I had such high hopes for Goa, after all the madness of Delhi and Varanasi, I was very much looking forward to some relaxing and a bit of calm. From our first view of Goa in the plane, I knew it was going to be great. It is the most beautiful place, on the drive to the hotel we went through picturesque forests and over vast rivers leading to the sea. The roads here are tarmac and there is a lot less traffic, but this is still India so they still use the horn and there are cows in the road, just not quite to the extent as the previous places.

Our hotel is more of a beach resort, lots of villa apartments, a restaurant next to a pool, a separate pool with a bar, and a path that leads on to the beach. We arrived quite late and were quite drained from spending so much time sitting around in Delhi airport, so we had dinner in the hotel and decided to go site seeing on our first day full day here and have a relax, on the second before we catch yet another overnight train, this time to Mumbai.

Splashing out we hire a driver for the day to take us to the places we particularly want to visit in the area. First stop is the Tropical Spice Plantation, this was a great and disheartening all in one. We had a tour of part of the 150 acre plantation, with the guide showing us all the different spices in their growing/natural forms, which was fascinating. I cant say I have ever really thought about where cinnamon or nutmeg came from, but is was certainly not what I had expected. The ticket also included a meal which was lovely and we ate off a Beatle Nut tree leave plate. I for one had not even heard of a Beatle Nut, let alone know about the useful qualities of its leaves. The only downside of the place was the elephants they kept there, as you first enter there were three elephants chained up, not really able to move and looking sad. Guests could pay extra to ride the elephants or bathe with them in the river. It sounds and looks amazing from the pictures, but it is so cruel the animals are badly treated and clearly have been beaten into submission. We passed on the elephant option.

Our driver then heading towards Old Goa and we stopped at a Temple, which was beautiful, however being Temple you have to remove your shoes and the black floor was burningly hot to walk on. The Mangueshi Temple is dedicated to the god Manguesh, a god only known in Goa. After seeing religious buildings of various religions, mainly Hindu Temples, this area of India has some Christian Churches. We visited the Basilica of Bom Jesus, where St Francis himself is housed in a mausoleum at the far end of the Church. We also visited Se Cathedral, the Church of St Francis of Assisi and the Chapel of St Catherine. Our last stop was in Panaji for yet another church, the one was the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, however this was interesting as John who works in my old office his Grandfather did the tiling and his name is engraved in the wall. Site seeing completed we headed wandered the streets, browsed a few shops and had coffee and a brownie in a very nice looking hotel. Today has been a great day.

Our last day in Goa before our train trip up to Mumbai, we spend walking along the beach and by the pool. This was the part of our trip that felt like a holiday, nice and relaxing!