Cultural Activities for Your Holiday in Goa

Goa – a tropical region of India near the Arabian Sea – has a hot and humid climate, beautiful sea views, excellent beaches and a fascinating history and culture, making it more than your average holiday destination. From the early 16th century until 1961, the Portuguese ruled Goa, and Portuguese is still spoken by some elderly and highly educated people in the region, though most speak Konkani, which is now the official language of Goa.

The Portuguese influence can still be seen in other ways, too: some of the architecture has a Portuguese flavour, place names are occasionally Portuguese and the fact that the region is over a quarter Christian — a high percentage for this part of India — can be directly attributed to the colonial legacy of the Portuguese (there is even a Hindu-Christianity Unity Memorial at Miramar Beach).

Goa has two UNESCO World Heritage sites: Born Jesus Basilica (which also holds the remains of St Francis Xavier) and a collection of Catholic churches and convents in Old Goa, or Velha Goa, which was once upon a time a city of 200,000. Much-reduced, it is still beautiful, and an easy journey as it is located in the northern part of the state, 10 kilometers from the state capital of Panaji.

Holidays in Goa are often spent by the sea, with Europeans coming in the winter, and Indians in the summer, but given the rich history of the place — Old Goa alone is worth a day of exploring — there is much more to this Indian state than lounging on the beach. For example, the culture in Goa predates Europeans by thousands of years, and there are fascinating structures and artefacts to investigate from much, much earlier in the region’s history when it was under the control of a shifting collection of Indian dynasties; a number of these left behind a rich record of their cultures in the form of stone sculptures, works of copper and archaeological remains. For these reasons, and many more, including the area’s reputation for outstanding Indian cuisine, holidays in Goa are a real treat.

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