Being Delhi-ites, we are actually deprived of the beauty which the beaches provide us with. Whenever we have an opportunity to travel, due to our busy lifestyle and time constraints, we only get to travel to nearby places, which in our case, mostly, are the hills. Thus, this trip provided us a chance to soak in all of the beauty of the beaches of Goa. Since we had just 5 days in hand, we could only explore North Goa and its mesmerising beaches (not all of them, though, but the majority of them).
We were staying in the Vagator area, and Vagator Beach is nearly the mid-point of all the beaches of North Goa, thus we decided to divide our exploration into two parts: 1. The beaches that lie above Vagator, and 2. The beaches that lie below Vagator.
On day 3, after breakfast we first decided to visit the Aguada Fort, which was approximately 15 kms/40 minute ride from our place and after that start exploring the beaches upwards from there.
On our way to the Aguada Fort, we stopped by the Nerul Riverfront, which was a beautiful sight, much different from the beach side vibe. With hundreds of fishermen's boats flanking the river banks, it was a nice experience to stop by there for a while and see their daily lives pass by, and hearing the swishing of the river across the banks.
Next, we headed to the Fort Aguada, which was a 5 min uphill drive from there. Just like the Chapora Fort, we got to see a beautiful panoramic vista from the top of the fort, but unlike the Chapora Fort, this one is in much better condition structurally. Even though most of the parts have crumbled with time, the mighty four-storeyed lighthouse still stands tall and sturdy.
Next, we decided to visit the Candolim Beach. It is definitely amongst one of the most crowded beaches of North Goa, situated on the south of Calangute Beach. It is a fairly clean beach, good for taking a dip in the water to get a respite from the scorching Sun. There are numerous shacks lined along the shoreline, and we chose one to had lunch. The yummy food, coupled with the amazing weather and beautiful view, is definitely the best way one can have lunch, and I would choose that over any 5-star hotel anyday!
Next, we headed north to the Calangute Beach. Although, it's just an extension of the Candolim Beach, but the vibe here was nothing like it. It was too crowded, the locals as well as tourists thronging every nook and corner of the entire beach, the sand was extremely dirty and so was the water here! It was indeed one of the busiest beaches of North Goa.
Dissapointed, we decided not to visit any of the "popular" beaches anymore, since due to peak season time, they all would definitely be extremely crowded and uninviting. After asking locals about a better and quiter option, we decided to check the Sinquerim Beach out, which is situated right next to the Aguada Fort. It was getting late and we desperately wanted to catch the sunset on time by the beach, thus we reach, and we weren't dissapointed at all!
From the beach we could see the Fort Aguada and infact a part of the Fort Complex, was situated right at the beach. It definitely is a photographers favourite spot to capture some of the best shots of the sea, the horizon and beautiful Sun setting down and casting its shadow on the sparkling waters of the Arabian Sea.
We also noticed that there were a large number of tourist resorts and hotels such as Vivanta by Taj, situated at the Sinquerim beach. That was also one of the major reasons why this particular beach was so well maintained!
So, these were all of the beaches we visited that day, and all I could take away from my experience this day was that, don't go by any of the preconceived notions about a place, instead go out there and figure it out for yourself. It's not absolutely necessary that your likes and dislikes would match with the person you're taking advice from. Even though North Goa has a reputation for having the most commercialised beaches, the ones where you can't find peace at, this is not 100% truth. One would think, they're all the same, they're all beaches, but in reality the vibe of every beach is different from the other.
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