Selasa, 03 Juli 2012

Goa holidays: The exotic Indian state peppered with Portuguese influence

Goa holidays: The exotic Indian state peppered with Portuguese influence

By Liz Hazelton

PUBLISHED: 08:42 EST, 3 July 2012 | UPDATED: 08:42 EST, 3 July 2012


I had flown through the night and landed in the dark, feeling less-than-fresh after a nine-hour journey, but an excitement for the exotic woke me up. Early morning Goa smelt of burning wood with a scintilla of spice.

Sprawling villas painted improbable shades of lapis blue, acrid yellow and scorched retina pink flashed past the minibus.

There were shanty shacks and trussed up tents, stray dogs shuffling the kerbs and a blazing cross made of light bulbs; then mellifluous water lapped the road and spiky palms stood stark against a horizon faintly flushed with dawn.

Colva Beach Goa

Glorious Goa: This colourful corner mixes Indian culture with Portuguese influence from the colonial days

We reached the hotel, the Aliwa Diwa, a ten minute walk from Marjoda Beach in southern Goa. It is an expansive complex of beautifully tended gardens, shaded walkways and discreet restaurants tucked under traditional pitched roofs.

Even standard rooms, tiled and coolly furnished in Balinese style, are palatial with walk-in wardrobes and epic bathrooms. A turquoise infinity pool overlooking paddy fields was blissful in the early morning and at sundown.

There is also a wondrous spa where the typically diminutive masseuse clicked disapprovingly at the worry-bead knots across my shoulders and then - miraculous â€" made them vanish. After an hour, I sleepwalked into a tiny walled garden to shower under brilliant blue sky. Speech was finally restored by delicious ginger and lemongrass tea.

Old Goa

India --- Old Goa (Velha Goa), Bom Jesus Basilica, the church shelters the relics of Saint Francois Xavier, patron saint of Goa --- Image by Jean-Baptiste Rabouan/Hemis/Corbis Liz Hazelton travel piece

The Aliwa Diwa’s signature restaurant is Spice Studio, which curls beguilingly around a huge banyan tree and serves the traditional dishes of India’s western coast. We arrived early for a cookery lesson with head chef Edia Cotta. It is at this point I have to confess (though obviously not to the indomitable Edia) that I don’t like curry. For a girl from the Black Country, this is culinary sacrilege.   

Edia got to work on a chicken calfreal. The night was humid, the kitchen heat searing. Chef did not break sweat. Her team, young, all male, were a ceaseless swirl of hands bearing coriander and ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cumin. One of our party asked for more chili and Edia obliged, shaking her head. ‘Too hot for me,’ she said.

The calfreal, of course, was amazing, a ripple of distinct flavours unquenched by heat. Then came an equally exceptional prawn curry, creamy with coconut milk. I was finally converted. We ate under the stars and a lunar eclipse. Afterwards came cocktails at the poolside bar before retiring to the dreamy comfort of a vast bed.

Majorda beach at dawn was a polished swathe of soft silver curving into the misty distance. A boat, hulking stark against the blanched sands, was the centre of a whorl of activity. I sat transfixed as a troupe of gnarled fishermen clad in salt-crusted loincloths unravelled their nets to sort the catch.

Majorda beach

Sandtastic: Majorda beach hosts gnarled fishermen first thing in the morning and sun-worshipping tourists later in the day

Jays picked at castoffs, tiddlers and starfish, a line of lumpen jellyfish studded the shore. Amid this silent, timeless theatre, a dumpy tourist, flesh flambeed lobster, posed with a purloined fishing basket on her head.

The Portuguese invaded Goa in 1510. They came, conquered, imported the Inquisition and raked in a vast fortune from the trade routes.

India only kicked this one-time European superpower out 450 years later, leaving a legacy of fusion food, icing-sugar chapels sprinkled liberally between the palms and a monumental Renaissance City cocooned by jungle.

And then there are the villas. These fantastical oases of the conquistadors, lush garden paradises rich with shade, their terraces becalmed by breeze, are in widely varying states of repair. But the house we visited, the Palacio Do Deao, has been lovingly restored by Ruben and Celia Vaso da Gama and is now open to the public.

Ruben met us at the door for a whistle-stop tour. The first room was a chapel complete with gilt altar and organ. As the original owner was Dean of Goa Jose Paulo, this perhaps should not have been a surprise.

Aliwa diwa goa

Mystic east: The Aliwa Diwa hotel is decorated in a Balinese style

‘House was built in 1787,’ our host said. ‘Jose Paulo lived here 55 years. All furniture from that period. We scoured Goa.’

We paused in the library and his eyes swept the shelves of tattered paperbacks loitering behind glass. ‘No old books yet,’ he said, rueful. ‘We are getting old books. To fit.’

The palacio was a wreck when Ruben and his wife bought it. Now it is an elegant retreat, rooms painted cool sea green, doors lined in traditional oyster shell to fend off the heat and food served to curious tourists.

We ate a sumptious lunch prepared by Celia and served on the secluded belvedere, arbored by bourganvaillia; lightly battered prawns, pumpkin pie, whole seabream with salad and eight-layer cake, a delicate confection of coconut, cream, sugar and eggs.

Throughout this langurous meal, our dining companion was the saddest sausage dog in India who shuffled forlornly around our feet pleading mutely for food.

Goa

True retreat: The hotel is set in its own gardens with a pool where Liz enjoys a perfect morning swim

Despite the departure of the Portuguese, Goa is still the most Christian colony in India. In December, at the Chapel of the Three Kings, perched high on a hill with stunning views over a palm-tree sea to the real ocean, men were working frantically to prepare for Epiphany.

The surrounding three villages each choose a boy aged around eight to be their king and then progress to the top of the hill to celebrate.

‘The festival is in the day,’ our guide said. ‘The hill has to be deserted by 6pm as that’s the time for the ghost procession. If you stay, you turn to stone.’ 

Goa

Christian conquistadors: The cathedral in Old Goa is a leftover from the old Portuguese rulers

Back below, the preparations were altogether more secular. Artificial fir trees sprouted in porches, strings of star lights had been strung along porticoes.

Nothing, however, had prepared me for the proliferation of giant plastic Santas - one astride a motorbike â€" who decorate the towns with a frosting of garish red..

India may have thrown out the Portuguese â€" but they haven’t quite vanquished the Christmas tat.

Travel Facts

Cosmos Holidays (0844 573 4261 www.cosmos.co.uk) offers seven-nights at the five diamond rated Alila Diwa Goa in Majorda, Southern Goa from £831 per person. Price includes flights departing Gatwick, bed and breakfast and airport transfers.

For more information on the hotel visit www.alilahotels.com/diwagoa

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