2025 Jan-India Fri 24. Goa.

We arrived early into Goa. I left my luggage and headed straight out from Candolim towards O Larive Beach. There was a lot to see by foot. I effectively had only one day to swim and see Goa.

The temperature was cool at this time (approx 7:30am) and the streets were quiet.

O Larive Beach was a small little beach. I had the entire place to myself. Awesome. I wanted to stay here much longer but it was not possible. There was more discovering to be done.

I then walked/swam along the beach strip back to the hotel. The main beach front is packed with tourist beds and hotels that cater the guests. The sunbeds were set back from the water, making it ideal for walking by the beach. The water temperature was perfect. Just nice enough to cool down and easily stay in the ocean.

The entire Goa beach from Baga Beach to Candolim is what one would expect. Big beach front that is well catered for tourists to relax in the sun.

I saw a lot of Russians (or who I thought were Russians). It was no where near as busy as I had heard. For the size of the place, I was expecting it to be more densely populated. For me, it was just the right amount of people (not overcrowded).

When the sun came out, it came out in force...it was hot. But this cannot stop the 'travel plan'. I dropped by my hotel room, had my shower and prepped to visit Aguada Fort. It was now a matter of walked through the heat. Exactly what I needed. A bit of exercise.

I was feeling good. I got the HR up to 80%. When I reached St Lawrence's Church, which was only a short distance from Aguada Fort, an Indian couple offered to drive me up the remaining bit (they saw me walking). The couple were on holidays and were also visiting the fort.

In the short ride we got chatting. The wife had apparently been to Goa as a child (as a 2yr old) but has no recollection of it. The husband had visited Goa on a lad's party trip in his younger days. They both looked like they were in their late 50's. Nice of them to see it together. 

There are some really nice people in India.

Even last night at the train station, I was randomly chatting with a couple of men. They simple offered me a watermelon juice out of the blue. They were product promoters (sales) travelling all over the world doing B2B. They manufactured clothing, watches, travel bags etc. Entrepreneurs. Just good to have a chat. They wanted nothing from me.

There are so many instances where disingenuous people approach a tourist. They are always after something. It is refreshing to see some genuinely nice people. 

Once I got to Aguada Fort, I had to check it out pretty quickly. It is not a complex fort. I still needed to see the Lower Aguada Fort Google maps indicate some paths that could have been walked clockwise from Aguada Fort to the Lower Aguada Fort...but this is definitely not permitted. There is signage and fencing that prohibit this. I thus had to walk anticlockwise to get there. I got to see the sunset from the Lower Aguada Fort. 

I didn't get back to my hotel until around 7pm. Excellent day of basic movement. Around 35km of walking and swimming.