Goa Handbook (Serial) (Footprint Handbooks Series) - Hardcover

Bradnock, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 084424807X ISBN 13: 9780844248073

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Contemporary, 1995

Synopsis

An updated guidebook to Goa, an ideal destination for first-time travellers to India. With some of India's finest beaches, it has long been popular as a place for relaxation, with a reputation for being free and easy. Information is included on: Goan beaches and coastal resorts; getting to know India; accommodation to suit every budget; up-to-date information on beaches and resorts; a guide to getting around easily by using hire cars, taxies and buses; the Portugese heritage and its cultural and day-to-day impact, for example on food; and a guide to Bombay, the gateway to Goa. Goa is also ideal for those who want to explore the easily-reached neighbouring states of Maharashstra and Karnataka.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Dear Traveller
Thank you for checking out the Goa Handbook. Footprint are an independent British publisher based in Bath. We specialise in providing travellers with guide books that are second to none for accurate, up-to-date and relevant information. You will find that most of our guides are simply the most comprehensive available with in-depth commentary on history, culture and customs as well as practical travel information (such as where to stay, places to eat and getting from A to B). Our major titles are updated ANNUALLY to ensure you have the best info to hand. You might like to know that we also publish Handbooks to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal as well as an extremely useful general guide to travelling: The Traveller's Handbook. Finally, whichever guidebook you choose, we would like to wish you an exciting, illuminating and above all enjoyable trip! Best Wishes, Footprint.

From the Author:

why you should buy this guide to Goa
A short introduction to Goa beyond the beach... Why a Goa handbook? Do visitors to India’s most popular state really need a guide, when everyone seems to think there is little beyond the beach parties? Yet as letters flowed in from users of the India Handbook it became obvious that many people would like a much fuller account of that fascinating world of the former Portuguese colony that is so rarely explored. My own first visit to Goa was on a windswept monsoon day in 1971. The beaches were deserted, the sea uninviting. Yet behind the shoreline I found Goa was full of fascinating surprises. Not just the remarkable churches of the Portuguese heartland, but the diverse influences of Hinduism and Islam on the villages, temples and mosques of the interior. Over twenty five years later, and following a huge surge in the number of foreigners visiting Goa, I am still surprised at how few discover something of the beauty and fascination beyond the superb beaches. On the rocky headlands long the coast between the beaches are remains of small Portuguese forts which can be fun to explore - tiny Tiracol in the northern most part of Goa, has been renovated to become a 'Heritage' hotel, while Cabo de Rama, to the south holds an aura of its historic past, and there are many more. But by venturing a short distance away from the idyllic coast you can explore the richness of Goa's cultural heritage. Goa's Portuguese Catholic history is evident in the numerous attractive white painted churches along the central coastal section but is best captured in Old Goa, once described as the 'Rome of the Orient'. Typical Portuguese village houses can be seen all across the Old Conquest territories but in addition a visit to Chandor's 'Menezes Braganza House' gives you an insight into the lifestyle once enjoyed by the elite. If you have time it’s also easy to see something of the astonishing diversity of India beyond. To the east, for example, are the ruins of the fabulous capital of the Vijaynagars at Hampi (Karnataka). Gokarna on the coast to the south, is alive and crowded with its present-day Hindu pilgrims. You can also easily wander across the northern border near Tiracol to cross into Maharashtra to see a Maratha fort ruin at Redi which also has a beautiful deserted beach, and then climb the Ghats, up to the minor hill station of Amboli. I hope that this small Handbook with its wealth of practical information may help you to enjoy not just the beaches but the Goa beyond. We hope you will write and let us know.

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Contemporary
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 084424807X
• ISBN 13: 9780844248073
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288