New Years 2-17 – Day 12

Our second India port was the city of Goa and we arrived at the port at 10:00am.  We had a tour arranged and we met the driver and guide at 11:00am.  We could not book a private tour; however, there was only one other couple with us and they proved to be fun to spend the day with. 

This was basically a tour of the city of Goa and a couple of other cities in the area as well as, of course, driving through the country side.

This area of India has a strong Portugal influence as the Portuguese did not give up this part of India until the early 60’s, after Britain had already left the country. 

In addition, the Catholic Church has a large influence in this area because of the Catholics from Portugal.

We drove about an hour and came to two very large Catholic churches and we visited both of them.

After those two churches we visited a Buddhist Temple closer to the capital of Goa and it was neat to see and they are very plain compared to the Catholic churches.

We then drove to the capital and ate in a very local restraurant and the food was great – sorry I didn’t take any food pictures as we were talking so much that I forgot.  After eating we visited a local market.  In the picture inside the market, there are two people sleeping right on the piles of fruit – can you find them?

Our last stop was a local beach which was very nice, but just a typical beach.

Then we drove back to the ship and were let out a 5:00pm.  A nice day but the tour wasn’t really that much; however, there really wasn’t much to see here.

When we arrived back at the ship it was too late for snacks so we took showers and went to the show.  The show tonight was a sax/flute player and he was very good. 

In the morning, Ed had run into a couple from Bloomington and invited them to have dinner with us as the London couple had another commitment.  We met them after the show and had a delightful dinner and were amazed at the number of people who we all knew.  It was just a fun dinner.

After dinner we went to the casino where Barb won and Ed lost.  The good news is that we are still ahead for the trip.

Tomorrow we are in the third of four port days in India – New Mangalore.

Night

The Bishops Church

A stall in the market