Somewhere
in the middle of February, a group of we three decided to go for another trip
after successfully completing Kelshi-Diveagar trip chapter in November. The destination we
chose might look odd for the month of March. We chose South Goa where only one
of us had been to.
We
finalized the dates from 12th March to 15th March, a four day period. Having decided to station
at Colva and roam around from there, we did the accommodation arrangements in
advance. GTDC (Goa Tourism Development Corporation) has their beach resort
almost attached to Colva beach. We had a direct view of the seashore from the
balcony of the ground floor room we got (Room 110).
Situated at
approximately 40 km southwards from Panjim, Colva has got one of the best
beaches in Goa. A silver sand beach with cleanest water I had ever seen was
itself relaxing at first sight. Located approximately 5-6 km from Margao (having
interstate bus stand) it is one of the beaches frequented by foreign citizens. The beach is extremely
clean and well maintained. It has shacks (open in the evening) and water sports
for entertainment. Right outside the beach are multiple restaurants, resorts
and hotels. There is a shop selling clothes those are exclusively goan style
:P.
Day 1 (12th
March 2015):
We left from
Pune at 4:00 AM since we wanted to reach the destination on time. Leaving early,
we got entire evening for a beach walk. Well known route from Pune to Goa is
via Kolhapur-Amboli-Sawantwadi and then
into Goa. There is an alternate route via Chorlem (चोर्ले in the local language) ghat. From Pune, we started on
NH4 and continued on it till Belgaum. On the way there is a restaurant named Hotel Warna near Karad (Approx 170 km from Pune) which offers excellent
Maharashtrian breakfast items like poha and missal. One must leave the national
highway and drive on service road for that.
Travelling
on NH4 you will pass cities like Satara-Karad-Kolhapur and get into Karnataka to go to Belgaum
(110 km from Kolhapur). NH4 gives superb driving experience once you enter the
state of Karnataka.
Upon entering
into Belgaum you can ask for Chanamma circle and take right turn there. Going
forward one should continue till Piranwadi from where there is ‘Y’ shaped
diversion. Take the right turn towards Chorlem/Jambhoti. The road ahead is an excellent driving
experience with greenery on both sides and a very good quality road. After travelling for more than 50km the road
winds down in Sachelim (साखळी in local language) in Goa. Ask for Ponda (फोंडा in local language) city and then continue till
Margaon by bypassing Ponda city.
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| NH4 patch in Karnataka |
We reached
Colva at around 3 PM and after taking some rest, went to beach at around 6 PM. Ambiance
at sea side tables owned by shacks is really riveting and will recharge you
(with booze the process is faster :P !!). We had dinner at a place named
Lactancia (not the best one for sure) and then had nighttime stroll on the
seashore.
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| GTDC Resort |
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| View from the resort |
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| View from the resort |
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| View from the resort |
Day 2 (13th
March 2015):
We started
the day with breakfast at a place called '49ners'. The English breakfast was the best deal for non vegetarians. Other options like French omlets and aloo paratha for veggies were also tasty. Post breakfast we went Miramar beach near Panjim. From there we went to Dona Paula where a scene in Sigham was shot. There are couple of stops where one would definitely love to spend time at.
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| Dona Paula |
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| Dona Paula |
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| Dona Paula |
After clicking few snaps we went to Old Goa to visit magnificent structures of Basilica of Bom Jesus and Se’ Cathedral. Basilica of Bom Jesus houses famous mummy of St. Francis Xavier which dates back to 16th Century.
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| Basilica of Bom Jesus |
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| Basilica of Bom Jesus |
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| Se' Cathedral |
After
visiting the two monuments located in front of each other we went to Panjim for
lunch. Restaurant I would recommend is Casa Bhonsale. Post lunch we came back
to Colva. In the evening, we enjoyed playing into the sea. Post that we went to
dinner at The Garden restaurant which turned out to be the best for veggies
also.
Day 3 (14th
March 2015):
We had a
morning walk on the beach on the third day. After breakfast we went for what
turned out to be a religious day. Goan temples have huge buildings and
excellent architecture & interiors. One can visit them for admiring their
construction even if you are a not-so-religious person. Start going from Colva
to Panjim and on the way you will find boards for Shanta Durga and Mangeshi
temples. En route we visited multiple temples like Kapileshwari, Shanta Durga,
Ramnath, Nageshi and finally Mangeshi. All the temples have superb
architecture. We finished the day with some shopping we did for home.
Some Temples in Goa:
For dinner we chose ‘Kwality’ which is open air garden restaurant located right in the
courtyard of GTDC. Food quality was awesome with buy 3 get 1 offer going on
beer. Seating in garden was an excellent experience.
Day 4 (15th
March 2015):
We left
Colva at approximately 9:45 AM. Retracing the route by which we went, we
arrived at Belgaum first. A dish called tatte idli is quite famous over there.
You can search for ‘Tumkur Mess’ near Chanamma circle to have it. Coming back
there is a restaurant named ‘White House’ before you enter back in Maharashtra.
It has a very good location and view accompanied by decent food.
Travelling
from NH4 we reached home by 9:30 in the night.
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| Our Ritz |
Being in there
was a very good experience. Entire Goa is very clean and state highways &
even city roads have quality construction. Liquor and petrol is cheap like
anything. The beach has life guard to
ensure safety of tourists. It is definitely one of the best tourist
destinations in India.
Some
important information:
Ph No for booking: 0832-2438002/03
