Exploring the Unexplored: GOA! 🏖


© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.

GOA!!!! The very first name which comes to everyone's mind when thinking of a place to travel within the boundaries of India, that too a road trip? The icing on the cake, I suppose. 


This is how I saw Goa through my lens. Travelling from Pune, I took an astonishing road trip via Kolhapur and Belagavi, into the hills and down to the ocean!

Situated on the western coast, Goa is the smallest state of India. Goa is one of the most startling destinations, innumerable beautiful beaches, scenic historical monuments and a lot more to offer.

Imagine not being a part of the trip until the last 7 days and suddenly getting a call from a friend, discussing a trip planned to Goa. Yes! Like a typical Bollywood movie plot is what my story is.
Back in 2015, my friends planned a trip and I was not included as I was busy with my college schedule. But after getting the information, I could not resist but to go to Goa. Trust me, my decision wasn't wrong.

23rd June 2015

The day when I departed from Pune with a Ford Figo, hired from ZoomCars Ltd. Pune, along with four of my school friends. It was drizzling and the pictures show how perfect it was for a road trip, isn't it?
Taking the roads, Pune to Goa!
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.

© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
Taking this scintillating route I reached the resort we booked, at around 20:30 hours. Later that night we roughly planned the places to visit and things to do in the next 3 days.

24th June

From the balcony of our room, La Grace Resort, Benaulim
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
As planned, we headed to Butterfly Beach, the most beautiful beach that Goa has, it is a hidden beach and hence it has no direct routes to it, either you have to take a boat from Palolem beach or a trek of 2.5 kms.
A little adventure is always good when you are on a trip with your friends, so we decided to go on a trek.
The route towards the Butterfly Beach
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.



After a trek of around an hour, we reached the butterfly beach and it was worth it. The most serene and tranquil beach you will see around India. Few people visit it so it can also be considered as the cleanest beach too. It is away from the overcrowded beaches, shouts of drunken men checking women out and unlimited empty bottles of beer thrown around.

Butterfly Beach
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.



We sat around for an hour or two enjoying the waves surrounded by nature and then moved back to reach our car. It was already around 16:30 so we decided to visit Cavelossim Beach which was on our way to back to the resort, witnessing the sunset, that was the best time I spent at Goa with its serenity and peace.
Sunset at Cavelossim Beach.
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.

25th June

Our second day at Goa was planned for the most famous locations of Goa: Chapora Fort, Aguada Fort and The Dona Paula Point. It's a real treat for Bollywood Cinematographers which also makes it a tourist attraction. Apart from being just famous, the places are actually peaceful, calm and have a composed environment. View of the ocean is just what you need when you are on a vacation.

We headed towards the Chapora fort, which was around 50 kms from our resort. This was a short road trip within the boundaries of Goa, as our resort was in South Goa and we had to move towards North Goa.
It is the same place where Dil Chahta Hai was shot! The fort provides an amazing view of the Arabian Sea kissing the shores of Goa.

A breathtaking view from Chapora Fort.
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.

© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.


Later, we moved to Aguada Fort, around 16 kms from Chapora Fort. The fort and the lighthouse were constructed in the 16th century to guard against The Dutch and The Marathas by The Portuguese.
Aguada Fort, Entrance.
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved. 
Aguada Fort Campus.
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
After spending a pleasant time at Aguada fort, we moved to Dona Paula Point.
The moment we reached there, we were welcomed by no less than a rogue wave, like the ocean, was in a playful mood.🌊

My Friends at Dona Paula point!
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved. 
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.



View from Dona Paula Point
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.

Pier at Dona Paula Point
(Point where Singham was shot!)
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.


© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
Then called it a day and moved back to the hotel via Panjim and at the Mandovi Riverside, I got these beautiful shots.


© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.

© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
We reached Panjim, visited the local market and while moving back to the resort, I clicked the picture of The Immaculate Conception Church, It looked so beautiful.
Immaculate Conception Church.
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.

26th June

Our last day at Goa and a special one too, it was my friend's birthday, we decided to visit the church at Old Goa, Basilica of Bom Jesus and Se Cathedral, both of them located at Velha, Goa, opposite to each other.
Se Cathedral
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
Jesus showering his blessings!
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
Basilica of  Bom Jesus
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
This is one of the oldest churches in Goa and in India, a must visit, when in Goa. It holds the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier. The body of Francis Xavier was first taken to Portuguese Malacca and two years later shipped back to Goa. It is said that the saint's body was as fresh as the day it was buried and the remains of the saint still attract a huge number of tourists (Christian and non-Christian alike) from all over the world, especially during the public viewing of his body every ten years (last held in 2014). The saint is said to have miraculous powers of healing.


Remains of St. Francis Xavier
© Monish Shrivastava | All rights reserved.
After visiting the church and the cathedral we spent our day visiting different beaches!

Candolim Beach

Life Guards on duty!

My friends enjoying the view!

Sunset at Candolim Beach!


After witnessing another beautiful sunset we moved back and celebrated my friend's birthday.
We spent half of our night at Colva Beach, it was just a walk away from our resort, romancing with the waves and the cold breeze. The sky was pretty clear and the stars were visible, we sat back gazing up at the stars, listening to "A sky full of stars" by Coldplay on repeat, the feeling we had is unexplainable and cannot be put into words. At around 03:00 hours we headed back to the resort and the next day we moved back to Pune, the route was even more enthralling this time, as if the clouds were following us back to our location.

That was all from my trip to Goa, a scenic yet peaceful destination, a place you can never be bored of, you can never be fully satisfied with travelling Goa, there are a lot many places which we were not able to cover and many such places which are still hidden and I'm sure we will explore them the next time. 

           Till the next time, signing off now!


If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Thank you! 👼

Stay tuned on Instagram and Facebook for regular updates.
Also check out some amazing pictures from goa here 🠇


































Comments

  1. Feels good to be a part of the crew, great work brother. Hope we will make more memories together just like goa and you will make the blog for the same, so that we can share to the world what we experience. Keep blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is pure monsoon Goa!
    A bit different from the mainstream one, which is the best thing.
    Will surely try to go Butterfly beach in my next Goa visit!����
    Also, pictures are amazing.

    But, next time try to frame the overall picture of this place, this is just one aspect of it (you know what I mean, Club Cubana ofcourse :P)

    Aur baaki, Goa zindagi hai.������

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe yeah, for sure! Thank you! 😁
      and agreed Goa zindagi h! 😛😁

      Delete
  3. Aesthetic appeal to photography!! And even much helpful. ❤💛

    ReplyDelete
  4. From Good to better. Love your work!
    Teach me how to use DSLR and you are the best.

    Keep posting ��

    ReplyDelete
  5. Marvelous work :)
    Loved the pictures :) )*

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your photography speaks more than your words.
    P.S. Take it as a compliment.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Absolutely Amazing Monish. You have taken lot of efforts to build your blog. Your content , and images are complimentary. To write a travel blog is challenging wokr but you are doing it very well. I would like to give you two three suggestions to make your blog more beautiful.
    1. Images you captured by your own put a watermark of your name in image itself so that no one can copy it.

    2. If you can experiment with the skin of your blog from dark to white one it will be good as for some people reading on dark background is irritating or uninteresting.

    3. As your content is good try to take your own domain. e.g. travelcapturewrite.com ...

    I wish all the very best journey of you as a successful blog writer. Keep writing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Anjali, really means a lot and yeah the pictures in the blog are captured by me only,
      I'll mark your suggestions in the upcoming posts! :)

      Delete
  8. Wow! Everything here is so beautiful!!! Gorgeous photos!!! Shell

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow! Gorgeous photos! Such a beautiful place to explore.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like the fact that this is like a journal :) also love the pictures. I can't wait to travel!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your photography is amazing. I will surely come back to your blog before visiting Goa

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cidalia Campos4 June 2023 at 14:07

    I have enjoyed reading and learning about your experience in Goa. Goa is the place I am hoping to visit in the near future!!! Thank you for writing so profoundly, you can feel the passion of your travelling. Enjoy all the journeys this life takes you. God bless✨

    ReplyDelete

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