Travellers in Goa still feel obliged to 'hang out' meaningfully, be mellow and wear pretty silly tribal costumes, but the (in) famous hippies have now been replaced by backpackers, Indian visitors and a bevy of bewildered package tourists on two-week jaunts from Europe. Although there's a palpable nostalgia for the days when the parties were always bigger, better and more authentic than they are now, Goa's current semi-resident Westerners are less inclined to rue the past, and more likely to be spending the low season (March-September) in New York, Amsterdam or Colombia.

The allure of Goa is that it remains quite distinct from the rest of India and is small enough to be grasped and explored in a way that other Indian states are not. It's not just the familiar remnants of European colonialism or the picture-book exoticism that make it seem so accessible, it's the prevalence of Roman Catholicism and a form of social and political progressiveness that Westerners feel they can relate to. Although Hindus make up two-thirds of the population, the people of Goa are more liberal-minded than imperviously devout, in a way that is unmatched elsewhere in India.

Panaji
Most visitors treat Panaji as little more than a transport hub, but this lovely state capital has retained its Portuguese heritage in a lived-in, knockabout kind of way and exudes an aura more reminiscent of the Mediterranean than of India. If it weren’t for the crush at the bus depot, the unmistakable buzz of auto-rickshaws and the fact that the bridge over the Mandovi River has fallen down twice in the last nine years, Panaji could seem like any siesta-ridden provincial town on the Iberian Peninsula. It contains all the quaint Mediterranean iconography - from the cramped cobbled streets, pastel-hued terraces and flower-bedecked balconies to the terracotta-tiled roofs, whitewashed churches and those small bars and cafes that are the social lifeblood of secular Portugal.

Old Goa
Half a dozen imposing churches and cathedrals and a fragment of a gateway are all that remain of the second capital of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur and the Portuguese capital that was once said to rival Lisbon in magnificence. Wracked by cholera and malaria epidemics, eroded by monsoon rains and choked by creepers, Old Goa has declined from a vibrant city of over a hundred thousand souls to little more than a handful of potent architectural relics.

Old Goa is still the spiritual heart of Christian Goa, and its most famous building is the Basilica of Bom Jesus, which contains the tomb and mortal remains of the peripatetic St Francis Xavier, credited with introducing Christianity to much of South-East Asia. Also of interest is the Convent & Church of St Francis of Assisi, which has gilded and carved woodwork, murals depicting scenes from the saint’s life, and a floor substantially made of carved gravestones. The largest of the churches is the Portuguese-Gothic Se Cathedral, dating from 1562, which houses the so-called ‘Golden Bell’, whose resonant peal can be heard thrice daily.

Anjuna
The collection of people attracted to the beach settlement of Anjuna in North Goa may seem eclectic at first glance, but there are common organic and spiritual threads woven between the hippies, artists, mild crazies and supposed ex-materialists who congregate here. It’s famous throughout Goa for its Wednesday flea market, and has retained an undeniable, if somewhat shabby, charm.

This is a good place to stick around for a while, make some friends and engage in mellow contemplation while the sun goes down. Full moon, when the infamous parties take place, is a particularly good time to be here if you want to indulge in bacchanalian delights. Only a Brit would think about raving about the main beach, but it’s worth the walk to the small, protected sliver of sand at South Anjuna where the area’s long-term house-renters tend to gather.

Chapora & Vagator
This is a fascinating part of the Goan coastline and more genuinely salubrious than Anjuna. It boasts a patchwork of coconut palms and the enigmatic character of Chapora village, which is more unruly farmyard than a fishing community doubling as a beach resort. The village is on the estuary of the Chapora River and is overshadowed by a rocky hill, which supports a well-preserved Portuguese fort. There are sandy coves, pleasant beaches and rocky cliffs at nearby Vagator.

Calangute & Baga
Once upon a time, Calangute was the it beach for hippies, where pujas, ganja, drug-addled musicians and other lost artistic souls predominated, a beach of the truly half-baked that modern Leonardo di Caprioan versions couldn’t hold a psychedelic candle to. But alas for those who still seek the ‘revolution’, or the occasional naked group frolic, Calangute is no longer Hippy Central. The local people, who used to rent out rooms in their houses for a pittance, have moved on to more profitable things, and the place has undergone a metamorphosis to become the centre of Goa’s rapidly expanding package-tourist market.

Tag: Goa