The Excursion – Today we decided to go to Panjim the capital of Goa, described by Lonely Planet as ‘India’s cutest capital,’ ‘a friendly manageable and walkable city.’ ‘stroll along the peaceful streets.’ ‘cats lying in front of bicycles.’ How could you not visit such an oasis in India? We have so missed being able to walk around a city whilst we’ve been here, the problem has been the lack of pavement, the tuk-tuks and scooters hurtling towards you as you walk along the edge of the road and the rubbish strewn along the perimeter that is often extremely pungent.
Our Driver – We book a driver from the hotel that will take us there and wait for a couple of hours then bring us back – will two hours be enough? We are relishing the thought of the Portuguese influenced city and all the coffee bars and great places to eat described by Lonely Planet! So we set off up through Candolim, past the shacks and bars of our locale.
The Journey – The drive takes about 20 minutes and takes us through little villages and country roads, winding and bumping through the circuitous route to Panjim. To be honest it makes me feel a bit sick like a fairground ride so I can’t wait to get out of the car.
First impressions of Panjim? Well it does seem to have buildings unlike some of the other places and there are shops – we spot a Benetton and other well know boutiques, so we swap phone numbers with the driver and head off down 18th June Road to lap up the Portuguese culture and coffee! First impressions? What a dump!! Broken and intermittent pavement, we are unable to walk far before you need to cross the road, however you cannot get off the kerb as there is a tight row of scooters parked along the edge, we have to squeeze between a tiny gap to get through, then negotiate with the un-abatting fast moving traffic from all directions.
Shopping in Panjim – The shops are the type of shop that sell very cheap, market style clothing, some souvenir shops selling very cheap nasty goods and one sort of arty gift shop that we step inside, but then quickly exit as it smells of fresh puke inside. Then the cat lying in front of the bicycle – as described by Lonely Planet – oh dear, it’s dead and rotting.
Friendly it certainly is – we can’t dispute that, as we walk along this ‘shopping’ road we are regularly accosted by ladies opening up dirty pashminas and not taking ‘no, go away’ for an answer. Then the man selling plastic wallets, then an old toothless hag selling what looks like a small tin of brown teeth. I think we must be in the wrong area of Panjim – we need to find the beautiful old Portuguese buildings and squares with coffee shops.
Go Home – We move off 18th June Road and head towards what looks like a square with a tree in it. There is an old hotel in what seems to be a beautiful old Portuguese building, the hotel will help us find the right bit of Panjim to be in, as we enter a helpful concierge asks us what we need, we explain that we are looking for the old historic part of Panjim – the ‘nice’ bit, I show him my google map on my phone and he explains that the best place for us to go is Baga or Candolim beach – this is where we are staying and where we have come from to visit Panjim, so we thank him and exit the hotel to continue our search.
50 Years of Rot – Certainly the buildings in this area are older, in fact they are collapsing from lack of maintenance and old age – they may once have been lovely old Portuguese charm, maybe when the Portuguese left in 1960. Like Miss Haversham’s wedding banquet this place has not been painted, swept, maintained or touched since 1960, 50 years of neglect, we wonder how often buildings do fall down and kill people?
The coffee bar – There are a couple of small bars – they open on the street corners and have no tables or chairs, you have to stand and drink on the street if you order anything. Finally Liam spots a coffee bar – the only modern looking sign we have seen here – we go inside and buy two coffees, we ask the barista if he knows where Mamas Cafe is – the place recommended for coffee and eats by our helpful Deepak at the hotel? The barista has not heard of it and laughs at us for asking. Four young attractive Russians enter the coffee bar and ask for a menu – they too look a little bewildered and in need of sustenance, they look in the glass chill cabinet that contains sandwiches and other food offerings, after a good 10 minutes of looking and asking the barista for his recommendation, they pick up their belongings and leave having purchased nothing.
Pashmina Crazy – So this is Panjim, the capital of Goa, a crumbling, dirty, noisy, trafficy mess of a place that was once maybe a bustling Portuguese centre for this region. We walk back towards the meeting place with our driver, a shopkeeper brushes debris from his shop doorway out onto the already filthy street in front of us, we clamber over some sacks of rubbish and weave our way between the scooters blocking every street exit. The pashmina sellers spot us and start opening up long pashmina pavement blocks, the wallet man quacks his plastic wallets at us, and as we get into the car one final pashmina salesman tries to push a paisley pashmina into the car with us.
Fabindia – We speed out of the mucky place and are soon back on the road to Candolim – is it something we’ve eaten or the winding journey back, we’re not sure, but we both feel really nauseous and queasy. We lie by the pool and read John Grisham in the relative sterile environment of the hotel. Zainab and Farid come over and ask us about our day and we try to explain to them about Panjim, they had been to Old Goa, the other Lonely Planet recommendation for old style Portuguese charm, however they left without getting off their scooters as the place looked a bit rough and also baby Yara was unhappy. They are off to our local shops to buy some gifts to take back to Dubai – they leave early tomorrow, and we tease them about their tat shopping at ‘Fabindia’ the emporium of wooden elephants and saris.
Mark – 30 October 2012 – Panjim, Goa, India
