we were supposed to drop my parents to Hubli and given that i haven't really taken Nachiket to any place worthy of mention in the last 1.2 years , we decided at the very last moment that we will drive to Goa from Hubli. I booked for 2 nights in the only hotel i could get 2 days before - in Hotel Ginger , Panaji. As i was to later realize , i could manage only 1 night in Panaji - given the amount of driving i had to do eventually .
Day 1 - 6/Oct : Thursday
Drove from Bangalore to Hubli from 8 am to 2 pm , stopping enroute only for breakfast @ Kamat after the Dobbaspet . Since i hadn't slept well the night before , i felt really tired after reaching Hubli. Took some rest , did some shopping in the evening and hit the bed early .
Day 2 - 7/Oct : Friday
Started from Hubli at 9 am . Decided to take the Karwar-Panaji Route and estimated the time to take just around 3 hours. What a gross under-estimate this would prove to be !
The NH-63 route from Hubli takes us through Yellapur and the Arebail Ghat . we reach a point near Baaleguli where the highway intersects the NH17 . The left leads to Ankola/Mangalore and the right takes us to Karwar/Panaji. we reached Karwar at 12 noon. The first sight of the sea happens here . They have the Naval Sea bird here followed by coast guard stations and so they have covered the road with high walls. At karwar we get the sea vista followed by the Kali River bridge which has an amazing view .
Nachiket is standing on the backdrop of the first sea vista just before Karwar town.
After Karwar , the roads start twisting and turning and we pass through innumerable small towns and villages enroute to Panaji. The roads are narrow and the speed really slows down to 40-50 kmph . It took us a while to reach Margoa town - we have to pass through the town and we finally reached Panaji at 2:30 pm . A good 5:30 hour drive!
After some enquiry , we reached our destination - Ginger Hotel @ Panaji. This is situated just behind the KTC bus stand ( Kadamba ) and the bus stand itself is on the highway. A foul smell of garbage greets you just opposite the Ginger hotel and thankfully the inside sounds/feels much better.
This was my first in a Ginger and the room felt really small. There is a window AC installed and everything just the right "functional" stuff . Everything felt clean and just ok. we had our lunch in their dining area adjacent to the reception . The "veg mini meal" was just the right quantity and we were eager to see at least a few places for whatever was remaining in the day.
we hired a taxi just outside the hotel and asked the driver to head to whatever we could see under 3 hours.From Panaji , we have to cross the Mandovi River over the bridge to go to any of the places in North Goa.There are actually 2 bridges and the driver ensured he always took the "new bridge" - he kept saying that the old bridge had fallen once before !
We went first to the Aguada Fort since this closes before 5 pm .Aguada means "watering place" in Portugese - it served as vantage point and a watering station for their ships. It has a dried up moat surrounding it. It also has a lighthouse , though entry to this is barred now.
Aguada Fort offers excellent view of the sea from it's wall slits ....
One has to be careful while walking on the edge around the walls !
Note : This is not the fort where the Dil Chahta Hai was shot - that's the Chapora Fort.
On the way back we passed by the Taj Vivanta and Kingfisher villa both of which have their own private beaches.
After that , we headed directly to Calangute - the most famous beach in North Goa . However , we were held up in a big traffic jam . Our cab guy Prashant suggested us to go to Baga instead.
Baga is to be seen to be believed . Totally "cluttered" beach and you will be jostling with other people just to stand somewhere ! Beach Bed rentals were @ 100/- . It has a host of watersporting facilities - Jet-ski was 300/- per person , I don't know about Parasailing and Banana Boat rides.
Not wanting to be left out and not being able to bargain below that price , i decided to Jet-ski with Nachiket. It was a good fun ride but a very short one - you have this feeling of being looted . There's just so much crowd , so much loud music - reminded me of the MTV show on the beach . I can "really" appreciate what it means to have a quieter beach anywhere in the world now that i have seen Baga. I wonder how Calangute is , but it's not surely for me !
I would surely recommend "my types" to just get down @ Baga and then get out of there as fast as possible.
Sunset @ Baga :
Knowing what we felt like , our guy drove us to Vagator . Now , this is the quieter beach in the north . we reach this on a cliff offering excellent viewpoint and then there are steps down to the beach. It was quite late already , but we could see the chapora fort ruins and photograph flashlights from everywhere. Vagator was the beach i was looking for and it probably is among the few in North Goa.
More traffic Jams greeted us on the way back and we were terribly exhausted to try the other possible options - such as the Cruise in the Mandovi River. we were suggested to take early tickets for the rides the last of which happens @ 8:30 pm . Nachiket was already asleep in the car and we just headed back to the Hotel.
Day 3 : 8/Oct Friday
In the morning we decided that we have to cancel the next day's booking in order to manage the drive back and reach Bangalore on Sunday.We decided to cover 3 places at max in the 4 hours we had until noon .
we had a very forgettable and overpriced buffet breakfast at the Hotel Ginger . we headed out @ 9 am , this time to the Dolphin watch at serqueim. This place is just before the Aguada again on the bank of the mandovi river. Small engine powered 10 seater boats takes us into the sea where Dolphins can be seen. we strapped the safety jackets around - it just felt much safer !
This is a highly recommended ride. The amazingly soothing wind of the sea brushing you , the boat chugging along the waves , the quietness of the sea all around you - Dolphin or not , it still is worth it . In fact , they have some money back if you don't see the Dolphin .
The ride takes you through a prison where you get to see the convicts ( and they get to see you !!! ) and "Jimmy's Private Bungalow" on the edge of the coast - the boat guy said Jimmy is a diamond merchant and this is only occasionally rented for movies - a fantastic view ....
we got some merchant boats en-route ....
we managed to get a glimpse of the Dolphins. They get irritated by the sound of the boats and were disappearing whenever we tried to get near them . It was fun trying to look all around and see where they pop up. A speed boat trying to suddenly reach them ended up shooing them away. Done with 4-5 sightings , our driver turned back .I could get only a small portion of the creatures' when it came up in this snap :
we had only extension till 1 pm for checking out of the Hotel and so we were left with only 1 more option to see something else. It would be either the Church in Old Goa or the Dona Paula. Nachiket veto-ed the Church and opted for the sea view again .
Back to Panaji over the bridge and we headed to the Dona Paula viewpoint - where the recent Singham movie was shot. This road is really amazing - the road just skirts the sea shore and it has well paved footpaths and benches. Apparently the locals take a walk regularly and relax on these benches in the evening. It's a real good walkway .
Dona Paula has a very good viewpoint . Singham had this scene where @ Dona Paula , Ajay Devgan breaks one of the lamp posts with his hand and Nachiket asked me " why are the lamp posts so tall and thick ? it seemed shorter in the movie " - this was followed by the usual parental preaching on how everything is unreal in the movies :-)
There were also water sport options here and i felt we should have taken the rides here - they seemed longer . we also bought some T-shirts and had very good Lime Soda here.
On the way back , we stopped over the Miramar beach . Again a quiet beach , but one with sea shells. I managed to collect some good shells to add to my shell collection .
On the way back , we bought some good cashew and Kokum juice at a place called "Zantye's cashew corner" . They have good long/thick cashew variety and is worth it.
Upon a suggestion from another driver , we decided to take another route back to Hubli. The main consideration - i don't want to face the Ghats when it's night time . I was suggested to go up north to Savantwadi and then take the SH-131 to Belgaum. we started at 2:15 pm.
This proved to be a very good drive , but we were in for a pleasantly frightening Ghat ride - the Amboli Ghat . Just look at what i mean .
we get the Amboli Dhab-Dhaba at the highest point . A very neat waterfall . we also had some good Maharashtrain savories like the Vada Pav , Kanda Bhaji and good tea at a shack here.
So , either way - it's around 5:30 hours from Hubli to Panaji . However , the choice of routes to avoid Ghats at night time was a right decision in the hindsight.
Day 4- 9 Oct , Sunday
After a good night sleep , started back to Bangalore on the NH-4 at 9 am and reached in very good time at 1:30 pm .
Covered approx 1200 kms over 4 days , with ~7 hour drive every day .I have this "Live to Drive" sticker on the back of my Honda City and I believe i really lived this for the past 4 days !
Touch and Go trip this time around - South Goa will be the point of destination for my next visit to Goa .
