{"id":2694,"date":"2013-04-24T09:49:21","date_gmt":"2013-04-24T09:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/?p=2694"},"modified":"2025-03-25T07:47:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T07:47:00","slug":"with-open-arms-a-travelogue-on-goa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/with-open-arms-a-travelogue-on-goa\/","title":{"rendered":"With open arms: A travelogue on Goa"},"content":{"rendered":"

OK so work took me to Goa. Reached Goa on the 10th of February 2013, and oh my, I must admit that the moment I saw the aircraft nearing Goa my heart was jumping with joy.<\/p>\n

Actually, to tell you all the truth… Goa as a fun holiday destination<\/a> was always at the top of my mind, however, whenever I made a plan with my girlies, it always flopped \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

So here I was, nearing Goa (…psst, the steward very politely told me I wasn’t supposed to click pictures and I smiled and said sorry, however, I continued and took\u00a01-2 pictures more\u00a0\ud83d\ude1b typical Indian you see)<\/p>\n

\"Goa<\/p>\n

The aircraft soon landed and my first step out of the aircraft, on Goan land, was pure bliss. The airport there is a defence airport, hence, photography is banned and you see a few defence aircrafts lined up by the runway.<\/p>\n

As I walked out, I saw the driver waiting for me. A very sweet person. Showed me through Goa, enroute to Club Estadia, our resort in Goa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Defence<\/p>\n

This was a dock on the way where I\u00a0halted to take some pictures. There was a church here as well (Don’t seem to remember the name though… I guess it was called Chiklipanjaar, that’s what the driver said)<\/p>\n

\"Chiklipanjaar<\/p>\n

We passed backwaters, churches and some foreigners on bikes. Soon we were on a bridge in the image below, over the\u00a0Mandovi River, famous for it’s cruises that begin\u00a0by the evening.
\n\"Mandovi<\/p>\n

After about half an hour we reached Goa – Club Estadia<\/a>, A Sterling Holidays Resort, located in the quiet location of\u00a0Alto Porvorim.
\n\"Goa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Goa – Club Estadia<\/strong><\/p>\n

I reached the resort at around 6 p.m. and hence I had all plans of visiting the destination in the evening\u00a0as that is what Goa is all about. And also because I had to leave for Karwar (90 kms from Goa), midday the next day. So I started off to see the real Goa.<\/p>\n

My first stop was at Fort Aguada. Since the main fort was closed, I climbed up the portion which was open, that\u00a0faced the sea. Oh man! All you could hear is sea waves dashing up the shore. It was pitch dark and so I was unable to click pictures \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

My next stop was Sinquerim beach. Beach shacks. Loud music. Live band. This was so amazing. I missed my friends so much. Wish they were there.<\/p>\n

I then passed through the shopping area which had quite a lot of restaurants lined up.<\/p>\n

Truly, there is so much of love and merriment in the Goan air. All you could see is tourists around.<\/p>\n

Before heading back to the resort I stopped at Baga beach, sat in one of the shacks.<\/p>\n

\"Baga<\/div>\n
Me at one of the beaches in Goa<\/strong><\/div>\n

I headed back to the resort, with the Holiday Activities person Raja and the driver (Thanks to both of them that I got to see Goa… a lil bit though)<\/p>\n

Had an amazing dinner specially made by Chef Pradip and before hitting the bed I informed the front office to wake me early in the morning as I wanted to see sunrise at Dona Paula.<\/p>\n

Woke up the next morning at 5 and by 5.30 I was out of the resort.Very quick for a person like me who takes an hour to get ready. But as it was early in the morning and no one would see me, I didn’t bother \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

Dona Paula was so deserted in the morning, all you could find is 1-2 lone joggers and a few dogs. But the views from here were mind blowing. The sea was vast. Ships\u00a0around. Fresh air. It was all too good (though I was a little scared of the dogs :D)<\/p>\n

\"Before<\/div>\n
Before sunrise<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Church<\/div>\n
This was the church at Dona Paula<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"view<\/div>\n
This was view of the waters from the top<\/strong><\/div>\n

Living in the city and getting up after sunrise everyday had somehow made me forget the beauty of the rising sun, which I experienced here. It was soul drenching.<\/p>\n

I had to leave for Villagio<\/a> at 12 p.m.\u00a0that day, our other resort in Goa. So I bid adieu to the team at Club Estadia for taking good care of me and I started.<\/p>\n

Villagio is about an hour’s drive from Club Estadia, it is located in Betalbatim, a silent locale in Goa where one will find all the biggie hotels.<\/p>\n

Reached Villagio and had a fulfilling meal there with the resort manager. Chef Sydney prepared a lovely dessert for me. Picture below.<\/p>\n

\"Goa<\/div>\n

Had a chat with the staff around and at 4 pm I left for Karwar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On my way I was thinking that St.Augustine has rightly quoted \u201cThe world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.\u201d<\/p>\n

The views expressed by the author are in her personal capacity.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK so work took me to Goa. Reached Goa on the 10th of February 2013, and oh my, I must admit that the moment I saw the aircraft nearing Goa my heart was jumping with joy. Actually, to tell you all the truth… Goa as a fun holiday destination was always at the top of…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":7760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[87],"tags":[2454,2455,2456,2457,2458,2459,2460,2461,2462,2463,2464,2465,2466,2467,2468,2469,2470,2471,2472,2473,2474,2475,2476,2477],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2694"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17526,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions\/17526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}