Panjim

We fled the smoggy chaos of Mumbai via a short flight to Panjim, the largest city in the beachy state of Goa. It's a pretty place, palm trees, rice paddies and bursting flower stalls, even at the bus station.


Goa was the first place in India that the Portuguese colonized, and one of the only places their influence has really lasted, mainly in the form of a Christian community and a high density of old churches. There's a whole complex full of them, aptly named Old Goa, where you can see (sort of) the corpse of St. Francis Xavier and other mini basilicas and Romanesque prayer castles.




There's also still stands a large gate that Portuguese sailors once marched through on their way to town. Tellingly, it features one man standing upon the prone form of another. Ahh, colonization. Such a tender process.



Panjim didn't have much else to offer but dusty churches and decrepit "casino boats"
so we rolled on to Benalim Beach, just 45 minutes to the south, but not as easy to get to as we'd imagined...