Goa: a Country Within a Country
The world-famous word Goa is the name of the smallest – by area – Indian state. It is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea (a region of Indian Ocean).
Since the beginning of the 16th century and until the middle of the 20th century, the territory of Goa was a colony of Portuguese Empire. The Portuguese actively spread Catholicism then and also promoted mixed marriages. As one of the today's outcomes, the commonly ubiquitous in India car-stickers devoted to Ganesha or Shiva are superseded by the stickers devoted to Jesus instead; and the traditional Hindu wreaths of orange flowers are dangling from the crosses of the ubiquitous Catholic temples.
Comparing to many other states of India, Goa is cleaner and quieter, especially so in the small settlements by the ocean 🌊
Goa is divided into two parts: North and South. After reading articles on the Internet, we were expecting to see a huge difference between them, but that wasn't so.
In North, we stayed in Vagator. There was a number of what we could almost call nightclubs. In South, we stayed in Palolem; the Palolem beach had a long row of so to say "lounge" cafes. We enjoyed our stay in Palolem a bit more because of:
- the smaller waves,
- absence of intrusive vendors on the beach,
- plenty of stores with fruits and goods.
Vagator, in its turn, pleased us with the higher percentage of exotically looking people, and a slightly lower cost of living.
The coast of Goa is filled with a multinational mix. In some settlements the number of Indians – it seems – amounts only to 20-30 percent of all the people living there. The rest are Europeans, Americans, Tibetans, Thais, etc.
And for those who can't live without the Internet we've got good news. In addition to the Internet cafes and free Wi-Fi spots, everywhere we had a stable 3G coverage (by the mobile operator Idea). The image below shows the connection speed we had at the terrace of our lodge in Palolem, 150 meters close to the waves.
So, judging from what we have seen and experienced in Goa, we can recommend the coastal areas of this state for anyone's recreation: families with children or not, companies of friends, singles. Goa is abound with people from all over the world, and its nature is gorgeous; hence it'd be possible to find something up to any liking there.
