Goa continued.

Today was a lovely day.

Got up quite early, had a lovely breakfast at a local heritage hotel and got the bus to Ponda, which is just another Goan town (in the centre of Goa). Wandered around briefly before reaching that conclusion and then got a taxi (the main reason for the trip to Ponda) to go to a Spice Farm. It was quite a ride (nice of course) and when I got there I went on a tour of the plantation which was pretty interesting and set in beautiful grounds.

The group was quite big but it didn't really matter and the guide was good and quite funny. We got a demonstration from one of the workers of how they pick betel nuts. He shimmied up a tree and then swung from tree to tree. Really was something to watch! That was followed by a really nice buffet lunch overlooking a river and then I went back to Ponda.

Got the bus back to Panaji but it was still quite early so decided to go and chill out at a nearby beach.

Went to Miramar beach because it's very close to Panaji. I knew it wouldn't be great but all I wanted was to be near the sea and to read, read, read. And I achieved that! There were lots of families and a fair amount of litter (see previous post about Indian families and litter) but it was lovely just chilling out on the sand until the sunset turned things a bit chilly and I returned to Panaji feeling very refreshed, happy and slightly grubby!

Went back to the same restaurant as yesterday after I'd cleaned up a bit, and had delicious pomfret cooked in tooooo much garlic. Am VERY garlicy now! Also had a pint of wine so got a little bit pissed.

It's all rather good though!

Tomorrow I'm leaving Panaji and heading down south for a couple of days to stay in Colva and visit a couple of beaches down there.