It was our third day in Goa (To read about how I spent my first two days, please click here BIrthday Planned in Goa!). Honestly, I avoided going outside during the daytime as it was too hot, but my friends urged me to visit the famous church and temple. So, off we were, on the road, towards Bogdeshwar temple which is located near Mapusa. The temple has a small shrine of Kanakeshwar baba and is outside the main city, surrounded by greenery.

Calangute beach has become a more crowded area in Goa nowadays. Hence, in the evening, we left for Baga beach, where there are famous pubs (Titto’s club) and is less crowded as compared to Calangute. As we entered the beach, I was awestruck by what I saw! The shacks (small bars and restaurants on the beach) were so colorful and vibrant and every shack had different themes than others plus the music. I took off my slipper, walked on the sand and enjoyed the music, the lights, the cool breeze and the sound of huge waves.

After spending some time, we came out and walked on the street. Indeed, there is a magic in the air of Goa; I felt so free, happy and independent, I laughed out loudly, I sang along the streets without caring about others. There were some nice restaurants where there was live music. I stopped by at one such restaurant where a guy with the guitar was singing my favorite song “Tu hi meri shab hai”. As I was so into the music, my friends decided to have dinner there. It is such a pleasure to hear someone with a nice voice and a guitar.

I wished to see the sunrise at the beach, but it was 7.00 am already, so we just took a morning walk at the beach. “A day at a beach restores the soul”: There is healing power in the sea which soothes you completely. A salty breeze played with my hair as the gentle waves of the sea slipped away the velvety sand under my feet. I sat on the sand and quietly observed people enjoying the waves, taking photos, jogging. Just beside me, was lying a plastic bottle and there were many such pieces of stuff lying all along the beach; a garbage collector was collecting all those stuff. We started helping him and he was quite surprised and moved by our gesture. He told us that he used to collect garbage every day as people party all night and just throw bottles and packets without even thinking once. Hats off to such people who are great contributors for trying to keep the beaches clean.

People imagine beer while sitting at the Goa beach but I craved some good tea. Though I couldn’t get that, we managed to have some idlis at the beach for Rs.30.On our way back, we finally got a nice tea at a tea stall. We spent our day just like a lazy cat, watching the ‘Three Idiots’ movie on a TV. After some time, we headed for the Vagator beach, which is quite scenic and the roads are also very beautiful. After spending some time there, my friends urged for Go Karting (a small car race basically). They enjoyed it while I just sat taking their pictures and cheering them up. That night I drove the scooter at a speed which I never thought I could drive, in my life. I am the kind of person who likes to sit back and watch the streets, rather than driving; but that day, I couldn’t restrain myself as the roads of Goa are so appealing!

On our second last day to Goa, we wanted to stay at Dona Paula once more as there are many cool properties for stay plus the roads are also nice to have a long drive. Hence, again we arrived at a beautiful Oyo room at Dona Paula. In the evening, we went to a stunning Panjim church (Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church) where ‘Simba’ and many other movies were filmed. Unfortunately, we were too late to enter the church as it is open till 5.30 pm only. We watched the sunset and took some photographs.

While looking at the nearby places, I came across a place called Fountainhas. It was merely a few steps away from the Panjim church, hence we chose to walk. Fountainhas is Goa’s Latin Quarter, with Portuguese influences and gorgeous architecture. Its indeed a very great place to walk, to photograph, to look at the colorful vibrant houses and cafe.

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The casino is another famous attraction of Goa, apart from beaches, hence our next destination was Casino Pride! The entry fee is Rs.1500 per head during weekdays and Rs.2000 during weekends. We took the entry tickets and they gave us 3 coupons which could be used in the casino. We reached the casino using a boat ride. I had seen it only in movies; there were so many games and so many people drinking it. It was a bit awkward for me to stay there, hence I went to the second floor where the buffet and live dance performance were organized. After some time, we went again to the gaming zone to utilize the coupons given to us. My friends kept observing; at last, they played only one game and won Rs.500 luckily! This wasn’t expected at all, we were so overjoyed. Greed is the mother of destruction, hence I took the prize money and left from there as I didn’t want them to fall in greed. After then, we enjoyed some cool dance performances and left the cruise. The day ended on an exciting note.

The next day we had our train from Madgaon junction of Goa. We returned our scooty to the owner and took a bus from Panjim to Madgaon. I could explore only North Goa this time, but at the same time, saw and learned many things about Goa. I used to think that there is not much to do in Goa, but it seems that 6 days were also not sufficient to cover the entire Goa. On our journey, we came across many foreign tourists that stay for more than a month there and surprisingly, they repeat this every year! It is not necessary to visit all the popular tourist places, but what matters is, how much you cherish your moments there.