My clients traveling to India often ask me where to go to sea at the end of a tour without spending too much time on the move. I usually suggest Goa, easily accessible by air from all the major airports in India.
There are so many reasons to spend a few relaxing days at the seaside in this State that is situated more or less in the middle of the west coast of the Indian sub-continent.
Firstly, Goa has a climate that makes its beaches bathing from late September to May. Secondly, in addition to the thirty kilometers of sandy coastline, it boasts a considerable historical and architectural heritage, testimony to its past as a former Portuguese colony. Just think that Goa was returned to India only in 1962, when it had already become independent of English rule for fourteen years.
Particularly noteworthy are the Catholic churches concentrated in the area of Old Goa, such as the Cathedral of St. Catherine (of Sé in Portuguese) and the basilica of Bom Jesus. Christian worship is still widespread in Goa, where one of the most populous Catholic communities in India lives. It is nice to dedicate at least one day of visiting alternating catholic churches and Indian temples, really instructive of how religious diversity managed to coexist peacefully in this State.
