Dialogue on trip started with "I need a break" and concluded it with "Let's go to Goa". I don't know why, but there is this very warm relaxed kind of feeling when we think of vacationing, it has to be Goa. And for that, you need to go beyond the noisy and crowded Calangute or Baga areas.
Every year by February end, carnival (Carnaval in Portuguese) is held for 3-4 days. I had been to carnival twice previously. This time I wanted my brother - Rohan and another friend of mine - Nilesh to experience the same. Offcourse, they were also in desperate need of break from harrowed office work. Being foodies, we used to often meet to try various cuisines in different restaurants in Mumbai. So, the main goal was eventually food. Thus, the three loony souls embarked on food trail in Goa.
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| Palolem Guest House |
We preferred South Goa compared to the crowded North. Hotel for 3 days stay was booked at Palolem Guest House. It was hardly 1km from beach, walkable. Hotel was clean, well maintained, mostly foreigners stayed around this area, also it had an open air retaurant with garden. Classic Goan style.
Since, this was a plan cooked one month in advance, so, the chances of getting a train ticket was nil (thanks to 4 months advance booking). Still, I kept my finger crossed for tatkal. Hoping to nail it. Well, one day prior to journey tatkal opened and within 10 secs all tickets were in wait list. We tried all combinations finally opted for Neeta sleeper Volvo to goa. Due to carnival, the rush was expected.
Journey began on 23rd February, 2017 in the evening, boarding at our respective locations and arriving at Madgaon in the noon, in scorching heat.
Rohan had already booked an AC car (Swift dzire) for 3 days (1300 / day and Rs. 5000 as deposit). After thorough check of the car, We loaded our bags and we were off to Palolem.
Since it was already lunch time, we took a halt at a Dhaba called Highway Relax. Food was scrumptious. Tried the Fish thali, good value for money.
We left by 2.00 pm for Palolem, reached hotel Palolem Guest House. We were impressed by its cleanliness and surrounding.
We decided to rest a bit before going for beach. Around 5 pm,we walked towards the beach, found it serene just the way we wanted it. Sat for a while, walked around, before zeroing on Cuba for dinner.
Nilesh and Rohan did some research on good food in Goa. So, nilesh thought of trying Red Snapper fish (Rs.1000) along with rice.
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| Red Snapper |
For people like us, who relish Bombay ducks and pomfrets, snapper seemed to be tasteless. Nevertheless, Nilesh enjoyed it. My fetish for French onion soup began here, well, rohan recommended it and I liked it.
We strolled again in beach, chitchatting on how life is punching us right, left and center, before hitting the sack for another day.
Next day, again we headed for beach, had breakfast in one of the shack named San Francisco. The breakfast was good, sat leisurely for an hour, then decided to dive in the water. Soon the sun was at 90 degrees, we preferred to go back.
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| At Martins corner |
For lunch, Rohan wanted to try out food at Martins Corner at Salcette.
We had planned to visit Carnival by 4.00 pm at Panjim. We arrived at Martins corner by 1.30 pm, it was crowded, had to wait for sometime, before the table was allocated to us.
Again, our epicure Nilesh, ordered some pork dish, which I and Rohan were not fond of. Well, nilesh seemed satiated with his choice, I again tried French onion soup (this time the taste was different), some fried butter calamari, followed with biryani, winding it up with bebinca with ice cream and my favourite choco nut filled brownie.
We were surfeited with food. Left the place by 3.00 pm for Panjim. Rohan was a good experienced driver, but after eating like gluttons, he handed over the seat to Nilesh, who knows driving but seemed bit reluctant to try it out on highway, still he managed to drive 50 odd kms.
I can't drive, so I remained glued to my back seat watching and learning the tricks of driving through Rohan.
We reached Panjim by 4.30 pm, thanks to the traffic caused by some ongoing construction. Carnival had already started, somehow managed to find the parking and dashed off to the street where the event was taking place.
I had been to carnival twice earlier. Maybe it was first day or so, the parade didn't match the grandeur of earlier ones. Hardly, 10-15 floats were paraded. Rohan seemed bit disappointed. I tried to pacify him that maybe next day they might add more floats. We walked back to parking which was like 1 km away seemed like 5 kms for me, because of heels.
We came back to Palolem after going through traffic for an hour. Being mumbaikars we were very much experienced in waiting (for eternity) in traffic, but was unexpected in Goa.
We had our dinner at other end of Palolem beach restaurant called Draupadi. Food is always best here. Again the FOS, some fries, guys had some liquor, while I being a teetotaler, seemed happy with Lime Ice Tea.
We preferred light food, because of heavy detectable food in the afternoon. We took the beach facing seats, sipping away the night.
Walked back to hotel, dozed off for the night.
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| Palolem beach |
Next day, we had a rendezvous with Cabo-de-rama beach. We left by 9.00 am.
Decided to have a south Indian breakfast at a small udupi hotel located at main crossroad. Some idli, vada sambhar, masala dosa, tea etc.
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| Agonda beach |
I was navigating through GPS. Decided to take the inner short route via Agonda.
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| Agonda beach |
We loved the serenity of agonda, decided to camp here next time. Took some pictures and got back on road.
We got stuck at exit to main road, there was a very narrow bridge which connected the main road. Small cars can trudge through it, Rohan decided against risking the vehicle specially when it belonged to someone else.
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| Cabo de rama beach |
Again we drove back to the junction, carried on through main road. We reached cabo de rama beach in afternoon. With sun hell-bent on sucking out every drop of water within us, we decided to click some pics and return back to the coolness of the vehicle.
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| Cabo de rama beach |
We decided to have lunch at Sabina's at palolem. It was very much recommended by most travellers on sites. Well,the
food turned out to be plain, not that extraordinary. We left that place with mixed feelings, wondering whether to trust these site ratings.
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| Cabo de rama beach |
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| Candolim beach |
In the evening we had planned to visit Calangute, where we were supposed to join another friend of mine and together we were supposed to visit LPK.
We reached quite late due to traffic, hence decided to grab a quick dinner at Souza lobo. Here, nilesh asked for lobster (Approx. 2K).
A big elaborately decorated dish, with few chunks to nibble. We were disappointed, because it was not worth the cost.
I stuck to my French onion soup (again, the taste was different) and fries, veg sizzler.
We met our friend, she was with her group, had booked a shack(Pine tree) at Candolim for whole night.
After, some hi-hellos, we sat on the beach, too exhausted to go to disc. We rested for some time and took the journey back to Palolem in the midnight. Rohan drove the 100 odd kms, while I intermittently kept dozing off in the back seat, and sometimes watching the radium glow on the road. We reached around 2.00 a.m. Next day, being last day of heavenly vacation. We thought of going for kayaking in the morning, but overslept till 10.00 am. Packed our bags, cleared our hotel bills, gave back car, took back deposit and boarded the train in the afternoon. Turned out to be seating chair, which Rohan had booked in advance and only kind of seats available at short notice.
Food fest ended here.
