Have you ever seen bearded Lord Shiva ?? Strain your brain to recollect if you have indeed seen a picture or idol of Shiva with a beard.
No ?  Read on….
Despite the Portuguese influence that dominated Goa over the centuries, it is fascinating to see how such a large number of Hindu temples have survived here. Shoved away from place to place, the deities were preserved and worshipped till they were finally installed in their present day hearths.
Most of the temples that we saw had something similar. They all looked like …

I know I am taking aeons to complete this series on Goa. Also, I am purposely postponing those beautiful beaches Goa is world famous for. First I want to write about other things which many of us may not be aware of. One of them is Spice Farm. Well, I wasn’t aware of existence of any such farm.
The Sahakari Spice Farm is nestled within a lush, tropical forest in Ponda covering 130 acres. Travel agents at the main beaches operate day trips to Sahakari (yes, if you are interested in …

As I mentioned Ancestral Goa is shown in two parts. The second part comprises of something called Big Foot.
To start with it was surprisingly pleasant as a cultural experience when a sari clad Goan girl greeted us with ‘Aarti’, teeka and flowers at the door. After that, the guides took over.

This part of Ancestral Goa is actually a miniature village recreated around the legend of Big Foot which takes us hundred years back into the history. I liked this part of the museum very much as it taught us many …

This picture is for Peter and BTR. This was the frog shaped door knocker on the green main door we were talking about in my previous post.

The brass made knocker is quite old and signs of wear & tear are visible.

Don’t be surprised if I say Goa is essentially a village. Yes, the real Goa is very rural and untouched. And if you don’t have time to discover this, a visit to a Goa village, namely Ancestral Goa is perfect. One can catch a close glimpse of life in rural Goa and unwind.
To cater to tourists who show interest in the history, culture and life of rural Goa, ‘Ancestral Goa’ in Loutolim was started in 1995 from the dream of a Goan artist to carve a niche for itself on …

There were four choices to reach Goa from my place, Mumbai.. .. by air, by cruise, by road or by train. The distance is around 600 Kms by road.
Since we had heard about the Konkan belt with all its ghats being extremely beautiful to watch, we decided against the first two options. Also, they were to take either too short or too long duration. Traveling by road was again rejected on three points.

1. It would have meant spending around 15 hours by any overnight Volvo bus taking into consideration all …

I have been traveling a lot to a lot of places for professional, personal & not so personal reasons. One of them was Goa and this is my first post on it. I was there on a much needed vacation of nine days.
Why nine days ? Well, we have been looking forward to such long vacation for quite sometime as we always thought a place like Goa can not be experienced in lesser no. of days.
Don’t agree ? Ok, expect a lot here on Goa from places, food, people, culture, …