I'm the one in 'lilac cow'! |
|
Profile |
| Username: |
Gerald Osborne |
| Gender: | Female | | Age: | 41 | | Lives in: | Gosfield United Kingdom | | Registered: | 14 June 2004 | | Last visit: | 24 March 2006 |
 To contact Gerald Osborne, please login. |
|
|
| Goa Review: Candolim (Sinquerim Beach) | | Written by Gerald Osborne on 01 Apr 2005 about a trip in Dec 2004.
| Candolim (Sinquerim Beach)
GOA
9 – 30 January 2005
We arrived at Gatwick on the Saturday evening to be informed that our flight had been delayed until Sunday afternoon. We later found out this was due to a plane belly-flopping with no undercarriage at Goa airport necessitating repairs to the runway. We had a night in the Gatwick Hilton, £10 food voucher each that night, free breakfast the next day and another £10 food voucher each. This meant we arrived in Goa, after a stop at Bahrain for an hour or so, on the Monday morning rather than Sunday afternoon, which upset our sleep patter more than it would otherwise have done!
Goa airport hasn’t changed much in the 4 years since we’ve been! It took a good hour to get through passport control, lots of rubber stamping! The airport porters insist on trying to carry your cases, even though I had a very small case with a handle and wheels, a porter insisted on pulling it with me and expecting a pound coin for the pleasure!
The trip to Candolim took an hour or so, and the journey gave us some interesting sights. I had forgotten the poverty stricken camps in the woods on the side of the road! It was nice to see a bit of Goan countryside and a few views of Panjim.
We had several power-cuts but these weren’t too much of problems (apart from you couldn’t make ice in the ice box of fridge as it kept melting!) Four years ago the power-cuts were much more frequent and lasted a lot longer and were always around 8pm when everyone wants a warm shower and to use a hairdryer etc!
We soon relaxed into the lifestyle of Goa and had wonderful sunshine and hot weather every day! Candolim has changed immensely in 4 years. The centre of the resort was unrecognisable and this was quite shocking. During the evening it was total “hustle and bustle”, traffic hooting, masses of people, busy restaurants, busy road, noisy sports bars, taxis galore, etc etc etc! 4 years ago we ate at the Coconut Grove Restaurant a couple of times, which was situated in the woods in a quiet area. Now it is amongst hotels and shops and was shockingly unrecognisable. The area around Sinquerim Beach was a lot quieter and less built up but has plenty of restaurants and shops to choose from. It was similar to how the centre of the resort used to be.
The food in the DON HILL HOTEL ‘Village Siesta’ restaurant was excellent and we ate here many times. They do excellent fresh fish. Other restaurants we recommend are:- BON APPETITE (next to Taj Resort) accessible via the beach or down a long dimly lit track from the road! This was the most expensive place we ate. Dinner for 2 with starters, main course, side dishes, naan and 5 cocktails was 1900 rupees (£24) but the cocktails themselves were about 200 rupees each and the food was fabulous. Try the mixed veg with coconut! YUM! They also had a trio of musicians that serenaded you at your table! D’SOUZAS – an upstairs restaurant across the road from Don Hill. We had several great meals here, you MUST try the onion bhaji’s – nothing like those dark brown brillo pads they serve in British curry houses! After a bout of Delhi Belly I didn’t fancy spicy Goan food and plumped for a steak one night at D’Souzas. WOW! It was fabulous, it melted in your mouth! Plain or pepper steak 170 rupees (£2). The garlic butter calamari was lovely too. The cheapest (and probably nicest food) restaurant we ate in was The OCTOPUS GARDEN, a short walk towards the centre of Candolim. The bill for 2 starters, main courses and drinks was never more than 480 rupees (£6) and the food was fantastic. They also has live music on Monday’s and Friday’s of a very high quality. One night we walked past and they were playing a Sade track which sounded like a CD, when I looked up it was actually a live female singer! The male singer was excellent too. We had our last lunch here before flying home and we were very glad we did. As I was still not in the mood for spicy food I had a steak with pepper sauce which was delicious (called New York something steak on the menu). As a side dish try veg makanhwhalla. DEEEELISH! As a starter I can recommend the battered calamari. FABULOUS! We also went to The JAZZ HOUSE one night, which had been recommended to us. It entailed a walk into the hustle & bustle of the resort centre, and we experienced an evening of Indian Neil Diamond! It was a very busy restaurant, the food was quite good and the cocktails nice! We also had a good meal at ARABIAN NIGHTS & DAYS, which is near the beach down the track where the Casablanca hotel is. The food was very good but slightly more expensive than elsewhere. Dinner for 2 with cocktails 1000 rupees (£12.50).
We went on 2 trips with Johns Boat Trips (several booking offices in Candolim). We went on the dolphin trip (795 rupees - £10 – no dolphins no pay). You get picked up from your hotel and taken to the boat (only 5 minutes away). The boat trip lasted a couple of hours and you see mainly dolphin fins as they curve out of the water. We saw one dolphin who performed several leaps in and out of the water! The boat also takes you out into the sea to see the tanker (which is supposed to be broken up and taken away shortly) and past the men’s prison (175 prisoners, 3 toilets!) and the women’s prison next door, and the millionaires pad which is unusual and picturesque. Then you go to Cocoa Beach and after a sit down and a drink you get lunch of barbecued fish, jacket potato, rice and a few side dishes, which was nice and included in the price.
We also went to Anjuna market one Wednesday by boat. (395 rupees - £5). Again you got picked up from your hotel. The boat took about 1½ hrs to reach Anjuna (prepare to get wet disembarking) and then you got 2 hrs in the market. A tip for bartering, name the price that you think is fair (usually about one fifth of the asking price) and stick to it. Don’t be persuaded to up your price. If they won’t come down, just walk away, they will follow you and sell for your price! If they don’t, then the next stall will have the same thing on it anyway. I bought some little mirrors to take back for the girls at work. The first price was 150 rupees each. I told the girl I would pay 100 rupees for 5 of them. They give you all the shock horror faces and try to persuade you to compromise. But if you walk away, they will come over and say “OK, your price”. This works the same for the beach vendors. Sarongs start at 350, 400, 500 rupees but can easily be bought for 40 or 50 rupees. DON’T BE AFRAID TO BARTER! Another thing with the beach sellers, if they haven’t got what you want or the colour you want etc, they will find it for you and come back a few days later. The beach vendors can be a pain when they keep pestering you, but if you say “No thanks” they usually go. Or say that you are there for 3 weeks and won’t buy anything until the third week, and they will go away and leave you in peace, but they will remember you and return in your third week! (So that’s a good trick if you are only there for two!)
Candolim beach was quite nice. The sea was pretty rough though and I wouldn’t recommend it for children. It got deep quickly and was dark rather than clear. Once you have picked a beach shack, people tend to return to the same one daily. You can leave your towels there and they will put them out on the beds the next day for you. Beds are free but beware, we once went tour usual shack (Fisherman’s Hut) and it was full, so we went to the one next door (Sea Waves? Or similar name) and at the end of the day they wanted to charge us for the beds as we had gone there as second choice because Fisherman’s Hut was full! Even though we had bought drinks from them all day! I can thoroughly recommend the food in Fisherman’s Hut. Freshly cooked, very tasty and very cheap! And when young Victor is around he will ensure you are kept in drinks all day long. Try the freshly squeezed watermelon juice, YUMMY! (but ask for NO SUGAR as they tend to put sugar in everywhere!)
All in all we had a fabulous 3 weeks in Goa. We didn’t go on any other trips (waterfalls, monkeys, spice plantation, temples etc) as we did them all 4 years ago and we were happy to have a relaxing holiday this time! I would recommend Candolim as a resort but wouldn’t want to be in the centre. Sinquerim beach end was very nice though. All the people are so friendly and happy to have you there and the food is fabulous wherever you go! I would think Goa is somewhere you will either love or hate. We love it! |
| 36 of 36 users found this review helpful. Did this review help you? |   |
|
Need more Goa information? Try all Goa travel guides. If have already been to this part of the world, add your own guide and photos...
| |
Gerald Osborne has visited... | |
|
