I arrived in Panaji (the capital city of Goa) a few days ago and immediately loved the place. It used to be under Portuguese rule so all the buildings, roads and alleys look like they've been picked up from a small Portuguese village and placed the hillside greenery of Goa. It's so nice here.
The first day I thought I'd take advantage of the Mediterranean feel and had lunch on a balcony overlooking a street with a nice cold drink and a Greek Salad - which was the best salad I've had in India - they're not really into cold salads here. I spent the afternoon wandering around the city and many churches it has taking photos and enjoying myself really - such a contrast to Bangalore or any of the other places I have visited.
The next day I visited Old Goa, which is where the Portuguese had their capital city, it has some enormous churches and cathedrals and the tomb of St Francis Xavier - which was a glass coffin (you could see him and everything eugh!). I spent a good few hours mooching around before I headed back to the guest house I was staying in.
The guest house is amazing...it's ran by a retired teacher and is so cosy and decorated like an old Lisbon town house plus it had REAL hot water...that was amazing!
Today my last day in the city before I hit the beaches of Anjuna I visited a Spice Plantation (or more so a smaller demonstration plantation next to a larger plantation) which was really good fun, you got a tour of the plantation seeing all the plants and spices and saw elephants and what not before lunch and a small shot of Kaju Feni - this is the strongest drink I have ever had...I'm trying to track down a few bottles to bring home - but lets just say it made me wretch so much that I choked; I then met a family from Cheshire and we talked for a while before I bought a few spices and plodded back to Panaji for a nice siesta (I've been taking alot of these!)
Next post from Anjuna!
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