Exploring Goa – XXV – Sunny Palolem Once Again

Flashback – Kartik’s in Sunny Palolem so far and the adventure begins now. To read his other articles on what to explore in Goa, Click here.

When the sun comes out, you are the best judge to decide, whether you douse yourself in oil and layback on a beach bed, or to explore where the curve of the beach takes you to! I loved the hills in the background, and decided to walk along!

I walked along the curve of the beach, and increased my pace by walking along the wetter part of the beach. It’s a good base for your crocs to make you walk a tad faster.

Never Far away from the constant chatter of the boatmen and their plans to get a load of people to see Dolphins.

Given the heat building up, we mid way decided to walk inside the forest in the shade of the trees. The Blue and Green looked lovely.

Related articles

• Exploring Goa – XXIV – The Palolem Beach Journey Continues (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XXIII – It’s About the Palolem Beach-lings Now! (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XXII – The Palolem Beach (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XX – The Idyllic Palolem (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XVII – The Photowalk in Kerim Continues (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XIX – Continuing the Tiracol Fort Trail (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)

Exploring Goa – XXIV – The Palolem Beach Journey Continues

By Kartik Kannan

As you set out to walk further, The morning rays are just making its inroads into the sands, and the filtered light through the trees is just slowly neutralizing the morning haze and chill.

And if you thought you could head straight into the sea for a morning dunk, you’d have to brave a little chill in the Arabian Sea!

And you’d also realize that while the Sun is out, the Bikinis are yet to come on!

It takes a little more than a couple of hours of the sun, to inject life into Palolem, to get the Lifeguards at their position!

Related articles

• Exploring Goa – XVII – The Photowalk in Kerim Continues (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XVI – Kerim (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XX – The Idyllic Palolem (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XIX – Tiracol Fort (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XXII – The Palolem Beach (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XV – The Road to Keri! (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)

Exploring Goa – XXIII – It’s About the Palolem Beach-lings Now!

By Kartik Kannan

It’s tough to  not notice the colorful cottages along the beach stretch. While you catch a beer with the folks who run the shacks,  they will tell you that it costs them about 100,000 INR to set up 4 shacks. Since Goa has a rule of no permanent structures on the beach, these shacks are built every year in October, and are pulled out and stored in a nearby warehouse in April-before the monsoons. So the shacks that have a median price of 300-1000 normally, peaks upto 2500-4000 closer to the Christmas/New Year season.

When you sleep over, and wake up the next morning, you would realize that mornings make for some nice peaceful walks to explore Palolem, in all the colour and splendour of the Goan boats, when the rest of the beach is yet to wake up!

The Goan shack owners obviously care for their higher revenue segment customers from the west, so they adequately instruct early birds, to not disturb ‘the sleepy people’.

While you wander early in the morning, there are no cafes open to serve breakfast. Once I’ve had my bath, I usually start feeling ravenously hungry, and I realize I have very few options. The best option is to get into town on your 2 wheeler, and get some Misaal Paav’s for breakfast!

Sometimes, when a café is open, you’d have to just set your gaze on the Salt and Pepper bottles on the table, or the sea that’s out of focus in the background, since your Omlette or Tea is being prepared in the Sussegaad Goan way. But one of the special mentions I’d have is for ‘Ma-Rita’ café, whose French Toast and Potato Cheese Soup are brilliant!

Related articles

• Exploring Goa – XXII – The Palolem Beach (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XVII – The Photowalk in Kerim Continues (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XX – The Idyllic Palolem (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XIX – Continuing the Tiracol Fort Trail (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XVIII (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)

Exploring Goa – XXII – The Palolem Beach

By Kartik Kannan

When in Palolem, get your hand on a canoe, and check on Kayaking into the sunset. You would be the center of attraction for all the people on the beach trying to zoom into the golden waters.

Do  ear marked a couple of islands to visit the next morning early! That little island in the silhouette, by the way is the Canacona or Butterfly island, accessible by foot only during low tides or accessible by a boat. What that means is when the high tides come, your land becomes an island with no way to get to the mainland, until you swim your way against the tide!

If you feel, the sunset is better enjoyed by taking a dip in the waters, do remember to keep an eye out for the life guards who are posted all over Palolem beach.

While the sun’s golden rays make the water having a Midas touch, it doesn’t quite leave the beach huts! The beach huts too are illuminated. If you’ve checked into a resort a mile away from the beach, try to check out and book yourself a beach hut on the beach! That’s when sunsets are best served!

If you are staying on the beach, you’d soon realize that watching the waves weave patterns on the wet sands can be quite an interesting thing to bet on!

Related articles

• Exploring Goa – XX – The Idyllic Palolem (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XIX – Continuing the Tiracol Fort Trail (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XVI – Kerim (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)

Exploring Goa – XX – The Idyllic Palolem

From exploring the extreme North of Goa, Kartik Kannan takes us  right south to Palolem. Palolem is one of Goa’s popular beaches, for those who love sun, sand and sea. It’s a beautiful bay, surrounded by lofty headlands on either sides, resulting in a calm, idyllic sea with a gently sloping bed which allows you to walk up to 100 metres out from the beach. If Kartik were to represent Goan beaches on a Normal curve, and cut the outliers, he would cut them at Arambol in the North and Palolem in the South. Both these beaches to him, offer an instant connect to his search for doing nothing, chatting with fellow backpackers on long term travel, boating on a kayak into a picture perfect sunset, and quiet midnight ocean dips to experience bliss under the moonlight.

The easiest way to get to Palolem is to get to Chaudi Village from Madgoan in Goa, and from there take an auto/bus to Palolem. There are a few direct services to Palolem, directly from Madgoan. Alternatively, Canacona is Palolem’s nearest train station, approximately 5 minutes drive away, but for shorter journeys from other parts of India it is almost always better to arrive by bus due to the remoteness of the train station from Palolem beach. So you would do well to check out all train timings at Canacona(http://www.cleartrip.com/trains/stations/CNO) and then accordingly travel either from the South(Kerala/Mangalore) or from the North.

One of the best ways to get to Cancona is through Konkan railways from Mangalore to Cancona! You pass through rugged mountains, lovely lagoons, spectacular views of the Arabian Sea and through many tunnels. The best seat in the house is the door and the window! Don’t make the mistake of falling for the fear of safe travel in 3A compartment, on this segment!

Cancona station has very little civilization around it, so when you bid goodbye to the railway station, be sure you have an auto waiting below, or else you would need to walk your way to the highway and get an auto(1-2 kms).

The Cancona railway station to Palolem beach is about 5 kilometres and about 80-100 Rs by auto. Images of Paradise are not far away!

Related articles

• Exploring Goa – XIII – Baga Creek (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XVII – The Photowalk in Kerim Continues (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XIV – Hippie Days Are Here Again (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
• Exploring Goa – XIX – Continuing the Tiracol Fort Trail (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)