make it more interesting (and busier!). Now time to look at route options.

Every time I see the map, I get carried away looking for places to visit en route between the source and destination. Gmaps suggested driving via Bankapura-Mundgod and there was a Tibetan monastery in Mundgod which could be a good place to visit, so that gets added to the plan. Magod and Sathodi falls will be en route if we take the Yellapura route to reach South Goa via Karwar, so those two get added as well…now I’m becoming that greedy maximizer

By the time I’d read through these threads and made notes, the weekend was coming to an end, so a quick catch up with MW and we decide that latest by end of the following week, we’d need to finalize the plan and book the hotel rooms, that would be September end and will give us 2 more weeks before we embark on our trip. Having read so much about the South Goa beaches, I asked MW for his opinion on my plan which was to drive along the Goa coastline from South to North via Karwar and return via Ponda-Dharwad. We could spend a day in South Goa and remaining 2 days in the North. We thought Hubli would make a good rendezvous point, so MW can drive to Hubli, meet us and then we proceed to South Goa via Karwar. MW liked this rough plan and asked me to go ahead with planning the details so that we can zero in on places to stay. We also preferred to have confirmed bookings so that we need not spend time hunting for places after reaching Goa.

Plans get shaky, participants See-Saw
We all know how such trip plans can fluctuate with people going from being the most excited and committed to dropping out for various reasons and even last minute No-shows! Though MW and I never discussed this, we both knew from our past experiences that these things are possibilities, however so far we’re on track, or so we thought!

The following week flew past quickly and on Friday evening, the first blow to the plan strikes. Work pressure - DM has been assigned to a new project and he is asked to withdraw his leave and requested not to go on leave till November end. Having joined this company recently, he is left with no choice. We decide to give it another day for the dust to settle, and that weekend, the next bomb strikes - another friend is embarking on an entrepreneurship venture with his Start up, so he can’t make it. That’s another genuine reason, so we take it in our stride after wishing him the best in his new endeavors. Now, it is MW from Mumbai, NPV and 2 more friends, HW and DM from Bangalore. MW and I discuss on phone and we decide that since we’re 4 people, we’ll confirm one room and ask about possibility of blocking another - this would give us some flexibility if someone else dropped out. Now, this is exactly what life experiences teach you - project & risk management skills. For the first time, MW and I almost at the same time, jokingly discuss the worst case scenario - what if it’s just the two of us on this trip ? We laugh it off and say we’d still do the trip.

I spend some time during the weekend to reach out to other BHPians to ask about places to stay, and decide that Day 1 in South Goa can be spent at Rama Resorts, Agonda Beach (recommended on the forum as well) and Day 2 & 3 at Green Peace Holiday Homes, Candolim (thanks to @mpksuhas). MW agrees to do the booking for Rama resorts and I will work on booking the stay at Candolim. On Sunday, we make the reservations for one room at both places and a tentative block for another room. On Monday evening, one more friend puts a spoke in the wheel - he needs to travel for a week on business (same week as our trip is planned for), needless to say a very genuine reason. It now means it will be just 2 of us driving from Bangalore!

Later that evening, MW and I discuss on phone and I tell him not to drive all the way the alone and he says he was really looking forward to the drive, so I tell him we can consider parking one of the cars near Hubli/Dharwad at a friend’s place and picking up the car on our way back, and MW reluctantly agrees.

I reached out to @paragsachania to validate our routes and overall plans and he gave a go-ahead with some valuable feedback as well like including a visit to Dona Paula view point.

I also reached out to @goandude who apart from some good suggestions on eateries had one very good piece of advice - Do not plan too much, take it easy and enjoy the time spent in Goa. This made a lot of sense since I had so many places listed down and deciding what to visit, the sequencing, etc was making it difficult for me, so I decided that we will basically drive along the coast from South (Karwar side) to the North and decide what to see/visit based on what we saw and how much time we had. That approach would also mean we don’t get disappointed if we did not visit some place. Obviously, there are too many places to visit in Goa, and this would be like a Pilot trip with a quick exploration to scratch the surface if you will. This will help us plan subsequent trips better with the experience from this one.

During Mid-week, DM calls back saying most of his new team members will be taking time off during Diwali and his leave for the Friday and Monday would not be a problem, so he wants to know if he can join us ? He had one condition though - he had to in office on Tuesday at 9am for an important meeting.

I tell him that we have one room booked and another blocked tentatively, so we can take a chance. On Friday, the other friend HW who will be accompanying us from Bangalore comes home to meet me on his way back from work and I find that he doesn’t look his normal self and seemed very tired. He says he’s been having some body pain all day and also had symptoms of cough and fever. I tell him to go home quickly and get some rest, meet a doctor the following morning if he doesn’t feel better. Next day, he confirms it’s a bout of viral fever but is still enthusiastic and hopeful of joining us for the trip to Goa. It is Saturday now and we have another 5 days before we start from Bangalore the following Friday. I call MW and tell him, I’m not hopeful about HW joining us, after all one usually needs at least 5 days to recover from a bout of viral fever with a course of antibiotics, following which he will need to avoid traveling, eating out, etc.

MW agrees, so we decide to tell HW not to join us so that he can recover fully. I also tell MW to drop his plan of driving to Hubli and instead ask him to travel by bus or train to Hubli. He says he will think it over and confirm the next day.
Few minutes later, he calls me back again and says there’s another change in his plan (I’m now hoping he’s not becoming the latest party pooper after all the constant changes to our already jinxed trip plans)!

MW says he has 3 days off from work the following week for Diwali, so he will take a bus to Hubli and return with us to Bangalore so he can spend 3 days with his parents. This now means, DM and I will drive to Hubli, meet MW and proceed to Goa via Karwar. MW also booked his bus ticket and told us that the bus may stop either inside Hubli city or somewhere on the highway and I tell him that if he can deboard near the toll plaza, it would be better. Finally, we seemed to have some semblance of a rough plan that could work.

DizzyŽ
My trusted steed for this trip would be DizzyŽ and will be doing duty all the way and the only vehicle we would use on this trip. DizzyŽ was serviced in late August at the 80k Km mark. I’d also taken DizzyŽ to Madhus for Wheel Alignment and Balancing and topping up Nitrogen in the tyres, so DizzyŽ was all set for the upcoming trip.

Days leading up to D-day
The first 3 days of new week were very busy ones for me at work, but thankfully had couple of late evenings to do some preparation for the trip. One evening, around 9:30pm, took Dizzy to tank up fuel. Followed this by topping up washer fluid for the windshield. Another evening, took some printouts for reference (a backup just in case all technologies/gadgets fail!) .

On the evening of D-day - 1, I check online for the weather forecast and it looked like rain/thunderstorms could play spoilsport, not a great piece of news.

Weather forecast at both Agonda and Candolim weren't too encouraging. It seemed like the the weather would be just great after our planned return to Bangalore

Agonda weather forecast
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Candolim weather forecast
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I reconciled myself thinking there's no use worrying "if" the weather will play spoilsport - if it rains, so be it but we will still go ahead and enjoy the experience.

There was also the news about a fuel strike planned for Oct 13, our D-Day for this trip! Since this was a strike called by dealers protesting for more commission, I thought maybe the COCO bunks will not be impacted and may remain open, so posted (Petrol pump owners to strike on 13th October, 2017. EDIT: Called off) about this and was happy on seeing a response in the affirmative from Parag.
Almost like an insurance against the strike, I also made a note that there is a Bharat Petroleum COCO bunk on the Ranebennur bypass which could be an option for a mid-way refuel on Day 1. Luckily, late evening on 11th October, the strike was called off.

On Thursday, I managed to get back home a bit early, packed my bag and loaded it in Dizzy’s boot. Quick phone calls to MW and DM and looks like we’re all set. MW would board his bus near Panvel around midnight. His bus was scheduled to arrive in Hubli at 8am, so we assumed that adding 1.5 hours to that would be fair enough and he would reach by 9:30-10am. Based on this we decided that DM and I would start around 3:30-4am. I also asked MW to message me when he boards the bus and if possible an update around 3am to let me know if the bus is on time. This would give us the flexibility to start at 3:30 or 4am. Working backwards, I decide that I’d need to be ready by 3:15am, pick up DM from his home about 3-4Km away by 3:30, we could decide to start few minutes late if MW’s bus was late. So, I set the alarm for 2:15 am on 2 phones and doze off early to get some good sleep before the long drive ahead. Hours later, after some really sound sleep, I was woken up by 2 alarms blaring at the same time and was all excited, fresh and energetic for this trip, but…

Last edited by NPV : 8th December 2017 at 20:17.
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Old 19th November 2017, 10:56   #3
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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 1 (D-Day) - Effect of Friday The 13th & Murphy’s Law ?
I easily beat my 1 hour estimate and was ready by 2:45am, a good 30 minutes before I drive out to pick up DM. Wifey is awake and insists on a cup of coffee before I leave, after all how can one refuse a cup of South Indian coffee before a long drive ?

While she prepares coffee, I start checking my WhatsApp messages on my phone and there is already some good news and bad news too! MW’s bus was on time and he boarded around midnight, so I think we should leave by 3:30am so that we can reach Hubli around 8:30-9am. But, there’s a long message from DM - something extremely urgent has come up and he will need to spend the better part of the day dealing with it, so he apologizes and excuses himself from our Goa trip!

Not a person to do such a thing, I think it must be something very important and urgent, so it’s fine. I think all the earlier flip-flops during the planning had made me battle-ready and I just took it in my stride and did not want this development to spoil my mood before the drive.

However, I resisted telling this to wifey as she would worry if I’d have to drive to Hubli all alone (Wifey had also jokingly mentioned few days ago that it’s possible that only MW and I who according to her really “Live To Drive” will finally make this trip and I didn’t want her to know right away that it was a reality now!).

Started from my home, a tad late around 3:30am and stopped on the way to speak to MW. I call him and he doesn’t pick the call, try again and he seemed to be disconnecting the call this time. Then he calls me back from another phone and says his iPhone has gone into the painful “assistive touch” mode, so he is unable to take my call on the phone. I tell him about DM’s sudden U-turn, but he responds calmly saying, we'd laughed it off earlier but at the back of our minds we were indeed prepared for this! Now, he tells me to remain calm and drive peacefully, there was absolutely no need to hurry. I told him, I was already prepared for this situation the moment I saw DM’s message and the drive would just be fine.

Bangalore has been getting a lot of rain the past few days and the roads are still damp after another late night shower, so I drive slower and just after I cross the Nelamangala toll at the down ramp of the elevated section on Tumkur Road, MW calls me. I pull over safely, take his call and he had the next piece of bad news - a fuel tanker has met with an accident after Satara and all lanes on both sides of the highway are blocked, he will be delayed by an hour or more! I tell him I will drive slower, take more breaks and wait it out at Hubli if needed. Ok, this was indeed turning out to be an unusual trip and a different experience for each of us. I stopped for a cup of tea just after the Tumkur toll, after all I was in no hurry at all.

Around 6:45am, my phone rings and I pull up safely to talk - this time it is DM! He starts by saying he is very sorry that he had to pull out at the last moment, etc, then says he has made arrangements to take care of his unexpected urgent work that morning and now wants to join us! He tells me he can meet us at the resort in Agonda where we planned to stay that evening. I tell him about MW’s bus being delayed and ask him to hop onto a bus and get down at Hubli and we can all meet there. Phew, after all those disappointments earlier, now there was something positive.

Around 7:15am I was near Chitradurga, so decided to stop at Mysore Cafe on the service road for breakfast. I’d never stopped here for breakfast since we’d usually cross Chitradurga before 6:30am on our earlier trips. The parking space and restaurant were almost empty with just one other table occupied by a family. I had a plate of Idly Vada and a coffee and was out in 10 minutes flat!

Decided to walk up to the Nijalingappa Memorial (former Chief Minister of Karnataka aka "Architect of Karnataka" - read more) that is adjacent to Mysore Cafe. This memorial was inaugurated in January 2011. I spent about 10-15 minutes looking around - a pretty well maintained garden at the Memorial, clicked some pictures.

Mysore Cafe - breakfast stop
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First view of the Nijalingappa Memorial from the service road
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View of the Memorial from outside the gates
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A Quick peek at the garden inside the Memorial
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Walked back to the Mysore cafe parking lot, made a quick call to wifey (still didn't tell her about DM not joining that morning!) and then started my journey towards Hubli. I had no sense of urgency, traffic was also not heavy and it was around 7:45am. With some soothing music playing on the car stereo, I had a relaxed drive with lots of time on hand.

Stopped at the Ranebennur Kamat (we'd stopped for breakfast here during the Mahabaleshwar trip the previous year) for a cup of Coffee. I was out in less than 10 minutes and my next stop was about 15Km ahead at the Bharat Petroleum COCO bunk to top up fuel.

Some time later, I was at the Bankapur toll where the Fastag lane was blocked, so asked the toll attendants for the reason and they said some technical challenges and could take up to 6 months to fix. At all other tolls, Fastag worked so I did not spend much time at the tolls as well.

MW called me to say his bus managed to wriggle out of the traffic jam and took an alternate route to rejoin the highway ahead of the accident zone and the bus had now stopped for a 20 minute breakfast break and he expected to reach Hubli around noon. I told him that DM is meeting us at Hubli and is on his way in a Bus right now and he was happy. MW also asked me to try and find a Coffee Day outlet to spend some time reading a magazine/newspaper and get some Coffee.

I continued to drive sedately and before I realized, I was almost near Hubli! I saw a large petrol bunk campus and drove in and stopped the car in a corner of the campus. Called Parag to ask if there were any Coffee Day outlets where I could spend some time and he said I had driven ahead by about 20Km from the one at Shiggaon! I asked him if there was any safe place to park near the toll plaza and decided to drive ahead. I found a large Dhabha that seemed like a truckers adda, stopped there for a cup of Tea, again not more than 10 minutes spent there.

Quickly reached near the large circle on the Hubli bypass, and found that with all the traffic around the place, it wouldn't be a safe place to park, so went another 100-200m ahead where there are lots of shacks/small shops on the left including tyre repair shops, eateries etc. This place was another 100-150m before the toll plaza and I thought this would be a good place for both MW and DM to spot me easily. I found a safe place on the shoulder and parked the car, it was 11:15am. DM called me to say his bus is near Davanagere and I estimated that he is about 2 hours away and MW was about an hour away which was not bad.

I just sat in the car listening to music and suddenly found that the place where I'd parked was getting quite busy. Trucks would park there, the drivers and assistants would get down, remove small stones from the treads of the tyres using a custom metal pick/tool, some would get the air pressure in tyres checked by the tyre shop guys, some would grab a quick bite and coffee/tea, some had the suspension checked by the roadside mechanics and so on - a good way to kill time for me seeing all the activities around.

MW calls me to say the bus was still behind schedule and seemed like he would reach only around 1pm.
I continue with my watch-the-happenings-around-me routine and see a Tata Winger marked "Interceptor" position itself on the other side of the road in front of the toll plaza. I was wondering if anyone would get caught overspending there as it was just 50-100m or so after the toll plaza. They'd really need to floor the A pedal to get caught and they would also easily see the Interceptor when coming out of the toll plaza. But these cops had other ideas, on hindsight I don't think there was a speed gun/camera or anyone else other than an inspector and a driver. They got down, the inspector positioned himself at the front of the vehicle after placing his challan book on the bonnet. The driver stood beside the vehicle and started flagging down vehicles, typically the local unofficial taxis/people carriers, etc and seemed like they were having a field day with the collections. Their last prey was a Skoda Rapid, after which they shut shop and moved on.

By now, it was around 1pm and I get a call from MW saying the bus has stopped again for lunch and he will reach Hubli only at 2pm. He also said he will just have some Coffee so that we could have lunch together later. DM also called me to say his bus was near Bankapur, so now it seemed like both will reach almost at the same time.

I told DM that his bus would go inside Hubli town by turning right at the circle on the bypass, so he should get down there.

Almost at 2pm, DM calls me saying he is near a large flyover inside Hubli town and thinks he missed seeing the circle. I told him to get into an autorickshaw and head back to the bypass where he can easily spot my car near the circle.

Meantime MW calls saying his bus is at the toll, so I get out of the car and pretty soon I see his bus and he is all smiles and waves out. He quickly darts across the road and we load his bag into the car and wait for DM. DM calls now saying he hailed an Ola cab and I'm wondering why he did that in a town like Hubli! About 5 minutes later DM arrives in a Dzire Ola cab and while MW and I are still looking at him in amazement, he pays the cab with a bunch of Rs.500 & Rs.100 notes - the fare was about Rs.8400

After getting out of the taxi, we are still looking at him speechless - Yes, he hailed an Ola outstation cab all the way from Bangalore just so that he could make it to this trip!

We just couldn't stop laughing and needless to say he was the butt of several jokes for the next couple of days.

In the end, that was some commitment from someone whose "dimag ki batti" initially gave root to the idea for this trip, after which he did a few rounds of Boolean switching (IN/OUT) and finally joined us at Hubli, a roller-coaster ride indeed!

We quickly had a cup of Coffee from the shack nearby and decided to stop en route for lunch, though we were all beginning to feel hungry.

The time was 2:15pm and without much ado, started the drive. Once we got onto the Karwar road, we noticed the same "Interceptor" folks again, this time stopping vehicles that were coming towards Hubli, they indeed had a busy Collections day!

Soon, we were engrossed in friendly banter and enjoying the drive through the green section. MW narrated the story of his bus journey - when traffic came to a standstill near Satara, few of the Maharashtra state buses seemed to know the local roads well and made a U-turn near a break in the median and headed towards the village roads. MW's bus driver seemed to have resigned to the fact that he just had to wait it out till the traffic cleared. Almost all the passengers were in deep sleep and none even bothered to ask what had happened, but MW swung into action and spoke to one of the local bus drivers who was getting ready to make the U-turn. He learned that there were some village roads that could be taken to rejoin the highway few Km ahead. He convinced his bus driver to follow the buses and off they went into the hinterland. Only problem when they reached the village was that buses from the opposite direction going towards Pune also had similar ideas and had ended up trying to take the same route so there was a gridlock! MW and the reserve driver got down and guided the bus to safely maneuver out of the narrow roads (they also had to request truckers to move their parked vehicles to make way). The bus driver was very glad that they escaped without any damage the new bus. MW mentioned that without this quick thinking move, the bus would have probably lost another hour or more. After this, the driver got very chatty and the rest of the journey was spent with both of them talking about long distance driving experiences!

By now, our hunger pangs were getting almost unbearable and I told MW to reach out for some biscuits and snacks I had carried in a bag. But he said biscuits weren't a good choice now. After some time, MW with his hawk-eye spotted that there were some home made sweets that wifey had packed in a bag, so took that out and it gave us much needed respite from the hunger.

Around 3:45pm we were in Yellapura and stopped at Hotel Shanbhag. We quickly downed some Bajjis, Idlis and Dosas and gulped down Coffee, it was heavenly.

It was too late to visit Magod falls, etc so we just decided to move on with MW taking over driving duties after my ~500Km stint at the wheel. The green forest section and excellent road made it a very enjoyable drive till we hit NH 66/erstwhile NH 17 and turned right. With a lot of construction activity for road widening, speeds came down considerably and there were 2 wheelers, narrow sections and pedestrians to negotiate. Around 5:45pm were were near the Rabindranath Tagore beach at Karwar. We stopped here to catch views of sunset and walked around the adjacent park where the INS Chapal (ship converted into a museum) is also an attraction. We decided not to go inside the museum and spent more time at the beach, clicking some pictures and enjoying the breeze. The place was generally abuzz with lot of locals and tourists and the place was quite neatly maintained.

Lifeguard's elevated shack
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-karw3.jpg

Clicked this fellow moving around
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-karw4.jpg

Pictures from Karwar beach - lovely views of sunset, sand, water, skies and surroundings. The natural hues and patterns were a treat in the crimson backdrop of sunset and the hills around the place
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-karw1.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-karw2.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-karw5.jpg

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Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-karw7.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-karw8.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-karw9.jpg

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Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-karw11.jpg

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The INS Chapal (Museum)
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-karw13.jpg

After spending about 45 minutes there, we resumed our journey around 6:30pm. The NH 66 highway widening work was in progress all through Karwar, but I was shocked when we crossed the Kali river bridge - this section used to be a lovely place with the road passing right in between symmetric sections of the hill on either side, see this for reference, courtesy @starvegabond from his (Coastal Karnataka in a week.)post on another travelogue.

However, with the widening work, the left side section of the hill has been reduced to a rubble and the beauty of the place is completely lost, I was saddened by this and decided not to take a picture. MW continued to drive and soon we entered Goa and suddenly the road became a beautiful 2 laned undivided road in mint condition with superb lane markings and signages. It was green all around and a great sight to behold. It also started becoming dark and we did not take any of the diversions that would lead to the beaches, this is something for another trip definitely.

Nearing Agonda, we turned off the NH and took the Goa state roads to reach Rama Resorts by 7:30pm. The street leading to the resort was lively with lots of people and several eateries. We quickly checked-in, freshened up and just went around the resort, it was indeed a nice place. We checked their menu and decided we would instead try one of the eateries we saw outside the resort. It was around 9pm and MW suggested we just walk it up but I told him if we take the car we may have the flexibility of going around in case we do not find good veggie options and it turned out to be a good decision. After a short drive around the place to look at what options we had there, we found a nearby eatery that had some north indian veggie dishes amongst others, so had our dinner there. Just then the rain gods descended furiously and we had to wait for almost an hour for the rain to reduce to a drizzle and then drive back to the resort. By 11pm we had crashed to sleep after a long and interesting Day 1.

Our room from inside
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-rama-room.jpg

Our cottage was basically a set of 3 back to back rooms/sections - verandah, bed room and bathroom (last 2 almost the same size!). Loved this layout of the cottage - the bed room was large with a King sized bed on one side and a single bed on the other side. Needless to say, not once did we switch on the idiot box!

This place is definitely in contention for another visit sometime. South Goa is the place to spend time relaxing and taking in the sights of the beaches.

Day 1 Route Map - Link
*Map Source:Google maps maps.google.co.in

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Old 23rd November 2017, 19:28   #4
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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 2

Agonda Beach
We woke up around 6am and walked towards the restaurant in the resort which was bang in front of the beach. From there a couple of steps down and we were on the beach - this was almost like the large bungalows along Juhu beach in Mumbai who have direct access to the beach! Lovely beach with rocks, great place to just relax doing nothing, but that wasn't our idea for now. We took a long stroll along the beach towards the hills on the edge of the beach where a stream from the backwaters trickles in to the sea forming a small estuary.
It was an overcast morning and some of the pictures almost seem like they were taken during the evening.

View from the room (straight ahead are the restaurant and then the beach in front of it)
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-1.jpg

The lawn and cottages in the background
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-2.jpg

Beach as seen from the restaurant. The lone guy on that solitary rock just did not give up his vantage view point for more than couple of hours!
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-3.jpg

View of the beach after descending couple of steps. Beach beds positioned in front of each resort (all are almost adjacent on the roadside as well as the beach side)
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-4.jpg

View of the resort from the beach
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-5.jpg

Rock in the water. There were many more like this towards the hills as well, on the beach and in the water.
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-6.jpg

The beach had non-human visitors too! Like these folks
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-7.jpg

And colorful cattle as well
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-8.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-9.jpg

Wondering who was responsible for these tyre tracks/ruts ?
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-10.jpg

None other than the lifeguard who had a lovely shack and a Thar? He also had cattle guarding his shack!
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-11.jpg

There were other interesting things too..like this customized “desi” RV/camper, respected their privacy and didn't go closer
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-12.jpg

And there was this boat as well
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-13.jpg

We were now heading towards the end of the beach and the hills
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-14.jpg

Reached the estuary where the backwater stream flows in to the sea
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-15.jpg

Hills beyond the stream. We saw some tourists crossing the stream and trekking around the hills.
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-16.jpg

Scattered rocks on the beach
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-17.jpg

..and in the water
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After almost an hour, we head back to the resort
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-20.jpg

Spotted this bird on the way back
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-21.jpg

Closer to our resort
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-22.jpg

A pano before we say goodbye to Agonda!
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-23.jpg

By now, the beach started getting more visitors from all the resorts nearby, some fitness groups as well who set up their exercise paraphernalia on the beach.

We reached our room, ordered some coffee and then freshened up. Then headed to the restaurant and had breakfast - the Indian breakfast was a veggie option with Aloo Parathas and Lassi. They did not have a buffet setup (it was off-season), so took almost half an hour to get our breakfast.

While checking out, the manager was quite curious to know where we were headed, after all we'd checked in just about 12 hours earlier! We told him we're spending the next couple of days at Candolim and will explore places in North Goa as well as along the coast as we drive up north. MW then asked him for directions to Cabo De Rama and he said just follow the "main road" (Goa MDR 49) and turn left at one point where there is a small signage for Cabo De Rama. To go further up north from Cabo De Rama, we need to head back to the MDR 49 and continue north from where we turned off for Cabo De Rama. We noticed that the manager had a strange look on his face as we did not seem like the average Goa tourists and he couldn't "profile" us correctly

Around 9:30am, we checked out, loaded our bags and were ready for the drive-by-coast exploration. We decided that MW will handle driving duties while I will help with navigation. DM was seated on Dizzy's rear bench and was generally on the lookout for photo opportunities, nice team work there!

Last edited by NPV : 25th November 2017 at 15:06.
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Old 24th November 2017, 23:26   #5
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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 2 (contd.)
Cabo De Rama
The drive on MDR 49 that wound through small fishing villages with lot of greenery along the way (further away to our left was the coast) was very enjoyable to say the least.

Winding road MDR 49
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-1.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-2.jpg

After a short drive, we took the turn off towards Cabo De Rama, it was like a downward hair pin bend to the left.
Very soon, there was a sudden transformation in the landscape and it felt like a different world!
First views of transformed landscape
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-3.jpg

This roads cuts through the middle of a grassland
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-4.jpg

Grasslands - colour of the grass is different on either side of the road
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-5.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-6.jpg

At the end of this road, further down to the right is a resort called "Cape De Goa" and the Cabo De Rama Beach is behind the resort.
To the left is a road that leads to the Cabo De Rama Fort.

We turn left towards the fort and see this:
Notice the red strip on the right side of the road ? Yes, it's locally grown red chillies being dried on the road
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-7.jpg

Soon as we turn left, to the right is this place that overlooks the sea and has played host to several stunning pictures of cars in various Team BHP Official Reviews, thanks to GTO for sharing this information on another thread - here (My pick of the Top Beaches in South Goa)

Definitely another reason to visit this place leisurely, again for another visit

The road ends at the fort and we park the car in the parking slots marked on the road. The sun comes out blazing so we don hats and sunglasses, carry some water and go inside. The time is around 10am (fort is open between 9am and 5:30pm).

View of the Fort entrance from the road/parking lot
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-8.jpg

As we enter the fort, a peek to the right gives this view of Cabo De Rama Beach
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-9.jpg

We enter the fort and see this
Lovely white building which is the St.Anthony's/Santo Antonio church that is still operational
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-10.jpg

There are huge trees, tall grass, dense foliage inside the fort and no signboards or any help with directions, etc.
Trees, grass and dense foliage
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-11.jpg

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We see a path/trail in the middle of the grass and just follow that.
Soon we reach a gate in front of an opening in the fort wall
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-13.jpg

The opening leads down to one end of the beach called Sunset Point/Beach.
View of the Sunset Point/Beach below
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-14.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-15.jpg

One needs to trek down to get to the beach below that seems like Paradise on earth with coconut trees, but we decide to skip it for now, since we see what looks like
A View point at a corner of the fort
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-16.jpg

So we head towards that, again following a trail in the grass.
We get there soon and there are more amazing vistas on offer.
Like these..
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-17.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-18.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-19.jpg

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After enjoying the sights and taking several pictures, we head back towards the entrance of the Fort and then head to another corner of the fort
Climbing the stairs leads us to another Watch point/corner of the fort
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-24.jpg

We see this structure - probably used to position and launch the cannon ?
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-25.jpg

And a defunct cannon
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-26.jpg

More amazing views on offer from here, now towards the Cabo De Rama beach
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-27.jpg

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Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-29.jpg

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There is one more corner of the fort that needs some more trekking through the trails from this corner where we are currently. Decide to skip it and keep it for another visit.

We've spent a little more than an hour here and the time is few minutes past 11am, so I play spoilsport as I'm also keeping a tab on time, tell MW and DM that we need to get going to continue on our exploration.

Note to self:This is a must-visit place another time and ideally we should try to reach early, spend some time at the beach and then get to the fort around 9am, just when it opens. That will give us enough time to explore the corners of the fort for beautiful views as well as trek down to the Sunset Point. This experience will help a lot in executing another trip sometime in the future.

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Old 26th November 2017, 10:31   #6
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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 2 (contd.)
Betul Fort
Our next destination was Betul Fort.

From Cabo De Rama, we retraced our route back to the MDR 49, turned left to continue northwards and then near Canaguinim we turned off to the left onto MDR 47 towards Quitol. We soon see a large ONGC Training Centre campus and proceed further to reach a small fishing village, road gets very narrow to the left. The wider road continues on the right but that will take us away from the coast.

To re-confirm what the Garmin device and GMaps on the phone were saying, we ask a shopkeeper and are directed to continue on the narrow road. Driving through the fishermen colony's narrow road, we reach a slightly wider section of road with some large bungalows and it seems like a Cul-De-Sac where a house is being constructed. As per GMaps we had arrived at the destination, but where is Betul Fort ???

Street that seemed like a Cul-De-Sac. Where's the fort ?
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-1.jpg

We decided to park the car safely at a spot where the street was wide, and walk around to see if there was indeed a fort there!

We were on the banks of the Sal River that flows into the Arabian Sea right here
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-2.jpg

Next to the building where it seemed like the road ended, there was a muddy path to the right along the edge of the water. The edge was lined by a laterite stone wall typical of the ones seen in forts.
The muddy path, leading to the fort ?
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-3.jpg

Then we see these signboards
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-4.jpg

To the left, high above this muddy path was a lot of greenery with trees and bushes surrounded by what seemed like a broken fort wall.
Cannon inside the fort premises ?
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-5.jpg

There were no other signs for directions and the people we saw there were mostly locals who came on scooters to do some casual fishing sitting on the rocks. No one seemed to know if there was a trail to trek up into the ruins of the fort and we did not spot any.

We saw that on the opposite bank was the Betul beach and the views were amazing from where we were.
Betul beach at the estuary on the opposite bank
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-6.jpg

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We see this path winding around the fort wall, and strolled around taking in the sights.
Winding path around the edge of the fort
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-10.jpg

Local place of worship ?
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-11.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-12.jpg

Rocks and "Aqua-marine Blue" water
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-13.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-14.jpg

Couple of tall coconut palms
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-15.jpg

Looking up in awe
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-16.jpg

We are almost at the end of the path after which the tall fort wall is at the edge of land.
Locals use the rocks here for fishing
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-17.jpg

More Rocks
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-18.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-19.jpg

Before we realized, we'd spent about 45 minutes here. Another good place to visit, definitely needs another visit to explore if there is a way to go up towards the fort's central portions (ruins).

Parting shot - Rusty remains of an Ore Loader
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-20.jpg

By now, it had become very warm and humid with the sun firing on all cylinders.

We headed back to the car for the next part of our exploration.

Last edited by Aditya : 10th December 2017 at 23:19. Reason: As requested
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Old 26th November 2017, 12:13   #7
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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 2 (contd.)
Varca Beach
During the planning phase of the trip, I'd made notes about the beaches along the coast, but there were way too many to visit in a day!

Betul and Mobor beaches were nearby but to get there by road, we'd need to spend more time due to the longish detours needed, so decided that we'll take the MDR 41 soon as we reached the shop where we'd stopped earlier (the wide road to the right I'd mentioned).

Looking at the map, I thought the beaches that would not need too much of a detour were Varca and Colva. I knew Colva was a popular one with the tourists (read as not good for the serious traveler), but we'd finally decide where to stop as we drove along.

The drive itself was very nice and we passed through several small villages, churches, temples, bridges over rivers and streams, we were loving it and it was true to the saying that the journey is more important than the destination!

En route we saw a couple of guys selling fresh sugarcane juice by the roadside. Stopped there and we gulped down couple of small glasses each, of heavenly sugarcane juice (with a dash of ginger) and felt rejuvenated.

After some more driving through the small villages and towns we took a deviation towards Varca beach.

There were huge resorts like Mahindra, Zuri, etc all around Varca beach and the beach was generally quite clean, there weren't too many people as it was almost 1pm and the sun was beating down relentlessly.

We strolled along the beach for about 20 minutes, took a few pictures.

The sand was almost off-white in colour and texture too was much softer than what we'd seen at Agonda beach.

Views of pristine Varca Beach
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-1.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-2.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-3.jpg

Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-4.jpg

We then headed back to the car to resume our drive.

Colva Beach
Soon, we saw the signages for Colva and while I was thinking if we should really head there, MW took the turn off and we were heading to Colva beach.

MW was hit by a wave of nostalgia from 2 decades ago when he'd last visited the place and did not want to skip it.

We found parking easily almost near the entrance to the beach where the road is wide and there are parking lots on both sides of the road. The parking lots were dotted with almond trees too.

We did not feel too hungry, but the heat was almost getting unbearable so we decided to get a quick bite and then go to the beach.
We had a quick meal of Idlis at a nearby South Indian Restaurant and had some Chilled Butter Milk as well before heading to the beach.

The moment we entered the beach (there is a small bridge connecting the road to the beach), we knew that this place is a pure tourist trap!

We were heckled by vendors selling all kinds of things, touts and agents asking if we'd be interested in neck & foot massages, renting of beach beds and even arranging private parties

Heck, the beach beds were placed adjacent to each other with hardly 2-3" separating them and there were tourists enjoying their time on them and many getting neck and foot massages too.
The beach was very crowded and quite dirty as well with people throwing eatables, wrappers, plastic bags, etc.

This wasn't a place we were looking forward to spend time at, so we took a quick stroll and headed back to the parking lot.

DM stopped to have an ice-cream (there were many vendors on tricycles) while we headed towards the car. He joined us soon and said, strangely the vendor did not let him see the ice-cream wrapper and quickly stuffed it into a bin after handing him the ice-cream. We asked how much he paid and he said Rs.20 and we instantly knew the trick - he'd sold him a Rs.5 ice-cream!

I managed to click a solitary picture at Colva beach that does not reflect the reality (where there were fewer people compared to other sections of the beach!).

A less densely populated section of Colva Beach
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-c1.jpg

With miles to go before we sleep, we resumed our drive.

Dona Paula View Point
I suggested that since it was already around 3:30pm, we should skip driving towards Vasco/Bogmalo and instead head to Dona Paula and then to Candolim where we'd be staying.

From Colva beach, we soon merged with NH 66 and this section was a good 4 laned highway but also had it's share of traffic.

Near Bambolim, we turned off to left towards Dona Paula. This road was excellent and the complete landscape transformed into one of an upscale locality with big apartments, bungalows, Hotels and resorts, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor stadium where an event was in progress, the Goa University campus and even Manipal Hospital!

Just after we passed by Manipal Hospital, DM insisted we make a right turn to get to the View point (it was a left turn a little ahead that we needed to take as per Garmin) as per Gmaps navigation on his phone. Before I could say anything, MW made a right turn and we were inside an upscale residential locality with roads named Road No. 1, Road No. 2, etc and then navigation claimed we've reached our destination!

We stopped the car and were looking at all the big bungalows surrounding us when a young guy came running to our car. MW rolled down the glass and the excited lad asked us in Kannada if we're from Bangalore, we nodded in affirmation. With a big smile on his face, he asks if we're heading to the Dona Paula View Point and we say yes again. With the smile on his face intact, he says that a many people end up there when going to the View Point! He tells us that we need to head back to the main road (Dr.E Borges Road), turn right and then turn left a little ahead - Garmin was right indeed!

The destination set on Gmaps was "Dona Paula" (which is different from "Dona Paula View Point")

Soon, we reached the parking lot at Dona Paula View Point that was almost full and managed to find a spot to park. We then headed to the View Point for some good views on offer. This place was quite crowded and one side of the bridge leading to the view point had vendors selling their wares, actually an eyesore at an otherwise nice place.

The View Point at the top of a rock
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-1.jpg

"Image of India" - whitewashed statues of Mother India and Young India - Read More
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-2.jpg

We took the stairs to reach the top of the view point, and here are some of the captures from around the view point.

The bay
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-3.jpg

Dark clouds, will it rain soon ?
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-4.jpg

View of the bridge that leads to the view point from the parking lot - see the makeshift shacks of vendors ?
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-5.jpg

Another bay view - close up of boats
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-6.jpg

A Ship
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-7.jpg

A large building in the backyard of a nearby campus
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-8.jpg

A boat anchored close by
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-9.jpg

Close up of a Crow seen from the View Point
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-10.jpg

The statues from the view point
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-11.jpg

View of another side of the bay
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-12.jpg

By now the breeze had gotten heavier and cooler and we enjoyed walking along the pier/boat jetty and spent some time there looking around the bay.

Parting shot - Tower at the pier
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-dp-13.jpg

Around 5:30pm, we headed out of the parking lot after waiting for a traffic jam to clear - an unnecessary one caused by impatient cabs and senseless parking. Cops arrived at the scene after the jam cleared - just like in our movies!

We took the road along the bay via Miramar beach to head to the other side of bay for our next destination - Candolim.

The road from Miramar beach to the NH 66 bridge Via Patto area in Panjim is lined with Parks, beautiful trees and lots of greenery on one side (left) and the right side has many large buildings dotting the road. The floating Casinos like Deltin, etc can be seen from the road and also the boats for the River Cruise conducted by Goa Tourism (Santa Monica).
Note to self:This could also be a place to spend a half day sometime during a future visit.

Soon, we reached near Panjim bus stand and then took the bridge across the bay and then turned left and went straight past Verem and crossed the Nerul river to reach Candolim. Our destination, Green Peace Holiday Home was just off the main road and was right next to the ITC Fortune Hotel. It was a basic, no frills attached, decent accommodation - thanks to @mpksuhas for suggesting the place.

As soon as we reached Candolim, the rain gods descended. We waited it out in the car for some time and when the rain reduced to a light drizzle, we checked in, freshened up and went out to explore Candolim.

One side of the main road at Candolim (Fort Aguada Road/MDR 10) goes southwards towards Sinquerim and Aguada Fort, the other goes northwards towards Candolim beach, Baga, Calangute, etc. The road is lined with several shops and eateries and was buzzing with people walking around, lively and also the place is neat. Just off the main road are several hotels, resorts, apartments, etc. This is the ideal place for someone wanting to stay and explore places in North Goa.

We stopped at a supermarket Delfinos Hymart to pick up some water, juices and butter milk (Amul Masala Chaas). By the time we came out of the supermarket it was pouring down heavily, so we decided to have a quick dinner at a nearby restaurant Masalas and More - a veggie place with highly priced, mediocre food, this one is best avoided. After dinner, we headed back to the apartment and crashed to sleep.

Day 2 Route Map - Link
*Map Source:Google maps maps.google.co.in

Name:  Day 2 Map.png
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Size:  308.6 KB

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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 3
By 6:15am I was up and in the next few minutes MW and DM also woke up and their question to me was what was the plan ? Hmm, I hadn’t given it too much of a thought so took a look at the map and the list of places I’d made a note of. We decided to head to Reis Magos Fort, then the Immaculate Church in Panjim, have breakfast some place and return to Candolim and then plan the next leg for the day. We were out of our apartment around 7am.

Reis Magos waterfront near the fort
Soon after the bridge over Nerul River, we turned off to the right to Nerul town to take the road along the river to Reis Magos and we could continue on this road to reach NH 66 to Panjim (we had not taken this route the previous day).

We reached Reis Magos, walked along the waterfront and it was lovely in the early morning cool weather. We also saw the fort and the visitor centre and found that the Fort opens at 10am. This place offers lovely views of the bay and the Casinos have boarding points/jettys along the waterfront. Spent some time walking along the waterfront and taking some pictures of the fort from outside.

The Nerul-Reis Magos road along the waterfront
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-1.jpg

Views from the waterfront - Panjim on the other side of the river
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Cross - a mini shrine on the riverfront
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The Reis Magos Church
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A small shrine facing the Church
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Water lashing the laterite boulders on the waterfront
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First view of the Reis Magos Fort, this boundary wall extends till the edge of the road
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The main fort up above on a hillock
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What lies beneath - the rooms in the cellar have ventilators like this
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What lies inside - walls of the rooms in the cellar seemed to have some pictures displayed
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-r4.jpg

Looking at the white building on top (inside the fort) and the glass railing/guard on the parapet walls of the fort, we thought it has been restored and converted into a heritage hotel/resort, till we saw these:

The heritage/visitors center
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Reception of the Heritage center
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Reis Magos Fort looked too good to skip, so we decided to drive down to Panjim, visit the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church and visit the fort on our way back to Candolim.

En route, we stopped at the IOC petrol bunk near the NH 66 bridge at Panjim and tanked up Dizzy.

We looked up gmaps for restaurants nearby and saw “Udupi Palace” had a 4+ rating, so headed there for breakfast. Near the Panjim bus stand, navigation claimed we had reached our destination and then saw that it was just an eatery in a small shop (name board display had almost completely faded, so took some time to identify the place) and the shutter was half open. Decided to skip this place and I remembered that there is a Kamat near the Immaculate Conception Church, so headed inside Panjim.

Soon, we reached near the church, but all of us were feeling hungry, so turned right and found parking almost in front of Kamat. We spent about an hour having breakfast, obviously a very heavy one! Though a tad expensive, stuff was fresh and tasty, that should explain the heavy breakfast part.

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church
During a lunch time conversation with a colleague few weeks earlier, he had mentioned that the Immaculate Church is a must-see place and it was then that I realized I’d visited it during my earlier trip 2 decades ago.

View of the church from the street, with publicity material for the FIFA U-17 World Cup on the median
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View of the church from the stairs - majestic structure
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Close up views of the Church
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Since there was a Sunday service/mass in progress, we did not go inside the Church, so took a quick stroll around and returned to the car.

It was about 9:45am and we now headed back towards Reis Magos to visit the Fort.

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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 3 (contd.)

Reis Magos Fort
The drive back was familiar since we’d been taking this route since the previous evening

The Heritage centre/visitors center has 3-4 parking slots and there were already couple of cars parked and a few people there. We parked the car, went inside to buy the tickets and were told that we need to take the ramp just next to the heritage center to reach the upper portion where the entry to the inside of the fort is. While we saw some people struggling to walk up the inclined ramp, couple of guys in a Maruti omni asked to see our tickets and then asked us to get into the car. MW said it’s going to be long day so lets not tire ourselves right now by walking up to the fort, so we got into the Omni and only when we reached the top we realized it was a free shuttle! The sun was out in full force now, so it was a good decision to take the Omni ride.

Once we reached the top, we went around the place, a very interesting one and renovated and maintained well. A must-see place if you visit Goa.

View of the steep ramp that leads from the road to the entrance of the fort at the top (as seen from the doorway)
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-1.jpg

Now it’s time for a lot of interesting stuff at the Reis Magos Fort..

Story of the Banyan tree in front of the fort
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My attempt at recreating a similar image as seen on the Banyan tree poster/signboard
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View of the room on top of the doorway. This is the white room seen from the road
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Noticed the plaque (sculpted image) placed above the doorway ? It was vandalized and restored partially.
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Enter the doorway and we see this poster
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This is the “Death Hole” - the guards would pour hot oil on intruders entering the fort from this doorway!
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The “Death Hole” from the room on top (covered by glass now)
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About the restoration work. Commendable job indeed
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What a lovely view of the waterfront facing the Fort
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Well, that small room is a solitary confinement cell. With such a beautiful view, would someone mind being locked up here ?
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Views from the top of the fort’s doorway, near the white room
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Some more restoration in progress in one of the halls
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Ramparts of the Fort
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One of the Cannons
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A Cannon and a View!
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This building houses an exhibition of the History and Restoration work of Reis Magos Fort
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A wooden model of the Fort
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Historic Evolution Articulated Chronologically
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Steep stairs to go down - this is the exit path to be taken when coming out of the fort
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Stairs end at the first level/deck that offers lovely views of the waterfront
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See that small viewing area across the road ? Lovely place to spend time in the early mornings and evenings
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Get down another level and there is a well and few rooms
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The well
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The rooms exhibit “Images of Goa - Real and Imagined”. This is what we’d seen from the road when we stopped by earlier that morning
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Around 11:30am, we headed out of the Reis Magos Fort's visitor center towards Candolim. En route we decided to quickly check out Candolim beach and then head to our apartment.

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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 3 (contd.)

Candolim Beach
This beach had quite a lot of activity going on around it, some new hotels being constructed, quite a lot of people milling around and the usual tourist stuff like beach beds, etc. However, the beach was cleaner and it did not feel as claustrophobic as Colva. The sand here is brownish unlike the white/off-white sand in the Southern beaches.

Views of Candolim Beach
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After strolling around for some time, we headed back to our apartment to freshen up and begin the next leg of our exploration that day.

I suggested we go towards Aguada now and then head to the northern beaches after that.

Aguada
While driving towards Fort Aguada, we saw the road that leads towards the Aguada Jail, so we headed there.
Soon as we enter this road, there is a huge mansion on the left (Ocean Deck Villa in gmaps).

The road ends at the entrance to the Jail - the gates are locked and the jail is not operational anymore.

There is a trail on the left before the Jail entrance - this leads down to some rocks offering beautiful views.
Needless to say, it is a hangout for the “watering” types but we didn’t find any of those groups at that time, so it was peaceful. Took a few pictures there and headed back towards the fort.

Statue near the Jail entrance
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-aj-1.jpg

Crab - there were many such fellas in the crevices on the rocks
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View of the Mansion (Ocean Deck Villa) from the rocks
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Lovely vistas on offer. The Jail is actually adjacent to the Aguada fort but accessible via another road and the sea circles around the edges of the Fort and Jail
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New Lighthouse at Aguada
En route to the fort there is a huge church but we did not stop there, possibly one more place to see on some other trip to Goa.

We reached near the fort and found lots of cars parked and too many people walking around and the sun wasn’t kind at all, so we decided we’ll first visit the new lighthouse that was right next to the fort. Fort Aguada is probably the most visited fort due to the huge influx of tourists to this place.

Aguada Fort as seen from the gate of the new lighthouse next door
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About the lighthouse
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First view of the lighthouse and garden from the gate
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Once inside the campus, there is a room on the right near the garden where we bought the entry tickets and were told we can enter the lighthouse. There is no other security guard or official other than the guy selling the tickets.

The lighthouse has short flights of stairs and with the pleasant breeze from the sea (windows were open), it was an easy climb though the sun was beating down relentlessly outside.

View from one of the floors when walking up the stairs
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Views get better as we go up each floor
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After climbing 5 floors, there is a narrow and steep steel ladder than one needs to climb to each the deck on top. We slowly climbed up, it wasn’t as difficult as we expected it, then exited through an opening on the roof and reached the deck. There is another steel ladder that takes one up to another small deck, but we did not go there as it was already full with 5-6 people who were engrossed in taking selfies and did not want to come down soon.

Breathtaking views from the deck at the top of the lighthouse
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Aguada Fort seen from the deck. The old lighthouse inside the Fort is also seen
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[b]Views in the direction of Aguada/Sinquerim beaches/B]
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Parting shot - this lovely tree in the garden
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This place offers amazing views of the surroundings and should not be missed. Elders and children may find this a bit taxing, so do keep that in mind. The railings at the top that surround the deck are quite low and needless to say, one needs to be careful when taking pictures and definitely no selfies. But as we all know, we will have superheroes in our midst and there was a family with young children and mindlessly taking selfies, one of them was having a live video chat with someone :shocked:

Since we already saw the Aguada Fort from the lighthouse and we’d already been to 3 other forts in the last couple days, we decided to give it a miss this time, so headed back towards Candolim and the northern beaches.

The heavy breakfast made sure we did not feel hungry but the heat and humidity could not be ignored, so we stopped at Delfinos supermarket to again pick up some cold water, juices and butter milk (turned out to be our lifeline!).

We soon reached Calangute beach, the place was absolutely packed with people and we could not find parking! Without wasting much more time, we decided to continue northwards and then turned off towards Baga beach.

Just near Brittos, there is a huge concreted parking lot so we parked there and then walked towards the beach. Again, a very touristy place with just too many people all around and the usual beach bed, massage and water sports operators. Brittos was full and since we were still not hungry, we decided to get out of the place.

I suggested we explore the beaches further up in the north, so skipped Anjuna, Vagator, etc. En route we picked up some fruits from a roadside shop, this would be our lunch while on the go

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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 3 (contd.)

Morjim Beach
After a good drive through the fishing towns of Siolim and Chopdem, we reached Morjim beach. This is a Forest Department managed nesting site for Sea Turtles (Olive Ridley) and the place had whitish sand with traces of grey/black and wasn’t crowded.

Forest Department Signage
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Turtle nests lined along the beach
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Close up of a nest
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One could count the total number of people at this beach!
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After some time, it was just us 3 explorers on one side of the beach!
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Flora on the beach...budding ones
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..and the drying ones
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NPV works on a piece of art - etching Memories in Sand
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-11.jpg

..but is beaten hands down by the art work of god's other creations who can make Wonders in Sand!
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-12.jpg

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Parting shots - almost sundown, time to say goodbye
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By the time we realized, it was almost 5:30pm and we headed out of Morjim beach. This was a great place to spend time and would recommend to anyone visiting North Goa.

Arambol Beach
We continued along the coast stopping quickly at Ashwem beach and Mandrem beach. Along this road, there are many small restaurants, hotels, paying guest accommodations, etc and most tourists seemed to be from Russia and Israel. In fact most establishments had signboards in Russian!

We reached Arambol beach and instead of heading straight towards the parking lot, we decided to turn right and follow the road to see where it leads - there were shops on both sides of the road, then a sharp left turn and the road started getting narrower and we just got overboard with being adventurous!

We reached a point beyond which the shops had almost encroached the entire “road” that was barely 6 feet wide, so we had to stop right there. There was a downward sloping road to the right, leading to a beach, so we had to use this place to make a multi-point U-turn and head back, Whew, What en experience!

DM and I guided MW to make the turn deftly at the same time making sure Dizzy doesn’t lose traction on the slope. To make matters worse, a new Etios with AP temporary registration being driven by young revellers had followed us all the way into the narrow section, so we had to help them go back before we could drive out the corner.

*While writing this Travelogue, I came across another old and very well-written Goa travelogue by @dreamdiesel where he specifically mentions about this place, wish I had read this earlier - here (Coastal Karnataka and Goa in Swift D - 2000+kms in 9 days).

It was beginning to get dark after sunset, we took a quick stroll along the beach, had some roasted corn from a nearby push-cart and headed back to the parking lot.

Some pictures from Arambol Beach
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We were back in the car and MW, DM jokingly asked if I had any other places to visit in my mind and I sheepishly said Yes, Teracol fort, but it’s too late, so let’s head back.
Now, we were under 5Km away from the Goa-Maharashtra border, separated by the Teracol river in the North of Goa

There was a light drizzle en route and by 8pm we were back at our apartment after a long day of exploration.

After freshening up, we walked down to the main street of Candolim. Thanks to @mpksuhas again, we headed to Horizon Grill which turned out to be good choice - the food was excellent and all dishes were presented well, they definitely had a good chef in their kitchen. By 10:30pm we were back at the apartment and fast asleep.

Day 3 Route Map - Link
*Map Source:Google maps maps.google.co.in

Name:  Day 3 Map.png
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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 4

After 3 days of extensive travel, we were surprised to find ourselves awake by 6:30am.
DM and MW asked “Yenappa planu ?” (Kannada for “Hey man, what’s the plan ?”) and I had a big grin on my face, told them we’ll head out and then decide, but I did have a rough plan in my mind

Vagator
We headed towards Vagator, followed “Vagator” signs and found ourselves at a cul-de-sac where there were a few roadside shacks and a parking lot. Parked the car and walked further to see these beautiful views from a rocky section that overlooks the beaches that were on the left and right side of these rocks.

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Chapora Fort could be seen on a hillock nearby and that's our next destinaition
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Chapora Fort
Soon, we reached near Chapora at the top of the hill. Near the base of the fort is the “W” resort and just behind it is a parking lot. Parked the car and trekked up towards the fort entrance. This path is being widened and my guess is there will be stairs or the road itself may continue to the top (hope that doesn’t happen).

After a short, steep trek we reach near the fort entrance.

The resort and beach below
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-1.jpg

The fort gates are open between 10am and 5pm, so obviously we couldn’t enter from the gate. Now, what ? I told MW and DM, we’ll try and see if there is a path to the left along the fort wall that we can take to go inside.

We go around the fort
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-2.jpg

After a short trek through a trail through the bushes, we found a broken wall and some people were climbing in. We followed them and were inside the sprawling fort.

The broken wall serves as the entrance
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The real entry gate that was closed - seen from inside the fort
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At the middle of the area inside the fort was what looked like a structure on probably was used to locate a flag pole.
Structure for a flag pole ?
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The fort had thick grass growing all over and there were trails that led to the vantage points from where the views were amazing.
We took our time, explored the views on offer at various places in the fort.
Superb sights from the fort
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I was still trying to locate that one place leading to a trail that ends at rocks overlooking the beach. Had seen so many pictures of the place on the internet and several on Team BHP travelogues.

Found it finally!
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There was a gate leading to this trail. This gate was closed as well, but adjacent to the gate, there was a short wall that could be scaled easily to go down.

While we were looking around the fort, we saw another group go down. By the time we were heading out on the trail, the other group was returning so we had the entire place to ourselves. This is a must-do if you visit Chapora Fort and Chapora Fort is a must-see place, so you get the drift

While we were there, MW got suspicious about how I knew about a trail to enter the fort, so I had to let out the secret - the previous evening while we were waiting for dinner to be served at Horizon Grill, I was browsing on the phone to see if the fort had any specific entry time and I found that though it is open from 10am-5pm, there are ways to get in from the sides and is a popular place to watch sunrise and sunset, so decided to take a chance.

Awesome views from the trail and the rocks overlooking the beach
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*Reached limit for attached images, stay tuned for more.

Last edited by NPV : 8th December 2017 at 20:40.
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Old 3rd December 2017, 10:43   #13
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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 4 (contd.)

More from Chapora Fort...

We just did not realize how much time we’d spent there, it was almost 9am, so we decided to head back.

Parting shot from the view point
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-23.jpg

I'm always pained to see garbage strewn around our streets, it's even more painful when we don't care for our heritage, especially tourist places.

Come on folks, let's keep the places clean and preserve our heritage for our future generations.
Sincerely request each one of you reading this, not to litter our surroundings.

On the way back, we saw this - plastic bottles strung to trees!
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More views on the way back. One can't get enough of this place, such is the beauty
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Parting shot of the trail from the Fort
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We stopped at a local Udupi-style eatery on the way and had a good breakfast, reached our apartment at 10:45am. En route, I got a call from the folks at Green Peace Holiday Home who told us the checkout time was 10am. I wasn’t aware of this so apologized and told them that we will be checking out by 11:15am and we kept our word.

At 11:15am, we were in the car and where do we head first ? Well, Delfinos again! Quickly picked up some cold water + snacks and we were on our way back to Bangalore…err Via Old Goa!

Old Goa
During the planning phase of the trip, at another lunch time conversation with a colleague, he had mentioned that Old Goa is a must-see and most of the places to visit are on either sides of one road, but there are a couple that are a bit away from the main ones and we shouldn’t miss them. I did not have too much time to research Old Goa, so decided to keep a printed map of the place handy. Turned out to be very useful indeed.

Being familiar with the Reis Magos route, we took that again for another nice drive along the shore and reached Panjim after crossing the bay over Mandovi River. We then took the new widened NH 748 highway and were in Old Goa by 12:45pm and it was another bright, warm, humid day. We found a paid parking lot with trees and shade so parked there and walked towards the Basilica of Bom Jesus.

Basilica of Bom Jesus
The architecture of this place has to be seen to be believed - bowled over by the amazing eye for detail in the interiors. There were signs and volunteers asking people not take pictures posing inside the church and no selfies. People were also being asked to maintain silence, but it does take a lot of effort to implement these things and our tourist populace has a large percentage of non-conformists!

The Basilica of Bom Jesus
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Close up of the front wall facade
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Beautiful Interiors - the Main Altar and walls are adorned with various carvings and sculptures
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Mind-boggling eye for detail in everything you see inside!
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The mausoleum, on top is the silver casket with the body of St.Francis Xavier
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Paintings and some of the many other exhibits in the church
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We then headed across the road to the other White building(s) that people commonly refer to as the Museum, but wait, there are other places to see there!
White building on the left is the Church of St.Francis of Assisi and building on the right is the Se Cathedral
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-campus1.jpg

The Archaeological Museum is adjacent to the Church of St.Francis of Assisi
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-campus2museum.jpg

With time on hand at a premium, we decided not to visit the Museum. Another one of those things for another trip!

We were still near the gardens outside the museum when MW received a phone call that seemed to take some time, so DM and I went around the place and found the ASI’s open air Archaeological Museum with stone exhibits like Mill stones from the gun powder factory salvaged from another site in Old Goa.
Mill stones from the gun powder factory salvaged from another site in Old Goa
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More ASI stone exhibits
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Church of St. Catherine
We noticed that just behind this, at a lower level was a brown colored laterite structure.

There wasn’t a single soul near this building, so we were wondering if it was closed and not accessible. We took the short flight of stairs down and then saw the entrance to the chapel at the back of the campus.

By now MW completed his phone conversation and joined us. I quickly referred to the printout and found this is the Chapel of St. Catherine. The place has some weird charm, must be seen to be believed. We were happy that other noisy tourist crowds did not bother to come here.
About the Chapel of St.Catherine
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The quaint looking Chapel built with Laterite stones. What we see from here is the back of the building
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Head down the stairs in the garden. This is the front facade of the Chapel
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The Main Doorway
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Views of the inside
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This stone is embedded in the wall
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This Cross on a tower is located near the Gun powder factory exhibits in the lawn right in front of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi and the Archaeological Museum.
The Cross in front of Church of St.Francis of Assisi
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Last edited by NPV : 8th December 2017 at 21:15.
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Old 6th December 2017, 21:22   #14
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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Church of St. Francis of Assisi
Next, we headed into the building in front of the Museum which is the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. The interiors again are very grand and impressive.

About the Church of St.Francis of Assisi
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Front facade of the church, building on the left is the Museum
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Inside the Church, notice the floor has tombstones as well
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Lot of intricate designs & patterns on the walls and ceiling
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The Main Altar
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The upper level/balcony
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Intricate works of Art adorn the pillars and walls
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Some exhibits
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Upper portions of the side walls
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More Art work at a corner
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Even the space on the wall below a window, gets some art work!
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Se Cathedral
We then went to the opposite end of the campus to the Se Cathedral, another wonderful and interesting structure. Here again, the intricate carvings and eye of detail in the interior design is unbelievable.
About the Se Cathedral
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Front facade of the Se Cathedral
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Inside the Cathedral - Main Altar
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This church has small areas like rooms on both sides and each is like a mini chapel with amazing sculptures, carvings and the like
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The floor has several tombstones like this one in front of the main altar
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More rooms/chapels on the sides
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This one is interesting…
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Has a staircase in front, leading to a cellar ?
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The stairs. Asked the volunteers about this and they mentioned it leads to the cemetery outside
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And one more room/chapel!
Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration-sc16.jpg

Last edited by NPV : 8th December 2017 at 22:44.
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Old 6th December 2017, 22:45   #15
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re: Dizzy DriveŽ: Go..Go..Goa, a Mini Exploration

Day 4 (contd.)

More from the Se Cathedral..

Couple more rooms/Chapels
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Upper level and ceiling - eye for detail
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After we came out of the cathedral, we walked by the statue of Jesus that faces the cathedral.

Statue of Jesus in the garden facing the Se Cathedral
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Closer views of the Statue of Jesus, again look at how natural the statue looks, lot of detailing
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Church of St.Cajetan
We then walked down the road next to the Statue of Jesus to the Church of St.Cajetan with similar architectural elements like the other Old Goa churches.

Front facade of Church of St Cajetan. Building on the left is the Pastoral Institute
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A closer view of the front facade
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Statue in the garden outside the church
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Interiors - architecture similar to the other churches around the campus
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Closer look at the Main Altar
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More works of art on the side walls
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Circular upper level and patterns on the walls and ceiling
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Closer view of the ceiling
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In the same campus is a garden and a stone structure that has been restored by ASI called Adil Shah Palace Gateway, but couldn't take any pictures due to a large number of school kids milling around the place.

Viceroy's Arch
We then strolled down towards the Mandovi river ferry point (Old Goa Ferry Terminal) and saw the Viceroy’s Arch.

About the Viceroy’s Arch - 1
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About the Viceroy’s Arch - 2
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Viceroy’s Arch - view when walking towards the waterfront/ferry terminal
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A Closer look at the sculpture on top
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Viceroy’s Arch - view from the waterfront/ferry terminal side
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A Closer look at the sculpture on top
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Old Goa Ferry Terminal. Boat ferries to Divar Island
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Last edited by NPV : 8th December 2017 at 23:02.
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