Five go mad in Goa: July Offpeak family holiday

brownboy66

right - having grown up on an island where no one is more than 4 hours road trip from the sea, living the past year in Delhi has been an interesting experience from a maritime point of view (i.e - there is no maritime point of view). About the closest thing you get to an ocean experience here is eating seafood (Swagarth restaurant in DK - delicious), or driving past naval headquarters and dodging naval ratings and offices that swam all over the road in white uniforms like escaped restaurant waiters.

So a family decision was made very early on this year that we needed to get to the ocean - didn't care that school holidays coincided with the monsoon season, didn't care that the ocean was probably going to be too rough to swim in - we needed a lung full of salty sea air. Goa was it.

getting there

From Delhi the flight is 2 and a half hours - not really a huge amount of time, but potentially problematic for us. We have a rule in our family - the "are we there yet" question is banned (automatically punishable with both washing and drying the dinner dishes). So we were fairly confident our trip would not be plague by that question.....right up until the time our 4 year old said:

"where are we going"

.......to the beach

"oh"

(then five minutes later)

"where are we going"

We flew on jet airways and they were great. The fare was pretty reasonable for a family of five, the service out of delhi left on time and the flight was very smooth.

Of course there are any number of flights out of Delhi to Goa, but the jet flight was one of the few that was direct (not via Mumbai). We flew on a monday morning - and the Boeing 737-300 had the sum total of 27 people on borad!

landing in Goa/ getting to the hotel

Coming from the hot and dusty city that is Delhi and flying into Goa, its immediately obvious you've struck a lush tropical environment - more so when the door of the plane opens and the tropical air hits you. Just lovely.

"where are we going"

we're going to get on a bus and go to the beach!

"oh"

(five minutes later)

"where are we going"

to the moon.....

"no we're not! - we're not the Bernstein bears" (Dr Suess book about bears who go to the moon....)

then why did you ask?

"I was just tricking you"

grrrrrrrrrr

The bus ride to the hotel took 45 minutes - which was a great way to get a look at all the first time sites along the way (more scooters than you can shake a stick at, small bars dotted along the road at regular intervals, clusters of small ship building yards on the coast just after the airport, etc). After Delhi, the traffic was refreshingly light and easy going too.

We had chosen a family hotel (complete with an activity centre) to stay in at the southern end of north Goa. As any parent will know - there are two types of holidays - there is the relaxing, read a book, get some rest kind of holiday - and then there is the holiday your kids have! Kids can have a unique perspective of what constitutes a holiday. If you show them an ancient monument, a cultural icon that that may be thousands of years old, perhaps even a wonder of the world - the only thing they will want to know is "can I climb it". Show them a priceless artifact "can I play with it", point out a interesting plant with hideously poisonous fruit "can I eat it". Perhaps children are the ultimate tourist in that everything is a tactile experience (if your children are not like this and allow you to catch your breath then I envy you.....and hate you....just a bit ).

The main reason for visiting Goa in July was that it coincided with our kids school holiday. While we were fully expecting the weather to be a bit rough - it simply wasn't an issue at all. It would rain maybe once or twice a day - usually in the early morning or late evening - but usually for half an hour at a time. Being July - there were also some accommodation bargins to be found - and combined with an activity centre the hotel we had chosen seemed the right balance for us (still bloody pricey - but worth it if all of us could enjoy the break).

While the temperature and humidity was comparable to Delhi - the constant on-shore breeze made the difference. Outside activity becomes possible without getting drenched in sweat - and simply sitting outside in the middle of the day is fine (and in the evenings it was coolish)!

The ocean wasn't really swimmable. While the swell wasn't that big, the undertow was fairly nasty plus the churning had made the water very dirty (I should temper this opinion by saying both my older children are junior surf life guards and usually train in these sorts of conditions - and I've spent some time with maritime search and rescue as well). For the kids, however, they didn't care. They were happy enough to play in the sand and engage in the age old but ultimately futile children's game of building dams and walls against the incoming tide!

Impressions of Goa

Funnily enough my picture of Goa before going there was that its a single place - when of course it isn't. Its a collection of towns, villages, settlements dotted around a series of rivers, peninsulars, beaches, and one enormous harbour. Until reading up on the local history - I was also unaware of how recently it had been a Portuguese colony (I simply assumed that when India became independent that ALL of India became independent at the same time).

Seaside settlements that were formerly a colony from another nation always seem to produce an interesting mix of cultures, names, structures, food, etc - and the settlements that make up Goa seem to reflect this. Its immediately obvious how much more laid back the community is - partly the result of being a seaside community perhaps, and maybe indicative of the region?

We did spend some time looking around, and managed to get to Panjim, Old Goa, Fort Aguada - but wasn't too insistent on seeing everything in the first visit. Fort Aguada was a highlight as we got there just as the gates to the fort were opening (where the lighthouse is located), so we were the only ones there for a good 45 minutes (again - being the sort of place you climb all over the kids loved it - and the local stray dog/ guide accompanied us all over the fort making sure no other vermin would pester us). The lighthouse occupies a commanding position with almost complete 360 degree views - and the part of the fort immediately around it contained the water/ well/ spring for which the fort is name after.

Old goa was also interesting in terms of architecture and history. The museum attached to the cathedral housed a good collection of artifacts (no you can't play with that) and a series of portraits of all the old Portuguese governors - and what a stern looking bunch there were all dressed in their uniforms and medals (all except the last Portuguese governor who didn't have a portrait - just a photo of him dressed in a business suit). Its a very well put together, small museum that shows exhibits from the ancient communities of the region, through Portuguese occupation up till present day.

Unfortunately our visit to Panjim was cut a bit short as the monsoon rains decided to open up just as we arrived - so all we managed to do was a small amount of sightseeing around the streets and water front.

Leaving Goa

so finally after a week it was time to depart and leave behind our beach holiday. The weather had been good to us, the water had been cool and refreshing, the food had been delicious, and the kids had been exhausted at the end of every day. The only thing left to do was to board the bus back to the airport.

"where are we going"......

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brishti

the man, not only is he a machine geek - he can write as well!
great, enjoyable read bb... thank you

when you going there again?



:brishti

NowInBangalore

Oh my Gosh! brownboy, I laughed and laughed while reading your posts. Our older one keeps asking "How much longer?", while the younger one keeps asking "Where are we going?" And we go "STOP IIIIT!".

We are going to take the train to Kerala in Sept., I can already imagine, at every station stop listening to "Are we there yet?" ....

NIB

Haylo

Looks like you'll have to add that phrase to your "punishment" list. By the time they leave school, they'll either be mute or you'll have forgotten how to wash the dishes!

Great write up, especially appreciated as I know so little about Goa - you've quadrupled my knowledge.

capt_mahajan

Great read, BB.

err, did you buy any property in Goa?

Nick-H

Excellent, BB... glad you all had a good time.

(Brishti, that wasn't purple I spotted there, was it? No, it couldn't have been )

I made that mistake until recently too. India invade Goa!

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puchoo

Lovely write up BB...see you on the goa threads now!!

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jyotirmoy

Simply excellent.

shashank.aggarwal

Thanks for sharing BB bhai...its always nice to know when children enjoy it.. !!

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mridula

Glad that you shared this with us.

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dhans

Mine usually add: Is it still far (ten minutes into a 12 hour journey).

Hans

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machadinha

Excellent write-up, Brownboy. Keep 'em coming! Makes one want to visit

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Aishah

You've given me a good idea for next July! Great reading this account, BB, with its funny moments courtesy kids. Sounds like you all had a terrific time.

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Kingstonian

Almost felt I'd been to the seaside myself ... (dreaming)

brownboy66

your welcome

grrrrrr! (not soon enough in my opinion). I imagine for many Goa regulars being there over November to say March/April - it must be great given the sea conditions are better - but the rough seas while we were there just gave the place more atmosphere for us - plus the stiff on-shore breeze helped to keep the temperature down (the waves crashing on the rocks really was quite dramatic). The kids didn't care because they had a pool to swim in and a beach to play on. Combined with the occasional monsoon downpour - the changeable weather just made it more of an adventure - and it didn't stop us from having fun (during one particular monsoon downpour - all the indian families staying at the hotel vacated the pool leaving just us - so we all grabbed a blow up ring or mattress in the pool and floated around for 15 minutes on our backs with the raindrops falling on our upturn faces - like getting a tiny water massage all over).

Coming from Delhi (which is a fairly green city in places anyway) the lush tropical greenery around Goa was great too. The room we stayed in had a huge Banyan tree out front (an absolute monster) - but during a monsoon downpour it would take 5-10 minutes for any rain to filter down to the ground.


no, and the sinks were too high as well!