I believe, that the coast of
As we sped along northwards from Mangalore, we came across several such beaches which were but a stones throw away from the highway itself, and yet did not bear even the stray squatter… Kshitija, who always carries a swim suit in her luggage regardless of where she travels, was very keen on stepping out for a swim… but in all honesty the total desolation on those beaches had me chickening out from the idea… I know it doesn’t sound very brave at all, but I was not at all comfortable parking the car by the road and wading about in swimsuits on such a beach, especially when we didn’t have any others in our group… now, that’s really something that has to change if tourism (domestic or foreign) is to be promoted in these parts… even the presence of a lone lifeguard on a watch tower or a police patrol van or station would help people feel safe… or would it..?
We made a non-scheduled halt at Murudeshwar, only because the huge Shiva statue there caught our eye… we wondered what it was, and decided to check it out… the size of the statue is indeed overwhelming, as are most of the other modern sculptures there… also the shore view from atop the temple is even more stupendous… with all her desire to swim, here was a sparkling beach with wide shores and white sands right in front of us, and yet Kshitija decided not too… this beach was bursting at its seams with picnic-ers, water skier, the works..! it was quite a surprise to see this, and it just highlighted my own ignorance (and the Karnataka Governments lack of tourism promotion) regarding popular beaches beyond
The Karwar beach hugs the highway as you pass it… but this time we decided to move on without stopping to explore further…
South Goa is just amazing, and the high speed drive through its forests & foliage is something I especially love… you soon start to see familiar sights - Tourists on rented Rajdoots, Shops selling sarongs, scarves & sunglasses and Beer boards tempting you to stop for an Arlem or a Kingfisher… we stopped at Margao and ate at one of my favourite eateries there - Longuinhos… chilled beer, pork vindaloo, fried fish and lots of other stuff that I cant now remember… I love this place for its old world feel; complete with wobbly wooden furniture and inept service… but it serves an authentic fare of Goan food including balchaos, xacutis, sorpotels & bebincas…
Satiated, we then drove down to Anjuna, and parked our selves in one of its many bayside shanties… Kshitija finally got to do her swimming, and I got to do what I desired most – beer lounging … we stayed there until sun-down, got ourselves fleeced at the flea market and then headed out to our final destination for the night – Hotel Konkan Crown at Sawantwadi…
Dad’s been associated with the KC group for a while now, and at that time was himself spending about 6 months a year in Sawantwadi… he had been raving about this place, and now indeed was our chance to visit, although Dad wasn’t there then…
It’s funny, but Sawantwadi railway station (close to where this hotel is located) is not in Sawantwadi at all… it is about 6-8 kms away from the main township, and you even have to cross a narrow ghat to get there… but after a long day out in the sun, the hotel was invitingly luxurious… however the food and the restaurant service weren’t quite up to the mark (but Dad says that that too has improved since)… we both had a couple of drinks, sampled a few malwani dishes, and having placed a request to be woken up at 5 am the next morning, we finally crashed into our four poster…
At that moment, life couldn’t indeed have been better…
No comments:
Post a Comment