Skip to main content

Old Goa

How old is Goa?  Where is Goa?  What is Goa?

To the uninformed all legit questions.  I too had a partial understanding of the place but this time we visited and shaped our appreciation some.

Goa is an Indian state on the western coast.

From being a Sultan managed operation to being a Portuguese colony from the 16th to 18th century, it has history and charm in some old parts to a beat to death and has been with its crowded beaches for party goers. In the past decade a gambler crowd is being lured by its casino boats on the Mandovi river just outside Panaji.

The part we liked the most was the historic and well preserved one.  That of old Goa.  This is a time capsule some 500 years in the making.  Indian Archaeological Survey has taken some effort to maintain and educate visitors with placards and museums in this few acre area 10 km east of Panaji.

Below are some ornate churches we saw including the Basilica Bom Jesus where the 500 year old body of a patron saint lies in a casket for worshipers to witness.  This minor basilica is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Italian knockoffs was the rage back then too - except not shoes - but places of worship with one trying to mimic the dome and design of the most famous of churches - the St. Peters.

Basilica Bom Jesus (good Jesus)

Church of St.Cajetan - knockoff of St. Peters in Vatican
Dome of St. Cajetan

Viceroy gate leading to the Mandovi river bank


Church of St Francis, Velha Goa (aka old Goa)




Se Cathedral in foreground and Church of St Francis in background

Ornate interior

Church of Our Lady of Miracles, Old Goa

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On the go(zay masta) in Japan again

Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk  My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...
Post a Comment
Read more

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected.  I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot.  It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is.  Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy.  It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff?  Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality.  So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing?  Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...
2 comments
Read more

Greasy Dra'ch'ma

With all the furor in the media around Greece for the past couple of years I thought it would be good to list all things Greek that people use in common parlance - 1. Some of us are familiar with Greek history as being where the world's largest organized scam was born - called the Olympics. At the time this courier delivered a message by running a large number of miles and that got converted into a spectator sport. Nobody thought about what this implied? Fedex does not use any of the marathon runners instead relying on bio diesel trucks so not sure where we went from courier delivery to extracting money for tickets to watch people balance themselves on a pommel horse - which by the way is quite different from a Trojan Horse - 2. which brings me to the next invention from Greek mythology that finds use today - except used in the computer virus arena. This innocuos program is accepted by a computer since it looks friendly only to unleash undesirable effects leading to loss of s...
2 comments
Read more