Day 29 - Forts

Much like the North of India could not be more different than the South, North Goa is quite different from what we saw in the past couple of days. While the journey to Palolem was pretty much what I expected of middle-of-nowhere South India, riding our little scooter around the other half of the state made me realise the likes of Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonalds and Domino’s really are everywhere. Evidently much more commercialised and tourist-oriented, low season notwithstanding, it does nevertheless have its fair share of delightful beaches and picturesque villages in between.

One thing we did notice, however, was that there seems to be one particular kind of church that the Catholics built a few hundred examples of while “spreading the faith” around these lands - white walls, navy blue outline, not particularly inspiring. It feels like they were in a quest for quantity rather than variety, which to the modern-day greedy tourist means that once you see one, you have seen them all. The exception, which we missed out on due to my obvious lack of planning, seems to be the Basílica do Bom Jesus in Old Goa, built in 1605 in what used to be the capital of the state in the early days of the Portuguese presence - something to keep in mind for next time!

The plan for the day was to cover three forts left behind by the  Portuguese to the North of the state capital Panjim. The first, dubbed “Forte dos Reis Magos”, was used as a prison towards the end of the Portuguese rule and therefore now hosts an exhibition detailing just how terrible that was. I will do my best to keep  a reasonably impartial view on this - while we clearly had no business being here anymore and succumbed to the stubbornness of our delusional dictatorship, I am not sure a military invasion was necessary (especially for a nation that had just shown the World how much can be achieved through peaceful means). I am also not sure the majority of the Goan population was exactly dying to see us gone although, like in the main land, oppressing those who spoke against the Portuguese rule and denying their basic human rights pretty much undoes any good we may have done in 451 years here.

The forts themselves were nice, but the surrounding green hills diving onto shore made for some pretty special views. The one from Fort Chapora was probably the most stunning, although we missed the last entry by about two minutes after being stopped by the Police once again on the way (although this time no bribing was required to let us move on with our journey). The miscues continued after we found a recommended restaurant closed for the monsoon season, but we eventually found a place called Pousada by the Beach (also an indirect tip) that offered some delicious seafood while we watched our last and probably best Goan sunset thus far.

Unlike most places so far in India, I do not feel quite ready to move on from Goa. There is a lot left to explore, both geographically and metaphorically, as I missed out on its famous party scene and cheap booze (riding around with my sister praying for her life behind me meant I did not have one single beer during these three days) and feel like I barely talked to any Goans who were not after our rupees. It was always going to be ambitious to explore a place like this in three days, but its relaxing nature only made it (ironically) that much harder. In any case, this just means I will have to plan for a bit longer next time - and I have a feeling that will be sooner than I thought three days ago.

Cheers,
J-Wowww