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Spent my last weekend in North Goa. Such a beautiful place – I wish I had more time to spend there. One thing I will say is that contrary to what I was told, the tourists there are not hot (the weather was, but that’s another story). In fact, the tourists I encountered were 50+ year old British/Germans who had no problem walking around in bikinis and short swimtrunks. Supposedly if I went back in another month things would be different. <shrug>

I flew in late Friday afternoon and by the time I checked into my guest house the sun was setting. I walked to Calangunte Beach with a book and plopped down at a shack and got a beer while enjoying the sunset:

From Northern Goa

On Saturday, I rented a scooter and traveled south to Old Goa and then north to Chapora Fort. It was the second time I rented a scooter and yeah, since the traffic is crazy in India, it might have looked like a dumb decision, but I had successfully navigated my way through Ko Samui, which was noted to have the third highest number of motorcycles deaths a year in Thailand. I do admit that I got a bit lost when going from Calagunte to Old Goa (there were hardly any road signs!) but made it in one piece.

The Se Cathedral:

From Northern Goa

St. Francis Cathedral:

From Northern Goa

Inside St. Cajetan Church:

From Northern Goa

View of Old Goa’s churches from atop Our Lady of the Mount:

From Northern Goa

After admiring the beauty of Old Goa, I headed north to Chapora Fort. Along the way was Baga Beach, where I took a break and read my book and had a pepsi. You can get a sense of how much alcohol is consumed daily in Goa since it’s so cheap:

From Northern Goa

Getting a bit lost once again, I eventually found myself at Chapora Fort. It was unmarked and you had to just scale a hill to get there:

From Northern Goa

But the view was worth it:

From Northern Goa

From Northern Goa

On the way back to Calagunte I got stopped by some cops flagging all the tourists on scooters down to show some ID. I only had my California driver’s license – apparently I need an International Driver’s license next time I go. Ate dinner at a random restaurant in Calagunte, had a few drinks, ended up watching Bourne Ultimatum on HBO, and then called it a night.

On Sunday I took one last good look at Calangute Beach before heading back to Hyderabad:

From Northern Goa

So how was North Goa? Great, but I wish (just like everywhere I’ve been), that I had more time to travel around. Especially here, though, since renting a bike is cheap and you can go pretty much across the entire state if you have a few days. I can see how easy it is to just lie on the beach or drink all day (or do both at the same time). It’s yet another place on my list of places to (re)visit the next time I come to India.

Another thing that I’ll quickly note is that getting around India is not as daunting as it sounds. Sure, there aren’t many road signs, the roads are inconsistent or nonexistent, but people here are used to that – and thus, asking for directions in commonplace. Even my taxi driver from the airport had to stop two times for questions on how to get to my guest house. So stopping a few people here and there and asking for directions wasn’t bad at all – and proved extremely useful instead of pretending like I knew where I was going (because I honestly didn’t). Moral of the story: swallow your pride and ask for directions if you’re lost in India!

PS – that Sunday I picked up my 10 tailored shirts and blazer from Mebaz – I’m super excited to wear them when I get back!