Hello world! I'm back from a fantastic weekend, and it really couldn't have been much more relaxing overall. I've gotten the chance to go to some nice beaches on band trips and the like, but never with as little planned to do as this time, and it was great to just lay out and enjoy it. And when we were done enjoying the beach (as if it's even possible to be done) there was a heck of a lot to see around Goa as well. It was a beautiful place, and it was too bad we had to leave after just two short days.

I'll let you all read about the trip to the airport in Joel's blog, because he's already detailed it out, but that was quite interesting! We ended up not getting our originally scheduled taxi and arriving at the airport a mere 15 minutes before the flight was to depart, yet we actually ended up boarding the plane and taking off ON TIME. Whew! After originally being told "No" at the check-in counter, we were able to convince her, then run through the airport and make the flight. If that doesn't qualify as being incredibly lucky, I don't know what does.

Really then, the theme of the weekend ended up being that we were consistently getting pretty lucky. Given that it's monsoon season, there was really no way to know if it would just rain the entire weekend or not, but we got lucky as it only rained off and on a few times, and certainly not enough to put a damper on the weekend as a whole. The fact that the weather is so unpredictable also meant that it's off-season for these places, and we practically had the entire hotel to ourselves. There were maybe two or three other parties there that we saw, and the peace was nice. The beaches were also absolutely gorgeous, as advertised. We didn't exactly see a crystal clear, sunny beach, but what we saw was still very nice and very relaxing.

During this season it's illegal to go in the water but not illegal to stroll down the coast and enjoy it, so we took advantage of being able to walk up and down the shore. It was almost surreal when I stopped to think about exactly where I was. A year ago I wouldn't have imagined that I'd be spending a lazy Saturday on a beach town of the Arabian Sea. Picturing where I was geographically in my head was equally astounding, as I knew that when I looked due west, eventually the water would lead to Oman and Saudi Arabia, while looking southwest would eventually be the beaches of Africa! We're about as far away from home as it gets!

As the day started to fade into twilight, we decided to stop at a small restaurant on the beach front where we could still see the waves crashing against the shore and watch what sunset we could see through the clouds. Goa is also known for its seafood, and we were excited to try that as well. We didn't even let the server bring us a menu before we asked him if we could just have the catch of the day. We asked him to make whatever fresh seafood he likes and asked him to prepare it the traditional way. This was a fantastic decision. He brought us some wonderful tiger prawns, king fish, and some other fish that I don't remember the name dressed in masala sauces and also some butter garlic sauces. I'm pretty sure we even watched the guy who had been fishing come in with his haul for the day and we ended up having some of that. Even as a kid in New England I don't remember having seafood this fresh, and it was an experience we won't soon forget.

After having such a good day Saturday, it was hard to not just go back to the beach on Sunday, but I really wanted to see some of the historic sights of Old Goa, and I'm glad we did. Our first stop was to see some old Christian churches, and the architecture was just awesome. These had been built by the Portuguese years and years ago, and were a much different style than Christian churches I've seen in the US. We didn't get the chance to go inside, but I'd be willing to bet the interiors were just as remarkable. They were just so old and also MASSIVE that it was cool to see.

Our other two stops in Old Goa were probably my favorite two places so far that I've seen in India. They'll probably be trounced next week by my impending visit to the Taj Mahal, but for now at least they can sit at the top. The first of these two stops was at Fort Aguada. The place looks much cooler than those pictures on Wikipedia, so I'll make sure I get pictures of that uploaded too. As a disclaimer, I'm a man who really likes forts so maybe I'm coming in with bias, but I thought this place was just awesome. I loved looking where the moat used to be and looking up the big stone walls, trying to comprehend its significance as a stronghold way back when for the Portuguese. I thought to myself that it was a pretty good location too as it's not that easily reachable or penetrable by a naval force, and would be a good location to mobilize ground forces. Anyway, the fort also had spectacular views of the ocean, and that's the main reason people like it anyway. We had some prettttty great views from up there. The other place that I thoroughly enjoyed was a lookout point further down the coast of Old Goa where we could see waves crashing against the rocky cliffs hundreds of feet down below and around us. I had been expecting to see sights similar to this in Ireland but didn't, and was surprised and excited to be seeing something like this in Goa! I'll have some nice pictures to share from this later, too, as it was a breathtaking sight.

Going from the hustle and bustle and congestion and pollution of Bangalore to the relaxing solitude of Goa didn't seem like we were only an hour flight away, and was quite literally a breath of fresh air. Just one of the many nicknames of Goa, we were certainly impressed by the "Pearl of the Orient."