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Published: April 17th 2008
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Woke up a little after 6:00am to get ready for the days outing, our driver will be here around 9:00am. My foot still hurts when I walk. Still have to limp but pain is bearable if I walk real slow. The redness in my eyes seems to be clearing up today. Prem’s cough is under control as well. Had breakfast at a coffee shop a block away, just simple toast and jam with some south Indian filtered coffee. Meanwhile we made some calls to change our flight back to Mumbai which was scheduled for 16 Apr to 17 Apr just so we are not in a rush all the time.
Our driver was prompt, at 9:00am. First we headed to an area called Old Goa to see The Basilica of Bom Jesus, meaning “Good Jesus” in Portugese. Built in the 16 century, it houses the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier. His remains is on top of a large and high marble tomb. You can just make out the side profile of his head from the viewing point below. It was quite spooky seeing the remains. Amazingly it still has not decomposed! It is still a beautiful and formidable church.
Very impressive!!
Next we went to The Church of St. Francis of Assisi just across the street which was built in 1661. Just next to this church is The Chapel of St. Catherine which was built in 1510 by Afonso de Albuquerque to commemorate his entry into the city on St. Catherine's day. A very small, mostly sparse chapel with one altar. Remarkably, all of these churches are located closely, within walking distance.
We then hopped into the car and went to the nearby Church of St. Cajetan which was built in the 17 century by Italian friars and modeled after the original designs of St. Peters in Rome. Sadly, it was infested with rats, as we could hear the loud rat noise which was familiar to us who grew up in Asia!! It was gross! I cannot tell you how scary it sounded. Ramesh was brave enough to venture near the main altar to take pictures. The lone guard just sits there - he seemed happy to see us. Next we headed to the Se de Santa Catarina aka Se Cathedral completed in 1642. It is the largest cathedral in Asia. The main altar was gilded with
Tomb of St. Francis Xavier
in The Basilica of Bom Jesus. His head is just visible in this picture. gold, and quite magnificent given its age.
We then headed to the Mangesh temple which has a gold cupola. There was some afternoon pooja going on, so we got in line to receive blessings. This time Prem was not refused entry!
Next on our list - a nearby spice plantation (Tropical Spice Plantation) for a tour of their facilities and of the plantation itself. It was a bumpy ride to the plantation along some very narrow roads. After about 30 minutes, we arrived at the plantation. It looked like a tropical rainforest, very quiet - no city, car or people noise! It’s a 15-20 minute walk to the plantation over some rough terrain and I had difficulty walking as my foot was hurting while walking over rocks, stones and uneven ground. The tour itself lasted about 40 minutes. The guide took us through the plantation on foot and explained the various spice plants, trees, how it is harvested, etc. Lunch was served, all of which were cooked with the spices from the plantation and was delicious. The tour guide also served us Feni which is traditionally consumed before meals. She told us “don't smell it, just drink it”,
Prem, seeing the light!
Took this picture in-surreptitiously at The Basilica of Bom Jesus just as we were exiting the art gallery. which confirmed the smelly component of the liquor. We did try it and found this to be more palatable than the Big Boss brand. Probably because this was brewed right there at the plantation and was a first distillation. The commercial ones in shops are distilled several times hence more potent!
It's about 2:30pm now, and it's a super hot day. The thermometer on my watch read 34 Celsius! So we decided to go to the beach when it’s cooler in the evening and headed back to the hotel to rest and take a nap. It’s 5:30pm now and we are off to Candolim beach where we can watch the sun set and spend some time by the beach. The roads leading to the beach from Panjim were extremely narrow (had a few close calls there!), bumpy and littered with garbage. (Prem: The clubs I wanted to check out were in this area but unfortunately it’s frighteningly far from our hotel and I cannot imagine getting a taxi back from these clubs in the wee morning. Don’t know how people actually go to these clubs unless they stay at the beach hotels. Still, the clubs looked pretty remote, far
from the beach hotels…)
Being at the beach was fun except the sand was littered. The sand is grey. Wish they clean it regularly because it is indeed a beautiful beach. It was not too crowded. The driver specifically took us here because Anjuna and Calangute beaches were too touristy and crowded. On the way back, we stopped by Newton's supermarket, a large one, near the beach to get some staples. Interestingly, all the supermarkets we’ve been to, do not sell fresh fruits or bread!
My foot is still hurts when I walk, the pain seems to be subsiding a bit. I had difficulty getting to sleep as I had a bad cough attack just before bed. Prem seems to be ok now, coughing still, the redness in her eyes have almost completely cleared up. My eyes are also starting to clear up, it's not that red anymore.
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Shantha
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Candolim
That was my beach!! Did you see all the wrinkled old leather people? It is a good choice for being not crowded though. Have you two heard anything about the Olympic torch run? It is in Delhi today ...