Goa is sunny days with the wind in your face as you ride a scooter down narrow, twisting roads. It is endless plates of seafood, Kings beer and sand in your toes as the sun sinks low over the ocean. The Goa of Summer. But Goa in the monsoon is a whole other creature; her roads are gleaming wet, the trees are a rain-soaked green, and the air is dense and mossy.
A weekend in early August, the Goa Tourism Department hosted the GoaInstawalk, inviting us to explore a Goa beyond beaches. We checked into a beautiful room at the Panjim Inn on a Friday afternoon, complete with vintage bed and a chair like the one my grandfather had. I put both feet up and closed my eyes, listening to the steady patter of rain on the leaves.
Panjim Inn is situated in Old Goa, bordered by the Ourem Creek and Altinho Hill. We spent the evening walking her streets and stopping at street carts to sample the goods. Sweet beef samosas, crisp prawn cutlets and beef burgers made with pav bread.
Saturday morning was still dewy from the night’s showers. We packed into a car and drove a long way to the eastern border of Goa, into the Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary. Buried deep in the Western Ghats, the forest is home to leopards, the slender loris, giant squirrels and a breathtaking variety of birds. We heard them long before we spotted them, the trees humming with a medley of birdsong. But infinitely more captivating was the crowding green around us; the forest pressing back into the road, reclaiming its territory in the high swing of monsoon. We drove through the forest, acutely aware that we were intruders, entering a realm that was fully self-contained.
Fierce streams gushed past, under bridges, beside the road, the sound of running water over stone filling the air. We stopped to take it all in, the gentle whir of the forest. Deeper inside, crossing a stone bridge covered with moss, wide-cut steps led into the stream. A tree with roots in the water and vines snaking across its trunk extends its branches like a bird in flight. Gingerly, we stepped into the icy water for a closer look at this lord of the river. The water is pristine, clear all the way down to the smooth pebbles under my feet.
Tired from the long drive, the cool running water at our feet was a reviving balm. But the sensation of being dwarfed by this magnificent forest touched something much deeper inside all of us. We stayed silent, drinking it all in.
Inside the forest at the foot of the Western Ghats, runs this pristine stream fed by the monsoon rains
We slipped back into our footwear and walked a little further to find another gem hidden behind a wall of thick foliage – Tambdi Surla, a 12th-century Shiva temple. Small and dramatically dark, the stone walls of the temple glistened with fresh rain. Built with grey-black basalt, carried over the mountains from the Deccan Plateau, the temple forms a dark silhouette against gray skies, rising in a clearing between the trees. Inside, someone rings the temple bell. We peer past a Nandi crowned with flowers, into the inner sanctum lit by the flickering light of an oil lamp. We pause and give thanks for the incredible beauty that surrounds us.
This 12th C #temple is the oldest in #Goa, made of black basalt carried across the mountains from the Deccan plateau
Footloose in Fontainhas
Sunday, it rained all day. Popping open colourful umbrellas, we followed Jack Ajit Kukhija as he guided us on a heritage walk through Fontainhas, the old Latin quarter of Panjim. The houses here are painted a pale yellow, red, green or blue; Mediterranean colours from the 450-year Portuguese colonization of Goa, possibly the longest rule in the history of the colonized world.
Overhanging balconies, china-mosaic windows and roosting cockerels on rooftops are typical to most houses. Nameplates here are especially beautiful. Found on churches, houses, restaurants, on roads and bar, this kind of ceramic tile-work – Azulejos - was adopted by the Portuguese, from Morocco and Algeria. We walk through the wet streets, through tiny lanes between houses, ducking umbrellas and straining to hear Jack’s stories about roads named 31st January and 18th June, after revolts in Portugal and civil disobedience movements in Goa. Every building has a story, a long history and almost always, a beautiful visage.
Popping into old bakeries trickling aromas of hot poi, and art galleries that stock prints of Mario Miranda's illustrations, we end our walk outside the Panjim Inn, the lovingly restored heritage hotel that was our weekend home. Goa, the escape from busy cities is a refuge sought over and over, and yet there is still much to be discovered.
A weekend in the monsoon is not nearly enough.
Fact File
Fontainhas is located in the old quarter of Panjim, the capital of Goa, bordered by the Ourem Creek on the east and Altinho Hill on the west. Fontainhas is best experienced staying at one of her many heritage hotels. The Panjim Inn , part of the WelcomHeritage Hotels, is a warm, picturesque hotel that has been painstakingly restored, preserving the feel of Old Goa in every room. Exploring the forests near the Mahadeva temple is a daylong trip; booking a local cab is the most efficient way to get there.
A weekend in early August, the Goa Tourism Department hosted the GoaInstawalk, inviting us to explore a Goa beyond beaches. We checked into a beautiful room at the Panjim Inn on a Friday afternoon, complete with vintage bed and a chair like the one my grandfather had. I put both feet up and closed my eyes, listening to the steady patter of rain on the leaves.
Panjim Inn is situated in Old Goa, bordered by the Ourem Creek and Altinho Hill. We spent the evening walking her streets and stopping at street carts to sample the goods. Sweet beef samosas, crisp prawn cutlets and beef burgers made with pav bread.
Saturday morning was still dewy from the night’s showers. We packed into a car and drove a long way to the eastern border of Goa, into the Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary. Buried deep in the Western Ghats, the forest is home to leopards, the slender loris, giant squirrels and a breathtaking variety of birds. We heard them long before we spotted them, the trees humming with a medley of birdsong. But infinitely more captivating was the crowding green around us; the forest pressing back into the road, reclaiming its territory in the high swing of monsoon. We drove through the forest, acutely aware that we were intruders, entering a realm that was fully self-contained.
Fierce streams gushed past, under bridges, beside the road, the sound of running water over stone filling the air. We stopped to take it all in, the gentle whir of the forest. Deeper inside, crossing a stone bridge covered with moss, wide-cut steps led into the stream. A tree with roots in the water and vines snaking across its trunk extends its branches like a bird in flight. Gingerly, we stepped into the icy water for a closer look at this lord of the river. The water is pristine, clear all the way down to the smooth pebbles under my feet.
Tired from the long drive, the cool running water at our feet was a reviving balm. But the sensation of being dwarfed by this magnificent forest touched something much deeper inside all of us. We stayed silent, drinking it all in.
Inside the forest at the foot of the Western Ghats, runs this pristine stream fed by the monsoon rains
We slipped back into our footwear and walked a little further to find another gem hidden behind a wall of thick foliage – Tambdi Surla, a 12th-century Shiva temple. Small and dramatically dark, the stone walls of the temple glistened with fresh rain. Built with grey-black basalt, carried over the mountains from the Deccan Plateau, the temple forms a dark silhouette against gray skies, rising in a clearing between the trees. Inside, someone rings the temple bell. We peer past a Nandi crowned with flowers, into the inner sanctum lit by the flickering light of an oil lamp. We pause and give thanks for the incredible beauty that surrounds us.
This 12th C #temple is the oldest in #Goa, made of black basalt carried across the mountains from the Deccan plateau
Footloose in Fontainhas
Sunday, it rained all day. Popping open colourful umbrellas, we followed Jack Ajit Kukhija as he guided us on a heritage walk through Fontainhas, the old Latin quarter of Panjim. The houses here are painted a pale yellow, red, green or blue; Mediterranean colours from the 450-year Portuguese colonization of Goa, possibly the longest rule in the history of the colonized world.
Overhanging balconies, china-mosaic windows and roosting cockerels on rooftops are typical to most houses. Nameplates here are especially beautiful. Found on churches, houses, restaurants, on roads and bar, this kind of ceramic tile-work – Azulejos - was adopted by the Portuguese, from Morocco and Algeria. We walk through the wet streets, through tiny lanes between houses, ducking umbrellas and straining to hear Jack’s stories about roads named 31st January and 18th June, after revolts in Portugal and civil disobedience movements in Goa. Every building has a story, a long history and almost always, a beautiful visage.
Popping into old bakeries trickling aromas of hot poi, and art galleries that stock prints of Mario Miranda's illustrations, we end our walk outside the Panjim Inn, the lovingly restored heritage hotel that was our weekend home. Goa, the escape from busy cities is a refuge sought over and over, and yet there is still much to be discovered.
A weekend in the monsoon is not nearly enough.
Fact File
Fontainhas is located in the old quarter of Panjim, the capital of Goa, bordered by the Ourem Creek on the east and Altinho Hill on the west. Fontainhas is best experienced staying at one of her many heritage hotels. The Panjim Inn , part of the WelcomHeritage Hotels, is a warm, picturesque hotel that has been painstakingly restored, preserving the feel of Old Goa in every room. Exploring the forests near the Mahadeva temple is a daylong trip; booking a local cab is the most efficient way to get there.