GOA SIGHTSEEING

BEACHES OF GOA

Beaches of Goa are much ahead of other beaches in India in terms of popularity and the facilities that are available here. The beaches here have been accepted as a matter of life, there are exotic cuisine backing the pleasure of have on sun and sand, and water sports facilities that include from water scooters to water gliding.

The most developed beach segment of Goa is the Calangute - Baga - Anjuna belt in the Bardesh subdivision north of Panaji.

CHURCH SQUARE

The leafy rectangular park opposite the India Government tourist office, known as Church Square or the Municipal Garden, forms the heart of Panjim. The church was built in 1541 for the benefit of saliors arriving here from Lisbon.

CHURCH OF THE ST. CAJESTAN

Modeled on the original design of St Peter's in Rome, this church was built by Italian friars of the Order of Threatens, who were sent by Pope Urban III to preach Christianity. The construction of the church began in 1655 in Old Goa.

STATE ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

The most noteworthy feature of Panjim's State Archaeological Museum is its imposing size, which stands in glaringly inverse proportion to the collections inside. The only rarities to be found amid the lame array of temple sculpture, hero stones and dowdy colonial-era artifacts are a couple of beautiful Jain bronzes.

FOUNTAINHAS

Panjim oldest and most interesting district, Fountainhas, lies immediately west of Pato, overlooking the banks of the green Ourem Creek. Many building have retained their traditional coat of ochre, pale yellow, green or blue- a legacy of the Portuguese insistence that every Goan building should be color-washed after monsoons.

ARCH OF THE VICEROYS

On arriving at the river landing stage to the north, 17th century visitors passed through the Arch of the Viceroys (1597), constructed to commemorate Vasco da Gama's arrival in India and built from the same porous red laterite as virtually all Old Goa's buildings.