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

[Darklord]

We walked for a bit to this restaurant, Adlem Goi:

Showpieces:

The Goan fish thali:

At a roundabout while walking back after lunch:

We walked back after lunch and went to the museum. The first floor was interesting, but the second floor had mostly portraits of Portuguese officials. No photos from inside the museum.

After the museum visit, we took a breather inside the car in the parking lot and used this time to call up and book a sunset river cruise. We still had time left before the cruise started. So we decided to visit the Church of St. Augustine, which was a couple of minutes' walk.

The Tower of Church of St. Augustine:

The tower and the complex:

Interior of the church:

Chapel of Our Lady of Good Success:

One of the many plaques on the floor:

Altar of Our Lady of Sorrow:

Looking at the tower from inside the church:

Main altar dedicated to Our Lady of Grace:

Plaques explaining the brief history of the complex:

We clicked a few more pictures from inside the complex:

This couple appeared oblivious to our presence:

A glimpse of how the walls must have been once:

A couple of more plaques for visitor information:

Some of the ruins:

It was time to leave and we walked back to the parking lot:

Another church en route:

We did a round of shopping for trinkets to take back home from near the parking lot and post that, began our drive to the Panaji Ferry Terminal to board our cruise boat.

 

[Tilak Francis]

Beautiful Pictures !!!

 

[Darklord]

As we approached Panaji, Atal Setu began to be visible:

Some G20 event was happening and national flags of G20 nations were flying:

We reached the ferry terminal, but had to drive around a bit to find parking. Parking wardens were at hand to help and we reached the designated starting point of our cruise soon:

Our boat, Ohana, soon arrived:

There were many casino ships anchored nearby:

A public ferry:

We set sail on the cruise and we appropriated a good spot on the bow, in front of the wheelhouse:

The sun was setting in the horizon:

Our boat cruised in a westward direction for a few minutes, to facilitate sunset view:

Once the sun had set, we made a U-turn and headed in the eastern direction:

There was events and live music occurring on the lower deck. We were just content with the view, reminiscing the 2+ decades of friendship, recounting the highs and the lows of life, and just enjoying each other's company.

The boat approached Atal Setu...

...and crossed to the other side:

The boat cruised for a few more minutes and then made another U-turn, preparing to return to the ferry terminal:

Ohana dropped us off at the terminal after the 1-hour cruise:

We walked around the town, just soaking in the views and buying knick-knacks.

Immaculate Conception Church:

The streets of Panaji:

The long day had made us tired and we decided to return to Vagator:

We had dinner from Vagator itself:

We sat around, chatting and recounting stories from our college days (the supply of which seems never ending) till the long day and the tiredness dragged us to the beds.

Tomorrow is the last day together for this trip and the last day in Goa.

 

[Darklord]

Day 4:

S had an evening flight to his "worktown." We decided to visit the Naval Aviation Museum near Dabolim Airport first and drop off S and begin our return drive. We packed and vacated our AirBnB.

We began our drive to the airport:

Stopped for breakfast en route:

We resumed our drive after breakfast and made good time in smooth-flowing traffic:

We arrived at the museum, parked in the lot, and walked to the ticket counter:

The first exhibit was this Westland Sea King (click for better resolution):

HAL HT-2:

Lockheed Super Constellation:

I had read somewhere that visitors could walk through the Super Constellation, but now, the entrance is closed off.

An old radar system:

Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander:

BAe Sea Harrier. Note the White Tiger (INAS 300 Squadron) insignia on the nose cone:

HAL Chetak:

de Havilland Dove:

Fairey Firefly:

Kamov Ka-25:

Hawker Sea Hawk:

Those who are from Trivandrum will be familiar with this one as another example is on display at Jawahar Balabhavan.

de Havilland Vampire:

Bréguet Alizé:

There were multiple other exhibits outside including torpedo, missile, engines, drones, and few other aircraft. We finishing viewing them and moved on to the indoor exhibits.

Building housing the indoor exhibits:

Held a lot of information, an enthusiast could spend hours reading through:

Also had scale models of our carriers. This one is INS Viraat (R22), now decommissioned and scrapped:

I think it should have been preserved as a museum ship, like USS Midway.

Another section displayed scale models of naval aircraft:

This one should have been an actual outdoor exhibit, wonder why it isn't, lack of space perhaps. Tupolev Tu-142:

Instrument of Surrender, Liberation of Goa:

A section dedicated to the fallen heroes:

There were also many historical photographs, like these:

The outdoor exhibits as seen from the second floor:

There were sections dedicated to maintenance, weather, equipment etc.

T had wandered off and found out that there was a section hosting a mini-theatre that exhibits a film on naval aviation. We reached the theatre just as the film began.

 

[Darklord]

There were a total of two films, one on naval aviation and another on presentation of Presidential Colours. The films lasted about 20 minutes. We walked out of the building to visit a small building dedicated to engines.

Rolls-Royce Pegasus, the engine powering Sea Harrier:

We concluded our visit and walked to the exit.

We went to the souvenir shop and purchased a few items, key chains, caps, t-shirt:

Things were reasonably priced, caps were less than 300 and t-shirts less than 500.

There were a few more items along the exit pathway:

We reached the parking lot:

We drove to the airport to drop S off:

We said our farewell and began our drive back home:

There were a few interesting buildings along the route, like these:

An electric bus that we encountered:

Traffic was fast moving unlike when we drove into Goa and we made good progress:

We stopped for lunch a little bit before the GA-KA border:

Post lunch, we drove on and filled up petrol to the brim to utilize the lower price of petrol in Goa. Driving on, we were promptly stopped at the check post, first by Goa Police and then by Goa Excise. They did cursory questioning and search, we had nothing on us and the car papers were clear, and were let go. Then came KA Police check post and the same thing unfurled there too. Thankfully, we were let go both times without much delay or any harassment.

We entered KA and quickly put Karwar behind us:

At the ghat, we stopped at a vantage point to click this picture:

The drive was a breeze mostly:

We again made a stop at Bhatkal to binge on some dishes:

While we were in Bhatkal, S messaged that he had reached home.

Made a visit to Bhatkal's Gulf Bazaar:

As we left Bhatkal, rain began and it hampered our progress.

Near Mangalore:

Rain continued and our drive slowed down, combined with the roadwork in Kerala, we had a tough time. Consequently, when we reached S' home in Kannur, it was about 2 a.m. S' brother had arranged a room in the home for us to get a couple of hours of shuteye.

It seemed as though we had slept only one wink as we had a train to catch at 5 a.m. S' brother dropped us off at the railway station:

I slept for most of the journey, did not notice even when T got off at Shoranur. The train had a slow progress as it approached Kollam due to some work in the tracks:

The train reached Kollam an hour late and W's brother came to pick us up and dropped us home.

The trip turned out to be hectic, but we all thoroughly enjoyed it. The stories, the banter, the company, and the sense of togetherness worked as an antidote for the work stress. Plans are already afoot for the trip next year.