Hugging the coast - A trip to Goa via Kollur and Bhatkal

[Darklord]

This year when we friends were planning for our yearly trip together, the unanimous choice was a visit to our college in Bhatkal. Threw in a detour to Kollur Mookambika Temple and an extension to Goa and our destinations were finalized.

All of us like our vacations to be road trips, but nobody was willing to drive the length of Kerala given the insane traffic, monsoon, and the widening work along the entire stretch. The newly allocated Vande Bharat came along to our rescue. It was decided that me and one friend (W) would board from Kollam, another friend (T) will join in from Shoranur and we will alight at Kannur where another friend (S) will pick us up in his brother's car and begin our road trip from then on.

A couple of highlight collages:

Day 1:
Vande Bharat departs Kollam at 0610, and we were there by 0530 itself. The amount of rain that we witnessed for the next half an hour was insane and made us question the viability of our trip itself. We prayed to the weather gods to be kind to us for the next 4-1/2 days.

Raging rain at QLN:

TVC-KGQ Vande Bharat Express arrived on the dot despite the inclement weather:

This speed was attained in the blink of an eye:

We were provided with a bottle of water, a newspaper, and tea and biscuits:

An hour later, breakfast arrived:

Train pulled into ERN at 0824:

By 10, we were crossing the Shoranur railway bridge:

Third member of our group, T, boarded from SRR.

Once VB left SRR, the speed went up like this:

This speed was more or less maintained on open stretches throughout the rest of our travel. On the dot at the scheduled arrival time of 1203, we reached Kannur:

The train resumed on towards Kasaragod:

We waited for S to arrive outside the station, happy that we were at our destination in less than half the time it would have taken via road:

S arrived in a couple of minutes to pick us up in his brother's i20. The first order of business was to have lunch since T (as always) was already hungry. S, a native, began the drive to a restaurant of his choice:

Lunch:

After finishing the lunch, we began our drive towards Kollur:

Thankfully, after the pouring rain at Kollam, we had little rains throughout. We were hoping to reach Kollur before closure time, have darshan and was planning to reach Bhatkal by 10 or so. Alternatively, we planned to stay at Kollur itself if we were unable to reach before temple closure time.

With the agenda set, the drive was on:

 

[upontrace]

Wow, thank you for sharing, looks like you had a really great trip. The photos look really good, the views are amazing and the food looks really delicious, I wish I could taste it. Hopefully, I'll get to go there some day and experience it all myself.

 

[Darklord]

All along NH-66 construction work to convert to 6 lane was underway:

Completed minor stretches like these give hope that Trivandrum-Kasaragod distance could be covered in well under 10 hours in the near future:

Approached Kanhangad by 2:45 p.m:

As we approached Kasaragod:

Passed Manjeshwar a little after 4:

Crossed into Karnataka at 4:15 p.m:

Roads changed for the better and signboards kept showing our destinations for the trip:

Past Kundapura and approached the detour to Kollur a little after 6:

Initially as we took the road to Kollur, the surface appeared good:

Soon, the surface deteriorated:

Then the road narrowed a bit, but the surface returned to being okay:

Caught this beautiful sunset as we approached Kollur Arch:

We continued on:

Pretty soon, we were at the arch of Kollur Temple:

Souparnika River had just enough water for a dip despite it being late June:

We had a quick dip and reached the temple by 7:30 p.m:

There was quite a big queue, but we had a good darshan. After performing poojas and purchasing prasads to take back home, we finished our temple visit and had dinner from a restaurant nearby. We decided to stick to our original plan and drove to Bhatkal and found accommodation by 10:

 

[jeetcp]

Lovely Collage. Nice.

 

[Darklord]

Day 2:
We woke up early. The plan for the day was for a quick visit to our college and our favorite hangout spots in Bhatkal and to drive on to Goa by noon. We already had made bookings through AirBnB for a property at Vagator for two nights.

First spot we visited was the railway station. W clicking our college high up in the hills:

Our college:

Konkan Railway stations have a different look in the rainy season:

MAO-MAQ MEMU arriving at BTJL:

We clicked a few more photos and bid goodbye:

It was just past 8:30 and T had already complained a dozen times that he was hungry. We went to one of our favorite breakfast spots and found that it had shut down. We soon found another one still functioning and had a sumptuous breakfast while ruminating memories a couple of decades old:

After breakfast, we headed to Kadavinakatte Dam, a small check dam:

While we were there, a slight drizzle began and we quickly headed to the college.

Stopped to click the Bhatkal railway tunnel:

We reached the entrance to the college:

The college looked like a ghost of its own past. So quiet that we thought it was a holiday. The corridors were mostly empty:

Met a few longtime staff who said the college had just a few students compared to when we were there.

We clicked a few pics:

We left the classrooms behind and walked to the hostel, which cut an even sorrier figure, from having 1000+ inhabitants to just 40 now. Save for one, all hostel blocks were completely shut down:

It was a heartbreaking sight to see. Memories spilled over, the hustle and bustle, and now this eeriness. We clicked a few more pics and beat a hasty retreat:

Will it survive for us to have another visit is the question that we kept asking ourselves.

We visited the Gulf Bazaar area of Old Bhatkal for a bit of shopping.

We next visited another watering hole for a meal that doubled up as lunch:

We bid our goodbye to Bhatkal at 1:30:

Next stop, Vagator.

 

[Darklord]

Once past Bhatkal, where the NH-66 widening was stuck (now resumed), the road returned to the 4-lane width. Near Shirali:

The road continued to be good and pleasant as we moved towards Murudeshwar:

We soon reached the detour to Murudeshwar Temple:

We approached the temple and only paused long enough in the parking lot to take a few photos as the noon sun and heat were unbearable and we wanted to reach Vagator before nightfall:

We moved on and rejoined NH-66. The road continued to be good:

The widening again appeared to be stuck near Honnavar:

A toll plaza en route:

NH-66 presented a scenic drive:

We approached and crossed a twin-set of twin tunnels near Karwar:

We were stopped at the border by Goa police, who did a cursory check and waved us through.

The road alternated between single and double lanes:

We were held up in a ghat section by an accident. A rental Baleno had broken through the crash barrier and landed in a ravine:

Traffic was held up while cops were engaged in rescue and reaching Vagator before nightfall appeared doubtful.

 

[Darklord]

Thankfully, after a few minutes, the traffic resumed and we were on our way again.

We topped up petrol to the brim just for peace of mind owing to the 10 rupee price difference with Kerala:

We drove on:

Crossed the new Zuari Bridge:

Mandovi River ferry and cruise terminals as shot from Atal Setu:

We turned off from the highway and drove towards Vagator through the country roads:

We reached our Airbnb in Vagator a little after 6:30 p.m.:

After dumping our bags, we walked to the beach:

There was just enough light at the beach for us to spend some time there:

As the light faded even further, we took seats in a beach shack to have an early dinner:

At the suggestion of S, we went and had gelato ice cream and quickly went back, tried to watch a movie and one by one, by interval, all were fast asleep.

 

[Darklord]

Day 3:

We had a full day at our disposal and no plans. As we finished breakfast, the decision was made to visit Chapora Fort first.

We locked up and left at 10:45 a.m:

The fort was just a few minutes away, but as we reached there and got out of the car, the sun was bearing down mercilessly and those who forgot their sunglasses and hats back home were forced to buy new ones from the premises.

There was a slight incline to climb, but soon we were at the steps leading to the gates of the fort:

The views were mesmerizing as we climbed the steps:

In no time, we were at the gate of the fort:

Looking back at the gate from inside the fort:

There was no structure inside the fort, so we first walked to the wall facing the sea:

S, T, and W busy clicking and admiring the view:

We walked around for a bit, just exploring the fort:

We found a spot to do some Dil Chahta Hai-esque photos:

The heat and sun and humidity and lack of shade cut short our exploration and with one last photo of the beach, we turned back:

Perhaps the base of a flag pole?

Bay of Chapora as clicked from the courtyard of the fort:

We took the stairs back to the parking lot:

We stopped at a sugarcane juice vendor to replenish our fluid levels:

With the shade, the beautiful house in the background, and the cool drink in hand, we thought of our next destination:

By the time we finished a second round of the juice, we finalized our destination as the old churches of Goa. With that, we set out again:

We put the country roads behind...

...and hit the highway:

We crossed Mandovi River once again:

We soon approached the turn off to Old Goa:

 

[skysat2005]

Great going, cheers...

 

[Darklord]

We parked our car in a parking lot near Basilica of Bom Jesus and walked in:

A plaque with brief description:

The Basilica of Bom Jesus:

Grotto(?) dedicated to St. Francis:

Another view:

The entry:

The basilica is still in active use and they have banned photography inside. The main attraction inside is the casket holding the body of St. Francis. The casket itself in on top of a pedestal and is brought down for public viewing once every 10 years. Again, no photographs from inside the basilica.

We came outside and took a walk along the outside corridor to the rear of the basilica:

An old cross:

The rear view of the basilica:

From the side:

Another set of monuments across the street:

Basilica of Bom Jesus is a world heritage site:

We walked to the other side of the road towards the other monuments. Looked back for one last pic of the Basilica of Bom Jesus:

The other monuments turned out to be, from left to right, ASI Museum, Church of St. Francis, and Se Cathedral:

As it was lunch time, we decided to visit the Church of St. Francis first, then go have lunch and come back to visit the museum.

The view of the Basilica of Bom Jesus from here:

We followed the directions:

The church and the museum had a common pathway, right for the church and straight to the museum:

There were some artifacts displayed outside too:

The plaque for the church:

A large painting, wonder why it is left at the mercy of elements:

The interior of the church:

Some portions were simple:

While some others had elaborate decorations:

One of many plaques on the floor, unsure what it says though:

The main altar:

Another elaborately decorated area:

By this time, we were well past lunch time and we zeroed in on a restaurant nearby and decided to walk there and have lunch.