India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) - Keith Bain [180]
The most happening clubs competing to attract the who’s who with great let-your-hair-down ambience, fabulous music, and terrific cuisine include Club Cubana (Arpora Hill; 98-2323-2910)—beautifully located atop a cliff with a swimming pool open at night and the focus on hip-hop and R&B music—and legendary Tito’s ( 98-2276-5002; www.titos.in). This local expire has been going for years and attracts anyone and everyone who’s up for a party in a range of different-but-the-same venues (definitely nothing groundbreaking here); a good choice here is Mambo’s, an open-air pub that’s part of the Tito’s franchise, where DJs spin 1980s rock music (but no trance). For a less rocking atmosphere accompanied by fairly good food, check out Kamaki ( 98-2327-6520; 6am–6pm recorded music, 6pm–6am DJ), a lounge bar up the road from Tito’s that’s open 24 hours. For an upmarket buzz, join the vibey, sexy-smart crowd at Shiro ( 0832/645-1718), the Candolim sibling of the ultrahip Mumbai restaurant-bar with a spectacular beachfront setting. Finally, although you should be cautious about planning a vacation here around New Years, since 2007, Goa has hosted the biggest music festival in Asia, Sunburn (www.sunburn-festival.com), for 3 days at the end of the year; check the website, though for specific dates, lineup, and venue.
3 Panjim & Old Goa
Panjim is 600km (372 miles) S of Mumbai
Located at the mouth of the Mandovi River, the state capital (also known as Panaji) relocated here from Old Goa in 1759, when bubonic plague finally wiped out the once-spectacular trade city. Panjim is today a breezy, laid-back town that lends itself to easy exploration. The chief attraction is the wonderful colonial Portuguese architecture, particularly in the eastern neighborhoods of Fontainhas and Sao Tome, where the atmospheric cobbled streets are lined with old mansions and churches dating as far back as the mid-1700s—look for Fontainhas’s Chapel of St. Sebastian, where the crucifix from Old Goa’s “Palace of the Inquisition” is now kept. With head upright and eyes wide open, the figure of Christ on the crucifix here is quite unlike the usual figures, which feature lowered head and eyes.
Dominating Panjim’s town center is the imposing Church of the Immaculate Conception, built in the Portuguese baroque style in 1541. Nearer the water’s edge is the Secretariat; an old palace of Adil Shah of Bijapur, this became the Portuguese viceroy’s residence when the colonial administration moved here.
Wandering around Panjim on foot shouldn’t take more than a few hours, but do spare some time for the Municipal Market—outside the smell will let you know when you’re near the fish sellers, while inside, the orderly layout of vendors pushing the mountains of fruit, vegetables, and myriad other kitchen consumables will have you reaching for your camera. If you’re pushed for time, confine your Panjim exploration to Fontainhas and hop onto an auto-rickshaw or on the back of a bike to Old Goa (30 min. from Panjim; reviewed in detail below). In its heyday reputedly larger than the city of London and one of Asia’s great trade centers, today it’s only Old Goa’s monumental churches that hint at the former splendor which earned it the nickname “Rome of the East.” From Old Goa, it’s a short trip (and a great contrast) to view the popular Hindu temples that lie north of the dull town of Ponda, on National Highway 4. Very few Hindu temples dating from earlier than the 19th century still exist—affronted by the Hindus’ “pagan” practices, the Portuguese tore them down—but Ponda became a repository for a large number of idols smuggled from the coast during the violent years of the 16th-century Inquisition. Particularly noteworthy