Things to do in Goa
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German Bakery
Leafy and filled with prayer flags and jolly lights, this is a perfect place for a huge lunch chosen from an equally huge menu. Tofu balls in mustard sauce with parsley potatoes and salad is a piled-high winner at Rs150. Wi-fi is available for a fairly steep Rs100 per hour.
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Anjuna Flea Market
Without doubt the most important date in the Anjuna diary, market day sees scores of local and expat vendors descending on the market site at the far south of the beach, to haggle the day away over clothing, jewellery, souvenirs and a good deal, these days, of usual tourist tat. Pick through the rubbish (underfoot, quite literally) to seek out treasure, including sparkling ceiling hangings, dancing dolls, and posh frocks made from dazzling saris. Even if you don’t come home loaded with shopping, it’s an unmissable event, where you’ll find Goa’s old faithful hippies mingling with I Heart Goa–clad Indian tourists, package-holiday Brits and Russians, and young backpackers in…
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Sunset Boat Cruise
A host of floats sets out each evening just before sunset to ply the Mandovi waters and entertain tourists with nothing more sophisticated than the view, a beer or two and a dash of traditional Goan dancing. A number of companies run competing tours from the Santa Monica Jetty, with the GTDC’s being the most serene and least raucous of the bunch. Head to the jetty to compare watery offerings and pick up your tickets.
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Sher-E-Punjab
A cut above the usual lunch joint, Sher-E-Punjab caters to well-dressed locals with its generous, carefully spiced Indian dishes. There’s a pleasant garden terrace out the back, and an icy AC room if you’re feeling sticky. Try the delicious paneer tikka (Rs90) but note, if you’re hungering for snacks, that the fish fingers and chicken fingers are ‘seasonal only’.
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Café Coffee Day
A pleasant enough place to escape the heat, this wannabe sleek joint offers a half-decent cappuccino (Rs44) along with a range of cakes, including the suitably ’70s Black Forest Gateau (Rs44), reminiscent of the era when Colva was still cool.
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Hotel Venite Restaurant
With colourful graffiti covered walls and half a dozen tiny balconies hanging over the street this Latin flavoured restaurant is the perfect spot to pause for one of their delicious milkshakes and a light snack.
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Cafe Orange Boom
Just past Cafe Diogo, on the opposite side of the road, this nice little place has good food and friendly service, with a useful noticeboard for catching up on Anjunan goings-on.
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Polem Beach
Goa’s southernmost beach, ranged along a beautiful small bay, is seldom-visited but makes a fine spot for a seaside stroll or a picnic on the deserted sands, with a beautiful view of a cluster of rocky islands out towards the horizon. Tourist development hasn’t yet made it as far as Polem, and the beach retains a decidedly local feel, with a handful of fishermen bringing in their catch to the northern end and nothing much else to keep you company except scuttling crabs and circling seabirds. For a fishy lunch so fresh it’s still dithering, stop at the Kamaxi Hotel among the palms, run by the eccentric local Laxaman Raikar. He also stocks Kingfisher, if you’re in need of s…
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Cabo da Rama Fort
A fort, named after the god Rama of the Hindu Ramayana epic fame, has occupied this bluff guarding the mouth of the Sal River for centuries, and came into Portuguese possession in 1763. Used as a prison until about half a century ago, there’s not much to see these days, though the drive through thick coconut forests is a real treat, and it’s without doubt a windswept and melancholy spot with a couple of cold-drinks stalls at the entrance, a luxury the poor Portuguese surely never had.
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Children Walking Tall
- Goa, India
- Activities › Other
Children Walking Tall was founded in 2004, and helps Goa’s street and slum children, with its day-care centre, medical, educational, nutritional and all sorts of other, essential aid. Volunteers can fill a variety of roles, as teachers, childcare assistants and outreach workers, while there are also positions available for qualified doctors and nurses. Check Children Walking Tall’s website for complete details.
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Aswem Beach
A wide stretch of quiet beach backed by a rather lacklustre village strip, the quiet Aswem sands are popular with long-staying foreigners and play host to an annually changing parade of beach-hut accommodation and beach-shack restaurants. Though some stretches of the beach are becoming distressingly grubby, development here is generally low-key, swimming is usually safe, the sands are quiet, and the vibe, very mellow.
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Barracuda Diving
The closest beach to Panaji is at Miramar, 3km southwest of the city along Dayanand Bandodkar Marg. It's far from the cream of Goa's beaches but is a pleasant enough place for a sunset stroll and a good place to aim for on a short bike ride out the city. On the way you'll pass the Goa Marriot Resort, where you'll also find Barracuda Diving, one of the state's most professional diving operations.
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Republic of Noodles
For a sophisticated dining experience, the RoN delivers with its dark bamboo interior, Buddha heads and floating candles. Delicious, huge noodle plates are the order of the day, and if you’re feeling flush there’s an exquisite brunch on Sunday mornings: Rs1200 buys you an extensive southeast Asian buffet, along with unlimited Mimosas and Bloody Marys.
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Andy’s Tattoo Studi
If you’re looking to embellish yourself while in town, try Andy’s Tattoo Studio, attached to San Francisco Restaurant, where the Anjuna cliffside slides down to meet the beach. Drop in to make an appointment and receive a price quote for your permanent souvenir.
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Cola Beach
Faded signs from the main coastal road direct you down to hidden Cola Beach. Park, and hike down over the headland to get to this quiet, picturesque cove equipped with just one rustic beach-hut operation and a whole lot of blissful solitude.
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Fellini
A long-standing Italian joint, perfect for when you’re craving a carbonara or calzone, Fellini delivers all your wood-fired pizza and fresh pasta requirements in the thick of the Arambol action.
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La Plage
La Plage is renowned by those in the know, and has been dishing up sumptuous gourmet Mediterranean food in simple surroundings since 2003, concocted by a genuine French chef.
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Shiva Valley
Shiva Valley is a very popular place for an evening drink, an alternative crowd and the odd impromptu party.
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Le Bluebird
This is an oddly situated and unusually classy French restaurant that does fine dining in a great outdoor area. Francophiles can enjoy imported wine here, and there's a good selection of vegetarian dishes on offer.
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Chapel of St Sebastian
Aside from its general old-world charms, Fontainhas is notable for being home to the pretty Chapel of St Sebastian, built in 1818. This small whitewashed church at the end of a lovely lane contains one of only a few relics remaining as testament to the Goan Inquisition, which terrorised the state’s population for more than two centuries. A striking crucifix, which originally stood in the Palace of the Inquisition in Old Goa. Christ’s unusual open eyes are said to have been conceived to strike fear into the hearts of ‘heretical’ suspects brought before the Inquisitors, and awaiting their usually grisly fate. Following the end of the Inquisition in Goa in 1814 – due to an A…
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Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary
Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary lies a stone’s throw from Molem and, with an area of 240 sq km, this is the largest of Goa’s four protected wildlife areas; it also encompasses the 107-sq-km Molem National Park. Unless you’re on a guided tour, however, you might also have problems actually gaining access to the park’s quiet, shady, unmarked trails. In theory, tickets are available at the Forest Interpretation Centre, 2km before the park entrance, close to Molem town. In practice, though, there are usually only a couple of bewildered-looking men sitting about, who will have enough trouble interpreting your request to purchase a ticket, let alone finding the keys to the p…
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Basilica of Bom Jesus
The Basilica of Bom Jesus is famous throughout the Roman Catholic world. It contains the tomb and mortal remains of St Francis Xavier who, in 1541, was given the task of spreading Christianity among the subjects of the Portuguese colonies in the East.
A former pupil of St Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, St Francis Xavier embarked on missionary voyages that became legendary and, considering the state of transport at the time, were nothing short of miraculous.
Apart from the richly gilded altars, the interior of the church is remarkable for its simplicity. Construction began in 1594 and was completed in 1605. The focus of the church is the three-tiered marb…
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Cabo Raj Bhavan
On the westernmost point of the peninsula stands an old fortress, Cabo Raj Bhavan, nowadays the official residence of the Governor of Goa. Plans to build a fortress here, to guard the entrance to the Mandovi and Zuari Rivers, were first proposed in 1540 and, although the 16th century had become the 17th before work on the fortress began, a chapel was raised on the spot almost immediately. The fortress was subsequently completed and the chapel extended to include a Franciscan friary. The fort itself, though equipped with several cannons, was never used in defence of Goa, and from the 1650s was instead requisitioned as a grand and temporary residence for Goa’s lucky Archbis…
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Archaeological Museum
Part of the Franciscan monastery at the back of the Church of St Francis of Assisi is now an Archaeological Museum, housing some lovely fragments of sculpture from Hindu temple sites in Goa, and some Sati stones, which once marked the spot where a Hindu widow committed suicide by flinging herself onto her husband’s funeral pyre. Also here you’ll find two large bronze statues: one of the Portuguese poet Luís Vaz de Camões, which once stood more prominently in the central grassy area of Old Goa, and one of Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese conqueror and first governor of Goa, which stood in the Azad Maidan in Panaji, before being moved here after Independence.
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Museum of Christian Art
Adjacent to the Convent of St Monica, this museum contains a collection of statues, paintings and sculptures, most of it transferred here from the Rachol Seminary. Interestingly, many of the works of Goan Christian art made during the Portuguese era, including some of those on display here, were produced by local Hindu artists; this might explain a tiger-skin-wrapped John the Baptist, fitted out in the style of Hindu god Shiva. Among the other items on show are richly embroidered priest vestments, a number of devotional paintings and carvings, a portable Mass kit for travelling priests, and a fair amount of silverware, including crucifixes, salvers and crowns.
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