For 450 years this splendid land of scenic beauty lay under the Portuguese rule, imbibing the very best from Portuguese culture, even whilst retaining its own traditions. Goa is the meeting place of the Orient and the Occident, of the East and the West, neither entirely nor the other, yet a truly unique, rich blend of both. He who has seen Goa need not see Lisboa. So goes an old Portuguese saying, for the capital city of Panaji in particular, is modeled on the same lines as Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Western Portuguese traditions are to be seen and felt everywhere in Goa. In the Grecian styled houses with their arcades and balustrades, the neatly kept public and private gardens, the scrupulously clean streets and private gardens, shops with quaint Portuguese names, the the ordered movement of people and traffic, the warm hearted spontaneous assistance of an easy going, but generous and loving people, their splendid etiquette and their world famed hospitality.

The Portuguese were fun loving, music minded and so are the Goans. That's why it is commonly said that Goans have music in their blood and a song in their hearts. You see it at the carnivals, zatras and fairs when the people are given to a gay abandon but disciplining all the same. Listen here to the Portuguese fados and the lilting Goan mandos; they speak of love and have the swaying rhythm of the countless coconut palms that dot this state. Serenades, carnivals and street dancing are all to be found in Goa, typical of many western countries, and then the ancient time honoured Latin tradition siesta time when most shops and establishments close between 1.00 and 4.00 p.m. whilst owners and attendants take their traditional nap.

It is but natural that the Portuguese delicacies should have found their way into the Goan cuisine. Take the bebinca, a mouth watering pudding, fejioada made of curried kidney beans and pork, sorpotel a succulent pork dish, relished with sannas or steamed rice cakes and washed down with Goa's unique world famed drink caju feni.

The scenery is simply gorgeous, fantastic all through the year. In the monsoons the sparkling rain washed streets, the clean scrubbed air, lush green fields, swaying palms, the call of the jackals, the peals of thunder echoing over the hills and after the rains: the golden yellow paddy fields, the gentle waving fronds of the coconut trees, the chatter of myriads of birds of all types and hues, bursting into song. The impossibly blue rivers with their ferry boats and launches and fishing trawlers and barges and canoes. The silent peaceful hills harbouring with mute splendour their past history, the world famous beaches beckoning you to bask lazily in the sun or take an invigorating dip in the cool waters of the Arabian Sea.

Visit the beautiful churches and temples of an age gone by. Most of these are hundred years old. The numerous relics they contain speak eloquently of the workmanship of our ancestors. And don't forget to view the breath taking panorama of the setting sun beyond the beaches of Miramar, Calangute or Colva - it is and unforgettable sight adding to the countless memories of Goa you will carry with you throughout your life.

Goa, the hospitable ravishingly beautiful land of gay gracious, beautiful warm hearted people who live life with zest and gusto and verve and help you live it that way, too!