Goa beyond beaches & night clubs
In a nutshell:
A stunning lunch & culture immersion at a family home followed by an entertaining & enlightening storytelling session & island hopping with our walk leader for the day, Pawan G from ‘make it happen’. A very different way of exploring Goa.
Address & other details:
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Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.
YUMMRAJ rates all the food items & then gives a final overall rating, which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster
We paid make it happen through UPI
Short description- in case u r in a hurry
We were planning a trip to Goa & booked two walks with a travel company. Later while we were speaking to our friend Sumit, who runs a local experiences company ‘This day,’ he suggested that we book a walk with their business partner ‘Make it Happen’.
We booked a private tour for two of us. The group tours happen at fixed schedules. The private tours can happen at any time that suits both guests & local expert tour leaders .
On the scheduled day we reached the meeting point Sao Pedro ferry ghat Ribander straight from the Dabolim airport. We met Pawan who had his motorbike with him. We sat in the car & the car drove into the ferry boat. One boat could accommodate four cars & many motorbikes.
Once we reached the other side, we requested Pawan to park the motorbike & join us in our car, so that we can hear more stories. We had great fun & also gained knowledge during the 3 hours, listening to his stories.
The first event was to go & have lunch at the home of Antonio & Alinda. The house has garden & trees all around. In addition to lunches they also have a one room home stay at their house.
A friend of Antonio also came to sing some Goan & some Portuguese songs before the lunch started. Splendid.
This turned out to be among the top 3 meals of the trip, the other ones being at Cavatina & Bhatti village (full review coming up soon). The joy this food gave was surely much higher than the meals we had at Taj Exotica or Taj Aguada.
Detailed description-
The lunch
Potato Masala Rava Fry came earlier than the other dishes. They were simply addictive with the right kind of potato & perfect seasoning. The crunchy outer texture & the buttery aloo inside did magic. Rate it 4.5/5
Ambadyche sansav was a super nice simple tart fruit (hog plum) cooked with desiccated coconuts. The balance of salt & sour was perfect. Rate it 4.75/5
Red Snapper Rava Fry was as good as it could get. Very juicy & soft , flavourful fish with a super crisp outer coating. The seasoning was perfect. Rate this 4.95/5
Chicken Cafreal was better than others we had in the trip. Super soft & nice chicken pieces in a very balanced gravy. Licked off every bit of the gravy on the plate. Rate it 4.75/5
The next dish we had was Goan Prawn curry. We got to know that in colloquial Konkani, it is called “Sungta Kodi” – Sungta means Prawns and Kodi means curry. There was an extra crab at home which she had added to the prawn curry.
Loved the mid sized prawns in a very intense flavoured thin gravy. The flavours of prawns & spices both made their presence felt. Rate it 4.75/5
Fruit custard was really nice & almost unstoppable. We had a long walk ahead. So we let our mind mind our heart😊. Rate it 4.5/5
What a meal
The walk & the talk
After lunch we left for the island walk. We had to drive to a location, get off & walk & again get into the car to reach the next destination. The car time was also story listening time.
We got to know that earlier the island used to be called Dev vari (vadi) which yeh Europeans started calling Divar.
The island has 3 villages
We first drove to Piedade village meaning piety. We parked in front of a beautiful, huge, centuries old church, named The church of Our Lady of Piety). The Church had Picture of mother Mary with Jesus in lap after being brought down from the cross.
We dropped by at the local cemetery & understood the current concept of exhuming the bodies after three years & storing the bones in a different place.
After this we went to a backwater area to see a local fishing technique. It was fascinating to see the traditional dam made with wood & the fishing nets used along with to catch fish from the river that flow into the backwaters.
We also went to St Mathias church built in 1550!! It’s difficult to imagine how such enormous structures were built in these villages.
While walking around the church Pawan showed us a bread fruit tree. We heard about this tree that was brought from elsewhere & was planted in Goa by the Portuguese. The fruit smells like bread – hence the name.
Pawan also spotted a cashew plant & made us suck some juice from the cashew fruit. This was a very exciting experience.
After this we went to the site where once the temple of saptakoteshwar stood. The temple had been first broken by the Bahmani sultans of the area & was later restored by a minister of Vijayanagar kingdom. The Portuguese came two centuries later & again demolished the temple in 1550. The idol was shifted to another village by devotees & is still in worship at Narve village, Bicholim.
A large part of the remains was covered by plants. The little work that was left was fascinating.
We saw a fascinating church building while driving past.
Many old buildings peeped out to us from behind dense vegetation.
It rained throughout while we were at the island. Decathlon rain ponchos helped us walk with hands free from umbrella.
Some of the history we heard from Pawan are written below. Rest you wold get to hear when you visit 😊
Kadamba dynasty from Karnataka ruled Goa in the first millennia.
Chandor was their old capital
Kadambas started trading with Persians
The capital shifted from chandor to old Goa
Perfumes, fine Arabian horses, oils were imported & sold to other kingdoms of India.
The Persians understood this pattern of trade & attacked the Kadambas. They won & took control of the kingdom (Known as Bijapur kingdom after 1300s) & trade. The merchants of Bijapur Kingsom started selling to other Indian kings. They also started selling Indian spices to the Europeans. The Portuguese eventually took over the trade with Europe when they started