The long passage from Turkey to India 1.2.19 Happy 8 year anniversary of moving from the UK to Turkey to us! We had no intention of travelling afar this year but when John’s son asked to come over for a few weeks with his girlfriend, having a house sitter was just too tempting. As in…
1.2.26 After losing another very dear friend John said I should jump at the chance to join Sharon Kevin and Liz on a trip to Goa. Life’s too short and too unpredictable. It was a fast turn around as only 2 weeks after meeting my first Grandson, little Harvie, in Australia. It was brilliant to…
3.2.26 Despite being totally sleep deprived I was awake really early. The bed is a weird set up, there’s just an under sheet and a pile of thin blankets, no top sheet. I used my beach towel as a sheet. The ceiling fan is super efficient. The problem with waking so early is that it’s…
4.2.26 The cleaner arrived just after 9am. She was so apologetic. The last people checked out late and then we arrived. She’s been telling him for some time that it needs a deep clean. She set to work, bathrooms had a good scrub, an astonishing amount of debris was removed from the floors and mopped….
5.2.26 Every morning since we’ve arrived I’ve been awake and eating biscuits by 6am. Today Liz and I are going to Margao market and the alarm was set for 8am. I was dead to the world, reset it for 30minutes, then hit snooze. Liz also struggled, think we’re not used to 2 late nights on…
6.2.26 Sharon and Kev came to ours with some laundry for our super duper washing machine. Jennifer, the cleaner, said it dries, but it doesn’t. There is a string airer thing, with several strings missing. We had breakfast at the German Bakery which is always busy. I had the hugest bowl of muesli with watermelon,…
7.2.26 I really wanted to visit Panjim, also known as Panaji for confusion purposes. It’s the capital of Goa province. I was happy to go alone. The others are so happy chilling, I don’t mind it but I love to see new places. Liz told me I was absolutely not allowed to go alone. So…
8.2.26 We all met up for breakfast at Cinnamon. They didn’t have a muesli fruit and curd option. The closest was a pink bowl option, strawberry and something or other smoothie with muesli. It looked amazing but was basically a smoothie with about a table spoon of bland muesli sprinkled on the top. Cinnamon is…
10.2.26 Liz and I are sharing a double bed here, there’s no singles and the only way we could stay at this place was to share. We had breakfast at Forget me Not, Manveers place and our sunbeds were saved, as promised. Although a woman of unknown origin didn’t think we should have 4 sunbeds…
11.2.26 It was, quite a late start today after a late night. We had an excellent breakfast at Maria Paulos. It’s also a bakery with some amazing looking cakes. The only thing that spoilt it was the relentless mouth organ blues music. It may have been the same track over and over. Kevin went in…
12. 2.26 Had a really good night’s sleep, I thought sharing would be weird but it’s been fine. We all got up earlier than usual to walk to the end of the beach, set off at 8am. We were shocked how busy it was, people walking, swimming, running and very active dogs running around and…
13. 2.26 Liz and I were woken at 7.30am by the Indian family that arrived yesterday. Their kids are a bit feral. They shout at each other as if one of them is in Africa. The parents take no notice. Worse still, Liz was woken at 3am by a male voice, Michael on the phone….
11.2.26 Happy Valentines to my bed buddy Liz. We began today with a serenely peaceful and beautiful river trip with Pritesh, although I think he should be Romesh. We were out for almost 2 hours. We’d hoped to see monkeys but saw and heard a variety of birds. We had an excellent breakfast at The…
15.2.26 Liz and I snuck around a lot this morning! First a banner and balloons, then a trip to Romya bakery to order a birthday cake. Breakfast was a special one at Zest, a very upmarket vegetarian restaurant. The menu was a baffling array of healthy goodies merged together in various combinations. I opted for…
16. 2.26 We packed up and got ready to leave Agonda. Unfortunately the dress shop was closed. I’ll be looking out for a slim person to gift it to. Our taxi came and we set off for our 25 minute drive to Palolem beach, our home for the next week. FInding accommodation with 2 bedrooms…
17.2.26 This morning my bathroom smells like a bonfire. Liz went to meet the manager, he didn’t turn up. The desk guy went to pick him up later, we chatted. He was really shocked by the booking. com listing. He is going to get it amended. He gave us 3000 rupees discount and waived the…
18.2.26 After our somewhat stressful noisy day at Palolem we opted to take the 20 minute stroll to Partnem. It took a fair bit longer with photo and shop browsing stops. We settled ourselves on the beautiful beach by Nirvana restaurant. I love the way they all provide towels. The staff here were particularly attentive…
19.2.26 Liz and I are off to Mumbai! A 7am taxi to Margao train station. We had problems booking a train, thank you Mick & Ann for their help, their chef sorted it. We wwe’re very early for our 8.50 am train, so went into a nearby cafe for a quick breakfast. We chose two…
20.2.26 We’re going on a Bollywood adventure today, we’ve been so excited about this. The train was fabulous yesterday, so hoping today is equally great. Our tour started at 11am, we were meeting our guide, a former actor, now writer and director at Bollywood Park. We’re tuk tuk addicts now and weaved our way along…
21.2.26 Up early today, our tour begins at 8.30am, and we were being picked up at the hotel. They asked if we could change it to 8am because of Ramadam. I asked for it to stay as 8.30am because we want to enjoy our lovely breakfast and it doesn’t open until 7.30am. Our driver was…
22.2.26 I’ve been so busy trying to catch up with blogging about Mumbai and still a couple of days behind! Kevin and Sharon recommended The Mill, very close to where we’re all staying, for breakfast. It was superb, in a quirky old mill building with a few small rooms. It was definitely the nicest fruit,…
23.2.26 Our taxi arrived at 10am and took just over an hour to reach The Iris, Betalbatim, our home for our last 6 days. It’s fabulous. I could definitely live there and love how they’ve decorated it. First job, get some washing on while we unpack and get sorted. We’re so excited to have a…
24.2.26 I woke early and went and enjoyed the tranquility of the terrace. Nothing but birdsound. The sun was up but there was still a slight chill. Sharon joined me a bit later, she was reading her book, all calm, lovely. Kevin joined us, laptop in hand and began researching breakfast venues. And dinner. And…
25.2.26 Liz and I got up early and decided to walk to Majorda, 2.5km away. Where we’re staying is definitely very up market, huge residential and holiday homes, painted in an array of bright colours. As we got nearer to Majorda it was clear that it was a little bit more of a holiday resort,…