Goa to Kerela
- mollyben98
- Dec 24, 2017
- 4 min read
(Image: Agonda beach by night)
Our taxi from Panjim to Agonda was about two hours and cost around £20, slightly better than the taxi prices in the UK! We arrived at our accommodation, Agonda Waves, and enjoyed the rest of the day on the beach before heading to a beachfront restaurant called Dunhill for dinner – two huge meals, rice, breads and drinks cost us about £10 (you can do this cheaper - we went to a nice restaurant and had alcohol, a usual night would coast about £5-£7 if you shared meals).
The next day was idyllic, bright blue skies and sunshine. Mol and I got up and decided to do a workout on the beach before breakfast. Quick tip, if you plan to run on the beach, wear trainers! I bailed out of the run early and did some press-ups, air squats and lunges while Mol continued along the rest of the beach.
(Image: Regular visitor at Agonda Waves)
We met a group from Portsmouth who'd arrived at Agonda Waves at a similar time and spent the day chilling with them. An afternoon (and evening) of beers and drinking games led to beachfront karaoke with one guy playing guitar while 15 others attempted to belt out Savage Garden, Green Day and Queen. Tip – you can buy beers from the shop for half the price the bars sell them for (roughly 50 rupees per can) and just drink on the beach.
Following a quick breakfast we got a Tuk-Tuk to Palolem where we'd booked a place called Palolem Bagpackers. DO NOT BELIEVE THE BOOKING.COM RATING FOR THIS PLACE, YOU DON'T WANT TO STAY HERE! DO NOT BOOK PALOLEM BAGPACKERS! We arrived at this place that no one wanted to take responsibility for, and were finally shown to a dirty room with a pipe for a shower. Thankfully we hadn't pre-paid for this place (you rarely do through Booking.com) so we grabbed our bags and set off along the beach to find somewhere better. We ended up in a place called Dreams of Palolem, who'd recently renovated their beach huts. The place was basic but clean and the staff were lovely (and we managed to barter them down to less than half price, 2,400 rupees for two nights).
(Images: Palolem beach)
Palolem beach is beautiful, more crowded and touristy than Agonda but it has more going on. We spent a couple of days at Dreams of Palolem, just chilling on the beach, until that fateful night. Molly woke up in the middle of the night with two cockroaches crawling on her in our bed – they were huge! We found more under the bed and spent the rest of the night on the enclosed balcony opposite. After that, we clearly weren't going to stay at this place any longer, but we were really enjoying Palolem beach, so wanted to stay for a few more days. Luckily, we had been chatting to a couple from Newcastle (Ross and Jordan) at a restaurant earlier that day and they recommended the place they were staying: Nirmal Nirvana Guesthouse (800 rupees per night, non AC). This place was brilliant; a five minute walk from the beach but really clean rooms with a huge double bed and great shower - we'd definitely recommend. There was also a small workout area as the son of the owner of the guesthouse was a keen gym goer, so we all hit a workout most mornings:
Wide grip pull-ups
Close grip pull-ups
Toes to bar
Press-ups
Air squats
Skipping
The day after we moved into Nirmal Nirvana Guesthouse we kayaked for two hours with Ross and Jordan to a beautiful secluded beach called Butterfly Beach (named after its shape from a birdseye view). On the way back we saw dolphins swimming no more than three meters away from us – it was amazing being so close to them! When we got back to Palolem beach, Ross and I had a kick about with some Russian lads, then later that night the four of us went for tapas. This tapas was incredible, and our first taste of meat in India. Between four of us we had about eight dishes and it cost us less than £5 each.
(Images: Kayaking to Butterfly Beach)
Over the next few days we chilled on the beach in the 30 degree heat and hired a boat for a two hour fishing trip for 1,600 rupees. Between the four of us we managed to catch just three tiny tiger fish, we blame the wire and the fact we were hand fishing with no rods – we had at least five big bites that snapped and got away. Despite our lack of fishing prowess we witnessed a beautiful sunset out on the water and dived in off the boat before heading back to watch Saints vs Arsenal.
(Images: Sunset fishing trip)
We spent our last day in Palolem on the beach before getting a 16 hour overnight train from Canacona to Alleppey (roughly £20 per ticket) to start our exploration of the Kerela backwaters.
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