Disclaimer I love going to the coastal areas a lot. Maybe that’s the reason I end up visiting Goa almost every year. But this time while planning my Goa trip I had made a conscious decision to visit of exploring the interiors of the state. And I was fortunate enough to experience the same during my recent trip.
I stayed in Benaulim. Benaulim a seaside town in the southern part was about 45 minutes from the airport. The drive from the airport to my hotel in Benaulim was the most beautiful one. Small and grey lanes winding up and down lined with coloured villas on either of the roads every now and then. Did spot a few bikers as well in that afternoon
After checking in the hotel, me and my mom decided to take a stroll along the seashore. And I couldn’t believe my eyes, I could literally see the golden sand shining brightly under the 5 o’clock sun. Later on, while walking for about fifteen minutes or so we came across the long-elongated fishermen boats. It was a sight to just observe and learn. A group of about five skinny yet strong guys were pulling up the boat from the sea to the shore. Believe me it wasn’t an easy task. They had placed rubber tubes below the boat so that there would be less friction and the boat could be pulled up a bit more easily. Finally, after about twenty minutes or so, the boat reached the shore. It was as sight of relief for the local ladies who hadn’t got anything worthwhile from the fish seller already at the shore. All of them just pounced on this boat. The evening sky had just turned orange, mom had finished her tea and me my cheese puff that we took a while ago. We started walking back towards the hotel filling our feet with sand.
The next day I decided to visit one of my other favourite place of interest, a museum. Benaulim has about four or five museums, but due to time constraints I could visit only.
I went to the Goa Chitra Museum with my parents. Or should I say I forced them to accompany me. It was about ten minutes’ drive from my hotel. I had booked a cab through the Goa Miles App and the ride costed me almost Rs.170 one way.
The museum ticket was Rs.300 and it included a guide as well. To describe the museum in one word, it was a collection of everyday Goan Lifestyle products of many many years. The museum is divided into three sections. The first one is a Portuguese styled house. I won’t get into much details now, you will know the reason soon. For the next section we stepped inside a garage. I was bit curious to know what could be inside. It was a room full of carriages. Then I was like now I know why does it look like a garage from outside. It was hall full of carriages and palanquins from each and every state of India. For the uninitiated carriages were modes of transportation back in time. There were pulled up by animals like horses, bullocks, donkeys and black bucks. Besides animals carts were also pulled up man. Palanquins were usually used to carry brides from one place to another. The last section wasn’t in a proper enclosure like the previous two. This section had a display of daily Goan articles of various years. It was divided into various sub-sections such as farming, fishing, storage units. The entire tour takes about an hour sprinkled with some interesting anecdotes from the guide. Though I personally felt the ticket price to be too high. Just keep in mind it’s not like the usual museums you visit. There aren’t any description boxes or signs besides the artifacts, so its mandatory to take the guide.
As I said earlier, I was staying in the south part of the state. While researching I found out that there were many heritage tours in the northern part especially in Panjim, the capital. Which meant a drive of almost two hours and I was totally against it. After some hustling, I found a tour by Make It Happen called as the “Chandor Walking Tour”. Chandor was about 45 minutes’ drive from my hotel. Again, I went by the Goa Miles App.It costed me Rs.474 one way. The tour started at the San Tiago Chapel in Chandor and was conducted by Murli and Maria.It was a marvelous white coloured building. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the style of architecture now. A bit of a history about Chandor. Chandor was initially known as Chandrapura and the new name was given by the Portuguese. Oh, for the record, Goa was initially known as Gomantak.Chandor village lies in Salcete taluka. There is an interesting story behind the name Salcete.The taluka is called Salcete as sixty-six communities settled there initially. In Marathi sixty-six is known as sahasatha.There were many more unique stories which I won’t divulge into more. Next we went to an old Portuguese heritage home filled with treasures. Each and every door had some mystery hiding behind it. A few cupboards had secret compartments hidden away in plain sights.. Next I was shown a walk in closet and… the closet had a secret staircase going down the basement. How cool, right? To add more to the mystery elements there were even gun holes all around the house. After that we walked towards an old temple site remains dating back to the 3rdcentury. Now the only thing remaining was a Nandi Bull stone idol.From there we drove to a beautiful Portuguese villa. The exteriors were painted in yellow. Another thing I observed in both house was that they both felt very warm and welcoming with small or no compound walls. The first house even had stone shaped chairs right at the entrance just for some quick sessions with the neighbours or passers-by.Inside the yellow-coloured Portuguese villa there were sections divided according to age. The 1stsection had articles which were about 450 years old, the 2nd350 years old and the 3rd300 years old. The articles I saw in the Goa Chita Museum’s Villa section started making more sense in this house. There were from various countries namely Africa China and Japan. A few chairs that caught my attention, one was the “Lovers Chair”, in that two people could sit facing each other and another was the chair with elongated arm rest for putting up your legs. I could see it as the recliner chair of the bygone era. Another fascinating aspect about this house were the checked glass doors across the breadth. It was a task in itself to latch those doors. The house tour ended with a cup of tea and a few Goan sweets. Then we went to another Chapel on a small hillock. Basically Chapels were built by the Portuguese by demolishing the temples that existed there earlier. Nearby both the Chapels there were a few remains of the previous temple stones. The orange dusk hues made the Chapel an even more wonderful sight. With this my tour in the picturesque Chandor village came to an end.The hosts Murli and Maria were kind enough to drop me back to my hotel in Benaulim. I even became friends with their newly joined intern Charlaine instantly the moment we met at the San Tiago Chapel at the start of the tour, which never happens usually. We even clicked selfies in the huge ballroom mirrors at the Portuguese villa. Overall the Chandor Walking Tour costed me Rs.2500/-.Off course the cost will be less if you are go as a group. I would definitely recommend them if anyone wants to experience a slice of Goa
All in all I can say that this time I saw Goa from a local’s perspective. It was all about being chilled out and yet determined at the same time.
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