Delightfully colorful buildings, somber forts jutting out into the sea, names like Briganza, De Souza and Mascarenhas featuring on name boards, quaint old ladies in quaint frocks, temptingly cheap liquor, and yes, sunny beaches – there is more to Goa than its beaches.

Old Goa – My friend remarked that you could take a snap in front of the Se Cathedral in Old Goa and pass it off for one taken in Europe. I thought the whole Old Goa setting looked like something out of the Da Vinci code. Huge churches, buttresses that looked like they belonged on a fort, numerous altars, each unique in its own way and exquisite paintings. There were four churches within metres of each other. My favourite though was the spartan St. Catherine’s Church, bare, silent, and drowned out by its bigger and more colorful neighbours – Se Cathedral, Church of St. Francis of Assissi and the Basilica of Bom Jesus. Something about them made me get down and pray. The Church of St. Francis had a museum adjoining it. A giant statue of some Portugese poet (I just cant remember his name) stood right in the center. There were also plenty of paintings depicting different phases of Goan history. Many of the paintings showed the martyrdom of priests. It made me wonder about similar atrocities carried out by Christians in the name of Christ. It made me wonder whether religion had anything to do with it at all..

Panaji – We spent not more than a couple of hours here. What is fascinating in Panaji are the colourful buildings. The Central Excise office here is an outstanding (pun intended) blue. You would rather imagine government buildings to look drab..not so in Panaji..walking by the waterfront and driving through the empty Sunday streets were the highlights.

And yes, we got royally drenched on our way back from Old Goa to Panaji. As usual, we were on open ground with no place to duck for cover. As usual, we just stood there and got wet.

Forts: Aquadem and Vagator – two of the forts that we visited. Both overlooking the sea on one side and the river at another. Aquadem was a typical tourist spot. Plenty of tourists walking up and down and posing for snaps. There were a large number of pretty women there on Sunday (talk about being at the right place at the right time) . The day was pretty windy and laced with drizzle. And half the women, more young girls on the verge of womanhood really, were very concerned abt their short skirts doing a Marlyn Monroe.

Vagator was much quieter. If you have seen Dil Chahta Hai and if you’ve seen those three sitting atop the walls of a fort and gazing out at the sea, this is where they did it. We sat too, and yes, there was a ship in the distance. To jolt you back to reality, a Tamil film was being shot there. Thankfully, it was happening a little distance away!

I was back in Pune by Monday. We had spent three whole days there in Goa and I still get the feeling that there was plenty that evaded us.

Hope there is a next time….