I flew on the 25th of August to New Delhi. I took the flight with Turkish Airlines landing around 04.00 am (local time) in Delhi. I was picked up by a nice shuttle service of the Hotel where my customer made a reservation for me. We drove aprox. 45 minutes in the night with minor traffic to the city of Noida. It was monsoon season and the streets were wet although it was not raining when I landed. The air was very humid and hot. The Park Plaza Hotel was a four-star hotel with excellent facilities. I did use the pool that was situated on the roof top but I had a nice professional massage. (without any sort of ending of course!) I paid something like 2500 Rupee, which was like 40-50 USD. After visiting my client in his premises I returned to the hotel only to go out again. I wanted the walk the streets in Noida and get a feel for the city. Noida is located 20 km south of Delhi. Despite the fact that many big companies are located here and with some serious construction going on, it sort of surprised me to see that the streets were so filthy. Everywhere there was litter, cows and dogs running the streets, pigs among people sleeping in small tents on the street. It is hard to see people live in such conditions and one should definitely appreciate with what he/she has back home.
The following day I took the flight to Goa with Jetairline.
The flight was rather bumpy since we got into turbulence due to bad weather conditions. One thing that was funny during the flight was that all the Indians on the plane shared the same habit to walk in the aisle during take off or landing. They didn't really care what the stewards had to say about that. As I said it was unusual for me to see so many people walking around within the airplane.
We arrived in Goa after 2.5 hours and it was raining heavily. Goa Airport is very small and we took a taxi to the hotel TajViventa, which is situated in Panjim area of Goa. Palm trees with coconuts mark the view in this region. Compared to Noida or Delhi, Goa was clean. Or at least a bit cleaner although the cows were also present here. Goa was under Portuguese rule for more than 450 years and they left their mark everywhere, especially in architecture.
We arrived in Goa after 2.5 hours and it was raining heavily. Goa Airport is very small and we took a taxi to the hotel TajViventa, which is situated in Panjim area of Goa. Palm trees with coconuts mark the view in this region. Compared to Noida or Delhi, Goa was clean. Or at least a bit cleaner although the cows were also present here. Goa was under Portuguese rule for more than 450 years and they left their mark everywhere, especially in architecture.
The hotel itself was fabulous, with very nice facilities and the food was outstanding. A mix of Indian and European cuisine. Very recommendable. The staff was very friendly. I have nothing bad to say about this place. I have spent 3 days in Goa, visiting some Portuguese churches like the Basilica of Bom Jesus, which has the mummy of St. Francis Javier, temples and the most interesting facilities of my client. (sarcasm here :-)!!) . After three days I took a flight with Spicejet to Mumbai, where I arrived around 12 o’clock. Mumbai airport was a bit problematic because like in New Delhi people are not allowed inside the waiting area without a printout of their flight schedule. Hence, one must wait outside for many hours if you're unprepared. In order to prevent such problem, as my flight was in the wee hours, I took a three star hotel, which was very smelly but the room was more or less clean. Mumbai is very crowded and dirty and I am glad that I didn’t stay there any longer. I arrived on the 29th of August in Istanbul.
Do I think Goa is worth a visit? Yes, definitely. I did not get to enjoy the beaches because it was monsoon season but still I think it was a beautiful place with the lisbon style housings and temples. Of course, it is not any longer the hippy paradise it used to be but still you can see some lost hippy souls strolling around.
Do I think Goa is worth a visit? Yes, definitely. I did not get to enjoy the beaches because it was monsoon season but still I think it was a beautiful place with the lisbon style housings and temples. Of course, it is not any longer the hippy paradise it used to be but still you can see some lost hippy souls strolling around.
