India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) (110 page)

3 Panjim & Old Goa

Panjim is 600km (372 miles) S of Mumbai

Located at the mouth of the Mandovi River, the state capital (also known as Panaji) relocated here from Old Goa in 1759, when bubonic plague finally wiped out the once-spectacular trade city. Panjim is today a breezy, laid-back town that lends itself to easy exploration. The chief attraction is the wonderful colonial Portuguese architecture, particularly in the eastern neighborhoods of
Fontainhas
and
Sao Tome,
where the atmospheric cobbled streets are lined with old mansions and churches dating as far back as the mid-1700s—look for Fontainhas’s
Chapel of St. Sebastian,
where the crucifix from Old Goa’s “Palace of the Inquisition” is now kept. With head upright and eyes wide open, the figure of Christ on the crucifix here is quite unlike the usual figures, which feature lowered head and eyes.

Dominating Panjim’s town center is the imposing
Church of the Immaculate Conception,
built in the Portuguese baroque style in 1541. Nearer the water’s edge is the
Secretariat;
an old palace of Adil Shah of Bijapur, this became the Portuguese viceroy’s residence when the colonial administration moved here.

Wandering around Panjim on foot shouldn’t take more than a few hours, but do spare some time for the
Municipal Market
—outside the smell will let you know when you’re near the fish sellers, while inside, the orderly layout of vendors pushing the mountains of fruit, vegetables, and myriad other kitchen consumables will have you reaching for your camera. If you’re pushed for time, confine your Panjim exploration to Fontainhas and hop onto an auto-rickshaw or on the back of a bike to
Old Goa
(30 min. from Panjim; reviewed in detail below). In its heyday reputedly larger than the city of London and one of Asia’s great trade centers, today it’s only Old Goa’s monumental churches that hint at the former splendor which earned it the nickname “Rome of the East.” From Old Goa, it’s a short trip (and a great contrast) to view the popular Hindu temples that lie north of the dull town of Ponda, on National Highway 4. Very few Hindu temples dating from earlier than the 19th century still exist—affronted by the Hindus’ “pagan” practices, the Portuguese tore them down—but Ponda became a repository for a large number of idols smuggled from the coast during the violent years of the 16th-century Inquisition. Particularly noteworthy in this regard is
Sri Mangueshi Temple,
built specifically as a refuge for these refugee deities. A path lined with palm trees leads to a colorful entranceway, behind which the tiled, steep-roofed temple exemplifies a fusion of Hindu and Christian architectural styles, hardly surprising considering that it was constructed by Goan craftsmen weaned on 200 years of Portuguese church-building. Walking distance from here (15 min. south) is the slightly less commercial (no temple “guides”)
Sri Mahalsa Temple.
Another half-hour from Old Goa is
Sahakari Spice Plantation
(Curti, Ponda;
0832/231-2394;
www.sahakarifarms.com
)—if you’re not heading down to Kerala you might want to take a tour here. It’s quite a commercial venture, but the tours provide an interesting insight into Indian spices, along with plenty of quizzing by the well-informed guides about basic facts related to your food.

Lights! Camera! Carnival!

Each year in February, during the festivities leading up to Lent (a 40-day period of fasting that’s carefully observed by Goa’s large Catholic community), the people of Goa get down for 3 days and nights of hedonistic revelry as King Momo commands them to party hard.
Carnival,
Goa’s most famous festival, is a Latin-inspired extravaganza of drinking and dancing that traces its roots from ancient Roman and Grecian ritual feasts. Cities and towns come under the spell of colorful parades, dances, floats, balls, and bands, concluding with the red-and-black dance at Panjim’s Club National. Celebrations of a different sort happen much later in the year when filmmakers and stars congregate for the annual
International Film Festival
of India
(
http://iffi.nic.in
), held in Panjim, for 10 great days of film-frenzied action. The 40th annual festival happened in 2009 from late November through early December. And if you are in Goa over the hectic New Year period, you might want to at least check out some part of
Sunburn,
the massive music festival that started here in 2007 and keeps revelers supplied with 3 days of international standard dance music (
www.sunburn-festival.com
).

EXPLORING OLD GOA

The once-bustling Goan capital is said to have been the richest and most splendid city in Asia during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, before a spate of cholera and malaria epidemics forced a move in 1759. Today, this World Heritage Site is tepid testament to the splendor it once enjoyed. The tranquility behind this well-preserved tourist site (barring the grubby stands selling refreshments and tacky souvenirs) belies the fact that it was built on plunder and forced conversions, though you’ll see little evidence (like the basalt architraves) of the mass destruction of the Hindu temples initiated by fervent colonialists. Besides, it’s remarkable to witness the scores of Catholic Indians who turn up to worship in some of the country’s most venerated cathedrals.

The entire area can easily be explored on foot because the most interesting buildings are clustered together. To the northwest is the
Arch of the
Viceroys,
built in 1597 in commemoration of the arrival of Vasco da Gama in India. Nearby, the Corinthian-styled
Church of St. Cajetan
(daily 9am–5:30pm) was built in 1651 by Italian friars of the Theatine order, who modeled it after St. Peter’s in Rome. Under the church is a crypt in which embalmed Portuguese governors were kept before being shipped back to Lisbon—in 1992, three forgotten cadavers were removed. St. Cajetan’s is a short walk down the road from
Adil Shah’s Gate,
a simple lintel supported by two black basalt columns.

Southwest of St. Cajetan’s are the highlights of Old Goa: splendid, behemoth
Sé Cathedral
(Mon–Sat 9am–6:30pm; Sun 11:30am–6:30pm), which took nearly 80 years to build (in local laterite stone) and is said to be larger than any church in Portugal; and the
Basilica of Bom Jesus
(see below). The so-called Miraculous Cross, housed in a box in a chapel behind a decorative screen, was brought here from a Goan village after a vision of Christ was seen on it—apparently a single touch (there is a hole in the glass for just this purpose) will cure the sick. The surviving tower of the Sé’s whitewashed Tuscan exterior houses the Golden Bell, whose tolling indicated commencement of the
auto da fés,
brutal public spectacles in which suspected heretics were tortured and burnt at the stake. Nearby, the
Convent and Church of St. Francis of Assisi
(now an
archaeological museum:
Rs 5; Sat–Thurs 10am–5pm) has a floor of gravestones and coats of arms; notice that the images of Mary and Christ are unusually dark-skinned.

Basilica of Bom Jesus (Cathedral of the Good Jesus)
Opposite the Sé, the Basilica of Bom was built between 1594 and 1605 as a resting place for the remains of the patron saint of Goa, Francis Xavier (one of the original seven founders of the Jesuit order and responsible for most of the 16th-c. conversions). The withered body of the venerated saint lies in a silver casket to the right of the altar, his corpse surprisingly well preserved (although one arm is on display in Rome and a missing toe is believed to have been bitten off in 1634 by an overzealous devotee looking to take home her very own relic, during the first exposition of the body—now a decennial event; the next St. Francis Festival is incidentally in 2017).

Up the hill from the Basilica are the splendid ruins of the once awe-inspiring
Church of St. Augustine;
below is the
Church and Convent of Santa Monica and Chapel of the Weeping Cross,
where a miraculous image of the crucified Christ is said to have once regularly bled, spoken, and opened its eyes.