Wow!! It was just amazing 3 days of vacation. We had planned a 4 day trip but had to cut short due to several reasons. But even those three days were the best.
We had to travel to Goa from Bangalore but unfortunately tickets were fully booked so we decided we could travel via Belgaum. And wala we got the tickets.

The whole journey was to travel from Bangalore to Belgaum and via Amboli, sawantwadi to Panjim. The climate was not at all as expected. We wanted the climate to be all cloudy and rainy. But it was bright and sunny. Which turned out to be good.

From Belgaum, Goa is around 150 kms aprox and we drove down by car. On our way we visited Amboli falls, which falls on the side of the road no diversions, nothing. It is beautiful to see the view of the hills covered with clouds and fog, the water splashing around the falls and small streams on every corner of the curve in Amboli. Once we come down from Amboli we will reach sawantwadi. It is famous for wodden toys and a beautiful lake. We did not have time to boat in the lake so we just left for Goa. As we had to reach before it got too late to get a hotel room.

We stayed over at Panjim Recidency and took 6th floor rear view rooms. They were spacious and had beautiful view of the Mandovi river. The rooms are pretty good for 2000 Rs per night for double room in goa. Other good ones like nova goa, sun and sand are all expensive. But yes they are 4 stars and have swimming pools etc which panjim recidency does not have. And this being a Goa tourim hotel we had other advantages for booking day trip and cruise. We got concession on them. :)

The day trip arranged by Goa Tourism was good. The day was HOT, unfortunately no rains. But due to hot weather and it being a weekday the crowds at beaches was less. We visited 3 beaches, 1 temple, 1 lake and 1 fort. The trip started from our hotel at 9:45 which was to begin at 9.. Indian standard time of course. ;). From Panjim we traveled towards Mapusa. Mapusa is on the way to the lake and the beaches.

The first spot was mayem lake beautiful to visit and peddle boat in the beauty of greenery and the lake. There is also a lake view hotel managed by the Goa Tourism. Its quiet and away from the normal city hussle bussle. The rates were normal, 1500 per night for double bed. On the way to mayem lake you can see the actual goa. The interiers are full of small houses and greenery. small but really good roads. If you are not an experienced driver in goa then better take a bike and roam around. You will get plenty of bikes for rent.

From Mayem lake we went to a temple of Shiva. The guide said it is very unique as the statue was a very unique form of Shiva. As you may have guessed most of them were on the tour to see the beaches and not temples. But you should if you can see the temples. There are plenty of them, beautiful with colours and shape and architecture. The gods themself are spell bounding. I have been to goa so many times that I have visited most of the famous temples there.

The next on the agenda was BEACH!! The first was anjuna beach. It is famous for the market that is only on wednesdays. The market has everything from jewellery to clothes to second hand stuff. Its really good fun to bargain and shop. But we were visiting the beach on Saturday so no shopping. The beach as such is good but not for swimming. You can just enjoy the beach, sitting at the side with a beer bottle ;) just kiddin. But ya the enjoy the colours and the waves of water splashing the rocks and the sound of it.

From anjuna we went along to wagatore beach. It was lunch time too. The restaurant was just beside the beach. It was decent enough, we ate Roti and dal. Pretty decent and service is quick.
We just ate quick and ran down to the beach. It is just amazing.. straight beach. You can go really inside and still the water would just be near your neck. Though I did not go a few people went deep inside. The sand was a little black and normal sand colour mixture. The water was a typical blue with waves brown with the sand in the water. Its a good beach to just sit beside and enjoy the waves. Hours would just pass as few minitues and you would not want to get out of the cold water. It was the same thing.. As we still had to cover calangute beach and aguada fort.
Next we reached calangute beach. It is famous for a beautiful beach, water sports and little shopping. Well I am shoppoholic so is my sister. So we went shopping instead of running off to the beach. Here you can find really unique jewellery, dress, wall pieces etc.. They get these things from all over India and they do sell it at a high price. well its worth paying a little high for the kind of unique things you can get. I still wear the silver drangon fly locket which I had picked up 4 years ago. And you will never know when it is time to leave while shopping.
Tours are great when you want to see different places in 1 day but bad to enjoy what you want.
So next stop was Aguada fort. "Aguada" (meaning 'water' in Portuguese). On the northern side, it provides a harbour for local shipping. The fort, at present, houses the central jail. A 19th century built lighthouse is situated inside the fortress. It was used to film Dil Chata hai i believe. It is nice to see the sea from the fort. It is just 18 kms from panjim.

Well that was for the day tour. Now was the time to go to the river cruise for some music, dance and fun. there are several cruises availiable. we had planned to go to the dinner cruise but it was only avaliable on saturday's so wejust went ahaed for 7:15 cruise for an hour on santa monica. The best fun is when you have the right group to enjoy on the cruise. Unfortunately it was not such a good crowd. :(.. But that still did not stop us from enjoying it. I enjoyed dancing with my sis and the stage. Now we were really tiered.. As next day was also going to be a long one.

The next day was planned to get the shopping done and leave back to belgaum by lunch time. We had our lunch at nova goa. wow that was really good, expensive though. But you would not mind comming from Bangalore ;).. Our route back was the same as we took. goa to sawantwadi, then amoboli and then belgaum. And lucky us the weather got just perfect as we reached amboli. clouds touching us and fog all over the place with a little drizzle. Giving this trip a perfect ending.. Happy travelling ...