Travel Goa under Budget : Day2 (Miramar)

NOTE : This post is a part of “Travel Goa under Budget” which is a travelogue providing trip advise and travel plan to keep your expenses to the minimum so that you can enjoy the beauty of Goa in a cheap and inexpensive manner but at the same time safe and memorable.

 10 July 2011

In and around the Capital : Day 2 : Miramar and way back to Panaji

After having a wonderful time at Dona Paula it was time for having an equally entertaining and wonderful time at Miramar. The rickety bus in which I was traveling took a sharp turn near the Miramar round turn which was my next destination.

The Miramar circle itself is a location that deserves to be on the list of sightseeing in Goa.

At this very point on the circle is a statue of two males standing on a pedestal, holding hands which were supposed to be holding the Indian flag, but the flag went missing and no it seems that no efforts is taken by the authorities to replace it.

Moreover history has it that this twin statue was erected here to depict the Hindu-Christianity unity and also other set of historians claim that it was placed there to illustrate the famous slogan of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”.

Well whatever history is I am not arguing it here.

Twin Statues at Miramar Circle

To reach the beach you have to walk a bit from the circle.

This beach is quite busy even on Sunday afternoon when the temperature was on the higher side. But still there were scores of tourists chilling out in the beach.

There were many whom were swimming as the beach had low tides at that particular point of time.

And this beach as said by the localites is located on the confluence of river Mandovi and Arabian Sea,but I couldn’t locate the river at all.

The waves weren’t raging nor ferocious as was the case in some of the other beaches I have been. The calmness of the beach could be compared to Yerada beach in Visakhapatnam or the beach at Havelock (Andaman and Nicobar Islands).

The sand was a bit dirty but that didn’t deter any of the tourist from not enjoying the cold waters in the hot afternoon.

A Cross at Miramar Beach

At a distance if you could notice ,you can spot the lighthouse at Aguada and having been there only that morning it wasn’t difficult for me to recognize the imposing lighthouse which is also the oldest of its kind in Asia which is lit by oil lamps.

Since this was a busy beach there were divers and lifeguards hanging around where tourist activity was on a high. There was a rescue centre too within the beach which provided first aid in case of emergency. 

Some of the divers did have that well chiseled body with six pack abs and were wearing a swimming trunk. They did get eyebrows of few girls raising who were hanging out there.

And I had to admit that they did succeed in adding glamour quotient to the beach.

Don’t expect it to be something as you would have seen in Baywatch or in Hollywood movies showcasing Miami Beach in the glamour that the Miami beach provided, but the serenity which it offered was something which I can’t compare to any other beaches as the beach had a charm of its own.

Being the nearest beach to the capital of Goa this brings in lots and lots of teens within the city to here as it is a place where you can hang out with your friends as there are lot of cafes and restaurants that provide a variety of dishes at affordable prices.

 This beach is also considered safe because of its proximity to the city and it is well connected and easily accessible from most places within Panaji.

Panoramic view of Miramar Beach

As I was taking some shots (yeah my Netbook was able to charge the phone to some extent that I could click say 50 more pictures) someone from behind spoke whom I initially assumed to be a foreigner and to my surprise (a sweet shock) he was a vendor who was trying to sell some souvenir mostly fancy chains and rings and sunglasses and hand bands and similar stuff. He would be probably in his late teens and was looking decent enough by the looks of it. The thing however that drawn my attention toward him was his English as I have never seen any vendor speaking such fluent English before in fact better than  the ones whom I have spoken to ( telemarketing guys,some of the guys back at my school,and to admit  few of the English teachers themselves). The fluency in English itself wasn’t the thing that was drawing my attention but the knowledge which he had about the locality. Also during the conversation I found that he knew French and German and also nine other Indian languages.

a walk along the banks of Mandovi river

I refused to buy anything as most of the stuffs were girls stuff  but he didn’t give any cold vibes and started getting  busy with other customers after wishing me a great day ahead. This attribute is not something I find very often with other vendors in other tourist places.

After spending close to half an hour I believe, I started walking out of the beach and once again was standing face on with statue at the Miramar Circle.

There is also a small temple in which one could go and spend some time.

I was once again lucky enough to get a lift and reached Goa Kala Academy which wasn’t that far.

This place is where Goa exhibits its art forms and rich cultural heritage in forms of dance forms or cultural held quite often. I didn’t enter in and just admired the place from outside. This place was surrounded by trees making this place lush green and a delight to watch.

After spending some quality time at this serene place I begin walking towards Panaji as I didn’t want to miss any of the view that this place which I considered to be God’s gift  offered.

While my mobile was being charged this view entertained me

Moving a little ahead one can find Gymkhana (there is one in Port Blair too) having large sports facilities such as swimming pools, physical training for ladies and boys, indoor games, outdoor games etc., surrounded by huge play ground. It was a well maintained complex by the looks which it offered but you see there is a famous saying “Never judge a book by its cover”.

It was quite hot as it was about 1:30 in the afternoon but the heat of the sun had no effect on my body or mind when compared to the rejuvenating effect the pristine view of the Mandovi river. I was walking and taking as may shots as possible but I found that my camera couldn’t record what my eyes saw as I later learnt that this time is not at all suitable for shooting landscape.

And the time came when finally my battery ran out of charge and the Net book I was carrying wasn’t doing any good in recharging my mobiles battery.

So the only option I was left with was to keep the mobile back in my pocket and enjoy the view with the greatest camera which god has made: my own eyes.

I was walking and finally I arrived which I guessed was the local fish market and here I somehow managed to break into a conversation with a shopkeeper and convinced him so that I could charge my mobile.

Panoramic view of the Mandovi bridge

I waited there for roughly half an hour and to admit I was enjoying this off beat tourist place to some of the fishes being sold here are the one which I have never seen before. They were cheap too

Then I thanked the shopkeeper and went ahead clicking some more shot of the lifeline bridge The Mandovi bridge. Also I was admiring the architecturally splendid buildings which were public buildings of the state.

A public building(I beleive) on the banks of Mandovi

And I reached the bus terminus and once again walked straight to the milk parlor and treated myself with two glasses of Chiku juice.

Then I planned to proceed towards that part of Goa rich for its cultural heritage and unique history : the ancient Goa ,Old Goa.