India Guide
Goa
Old Goa
A one-time byword for splendour with a population of several hundred thousand, Goa's erstwhile former capital, OLD GOA, was virtually abandoned following malaria and cholera epidemics from the seventeenth century onwards. Today you need considerable imagination to picture the once-great capital as it used to be. The maze of twisting streets, piazzas and ochre-washed villas has gone, and all that remains is a score of cream-painted churches and convents.
Granted World Heritage Status by UNESCO, Old Goa today attracts busloads of foreign tourists from the coast, and as many Christian pilgrims from around India. While the former come to admire the gigantic facades and gilt altars of the beautifully preserved churches, the main attraction for the latter is the tomb of St Francis Xavier, the legendary sixteenth-century missionary, whose remains are enshrined in the Basilica of Bom Jesus. If you're staying on the coast and contemplating a day-trip inland, this is the most obvious and accessible option.
Just thirty minutes by road from the state capital, Old Goa is served by buses every fifteen minutes from Panjim's Kadamba Bus Stand; alternatively, hop into an auto-rickshaw (Rs100), or rent a taxi (Rs275–300). There is nowhere commendable to eat in Old Goa; for a snack or coffee, head a couple of kilometres back along the road to Panjim, where the lifestyle store Casa de Goa, housed in a beautifully converted, late sixteenth-century palacio, has an excellent café.