48 hours in Goa ...

Se Cathedral Church - Old Goa, Goa : One of the largest church of Asia.

I will be a bit more descriptive. It may irritate you a bit but I can’t control it as I enjoyed every moment of my journey to Goa and like to put all those detail down. It was during February of 2008. After visiting Ellora caves I came back to hotel at Aurangabad and checked out from hotel near around 3:00 PM. I took a bus to Manmad. Manmad is a decent railway station in Maharastra. I booked 2nd class sleeper train ticket from Manmad to Margao (Goa) on my first day at Auranabad. (Please refer my Maharastra trip in my earlier blogs). The night I spent in a bit costly hotel near Manmad railway station. Due to the excitement of visiting Goa I hardly could sleep so rather I decided to spend the time watching TV (Have to get return on investment! Right?). It was “Lawaris” of Amitabh Bachchan getting broadcasted that time (I liked Amitabh in that movie very much). By the time the movie end it was already 3:00 AM and just 2 hours remain for me to reach the station to catch the train.

Vagator Beach : Most picturesque and photographed beach of Goa

The cold morning at Manmad railway station was rather enjoyable. (As I used to stay in Chennai at that time of my life I was much more enjoyable to me). Train was at right time. I got a seat in side upper bunk. The person at lower bunk was sleeping and so I didn’t had any other choice but sleep in upper bunk. I am fond of sleeping but don’t like it when I am traveling. Next day night 8:00 PM the train reached Margao in Goa. On the way the train passed through many tunnels. Some of them are too long that takes more than 5 minutes to cross.

Vagator Beach : In the evening



Margao is a decent city probably 2nd or 3rd most important city of Goa. (First being the capital of Goa called Panaji or Panjim.). Goa was a Portuguese colony and even till date you will get the flavour. All shops, services, transport etc in Goa closes by 8:00 PM (at maximum by 9:00 PM). Goa is all about beach and churches, sand and sun, food and festivals etc. Anyway I got a decent hotel to spent my days there.

Sunset at Goa : In Vagator Beach

Next day very morning before the sun rise I started for Calangute beach which is often called “Queen of Goan beaches”. On the way I got a glimpse of Panaji. I had to change my bus there.


Calangute Beach : Queen of all Goan Beaches



Calangute is a very nice beach but spoiled by the tourist and shops. Main beach space has been reduced to a significant way. I took a boat ride on the sea and spotted some dolphins there.


Boating a catch a glimse of Dolphin : Goa

From Calangute I made a short trip to Old Goa. Old Goa has the best churches of the continent. Some of them are listed in UNESCO world heritage sites. One of them called Se – Cathedral is the biggest church in Asia. Church of Bom jesus, just opposite to Se - Cathedral is also very nice.



From Old Goa I made a short trip to Arambol beach. It is a unspoiled beach. The thing which pleased me mostly was the silence. Away from the crowd of the tourist is the sun bathing place for many foreign tourists.



From Arambol I went to Vagator, the most picturesque as well as the most photographed beach in Goa. From a small hill top I watched the sun set. It was 7:00 PM. I knew it would be tough to get return back from there. But still I took the risk and waited till the sea completely dissolves the sun. It was a view I think no mortal can explain. If there is anything called heavenly experience it was one of them. The moment which always provides me the enthusiasm to make more and more trips, yes, this was one of them!



One foreign tourist gave me lift till Panaji from where I got the last bus to Margao.

Next day morning I boarded the train to Mumbai from Margao bringing some sweet memories with me. (Photos of the trip will be uploaded soon).