Goa is not just about the beaches!!!

What I learnt from my trip to Goa was that, it is not just about the beaches. Definitely not!!
There is so much more!!

Greenery: The best part of the places that I visited was the greenery. It was so nice to see so much greenery for my parched eyes. Every house has plants. That is a must, I observed.

Amazing Roads: The roads were hardly bumpy. How it was maintained so well, is beyond my understanding for such a heavy floating population. Beautiful roads was another plus point that I saw in Goa.

Entrepreneurship at its best: It may be a bar but nevertheless, every second house had some shop or some business operating right from their own homes. It was nice to see this culture where people are trying to earn their bread with hard work.

Blend of culture: If I were to picture Goa in my mind before the trip, it would have been only the beaches. But what I saw was different. There were so many temples there. And the rich culture that came oozing out of these temples was mind blowing.

People were pious in temples. Young men aged between 25 and 30 were in dhoti, doing poojas. And there were such men in every temple that I visited. 

And then the churches, how could I not visit them!! I got to see a service and also a wedding!! How lucky am I :). The service, the choir, and all were so soothing to experience. 

By the way, I loved the frocks that the women were wearing. I saw the women wearing them with no age bar :P. I wish, I could have them too :).

Goa trip in a nutshell...

We reached Ponda city, Goa on Saturday morning at around 8:30 a.m. We had brought rains along with us :). It was raining at the time we started from Hyderabad and was raining throughout.
I thought to myself, would I be even able to see and visit any places in this rain!! But God was kind on me, and it stopped raining after some time.

We went to Nageshi temple in Ponda, where the ceremony, that we had actually come to attend, was going on. We were given our room where we freshened up and came down for the thread ceremony.

The customs and traditions were new and different for me. As in our case, the Konkani people also have thread ceremony for young boys. Both the parents of the young boy were dressed up for the occasion. The boy was also dressed up for the occasion. He had flower garlands over his head, around his arms. He was covered with a shining red colored shawl. He was brought to the ceremony carried by his maternal uncles :).

Rest of the ceremony looked more or less the same as in our case.
The temple where the ceremony took place.

The best part about most of the temples that I visited in Goa was the huge area on which it was built. Also every temple has a koneru, the small water body, and pretty much well maintained. 

Every temple had a big hall where people could conduct functions and rooms were also available for stay. There is a small canteen in all temples that people visit for meals when catering is not provided.

So convenient for people to conduct ceremonies. And it costs less also :P.

Our entire stay was in this temple only. A nice and comfortable room was given to us with a beautiful view from the window.

Everything was green, pleasant to my eyes that was tired of looking at the monitor screen!!

In the afternoon, after the lunch we went to Candolim beach in Goa. It was sparsely populated that gave us some place to have some fun. 

In the evening, we went on the cruise, which was okay. After that we came back to our rooms and retired for the day!!!

Goa calling...

My husband planned a very sudden trip to Goa. He asked me, in this condition, if I could go ahead. But Goa , it was...so how could I even say No to it...I shrieked and jumped at the idea. And Yes it was..The trip started on Friday evening and lasted till Monday late afternoon. And what a trip it was...so refreshing!!!