Lounging in Agonda, Goa

‘Goa’, the word that evokes so many emotions in all us Indians. The place of warm waters, of beaches, of palm trees, of fun, of relaxation. Of something different than India, in India. Its interesting that the state still has a fuzzy effect on us all. I always think if I live in India, I would like to be in Goa, with its chill holiday charm all year long.

View from our bungalow

This was my fifth visit to Goa and as usual, every visit has been different. The feel of different parts of the state are different, and I am still discovering all its varying vibes. (Staying in the forests of Goa is still on my to-dos, but the beaches have such a strong allure that the forests keep getting deprioritised, every time). 

This time we decided to stay at a south Goa beach, Agonda (well to be honest, it was one of the few places we could find on the beach given we were booking so late!). Agonda is not on the most popular beaches list, so it was relatively quiet and authentic. We had booked a room in one of the many small setups lining the beach. And the holiday turned out to be just what we expected – relaxed, slow and rustic.

We landed at Panjim, and rented a car from there to drive to our beach. The person whose car we took looked shady. He gave us his car without much paperwork, and we still think it may have been a stolen one. We were never able to figure out who was the owner of the car, as every time a different person spoke to us on the phone 😁.

The drive south was through lot of greenery, palm trees and in between passing through small villages. The roads were quite narrow and traffic was mostly single lane, slow traffic. Though at times we were on some highway with better roads. We drove through many local villages full of old churches. And I loved the old colourful houses lining the roads all through. Life in these villages feels so rural, so different than what we imagine the touristy Goa to be like, the contrast is quite stark.

Rustic Goa

Agonda beach is next to the village where the locals live. They seem to be involved in fishing looking at the number of boats there. When we parked our car, it felt like we were inland, with small rivers around. Nothing about it seemed fancy. But when we got to the beach, it was different. 

Our bungalow

The beach is lined with beach huts all along. They are all small enterprises, probably by people living in the village. Each one got a small piece of land on the beach and has built their own huts and bungalows to rent out to tourists. And in between the bungalows are loads of restaurants. Most of the restaurants are open air, and people sit inside or on the beach for dinner. This beach had enough tourists but not too many.

We were staying at Agonda beach villas, in a sea-facing bungalow. It was a single room, simply furnished but very comfortable. And we had an open bathroom, with no roof! That’s always so unnerving. We had a balcony overlooking the sea, where I sat most of the time unless it got too hot to be there. Though on a crowded beach, we always felt close to nature, as we had many palm trees all around. And we heard the sounds of birds, (and lot of crows) all day long.

Agonda beach

In the evening, we went for a long walk on the beach at sunset. We have an amazing Goan fish dinner at Simrose and then walked back all the way. And then we slept to the sound of the waves all night long. It was quite loud actually.

Agonda beach

The morning was still warm but the sun was fogged out every morning. And there were many cows and dogs on the beach. It looks like at night, all the local animals come and sleep on the beach. And leave during the day when the tourists arrive. It was quite a sight actually, I have never seen so many animals on a beach like this.

Goan huts

We had plans to do many things in Goa, including check out some holiday homes to buy. But there is something in the air of Goa that all plans go out of the window and you end up just ‘being’. Our first day, we chilled on the balcony and then went out for a walk in the neighbouring village. We just walked wherever the road took us and it was such a surreal experience.

Goan huts

Walking through a village with colourful bungalows, yellow, orange, pink, blue all along the road. Every house was huge, surrounded by palm trees and had a garden with loads of flowers and fruit trees. And everywhere there was so much undergrowth, tropical vegetation and all. And it felt like such a good life, what we all aspire for. Living in a warm place, with nature, forests, hills and beaches around. Sigh. It did get too hot too quickly, so we walked back to the AC in our bungalow and enjoyed a Goan siesta all afternoon. In the evening, we again just walked on the beach and ate at a local restaurant, the Mariposa. The food here wasn’t as good as the previous day though.

Palolem beach

The next day was the Cricket World Cup final between India and Australia and all morning we spent finding a good beach sports club to watch the match. We finally found the Big Bull bar on Palolem beach and drove there to watch the match. The beach has changed now, it’s become happening and commercial. When I had last visited in 2009, it was still slow and relaxed. But now it is lined with eating joints, hotels and crowded with people. It was tough to drive there and find a parking spot. But we managed.

Anyways the highlight of the day was the cricket match which wasn’t going our way. We watched half the match there and dejected, came back to Agonda. When some wickets went our way, we found ourselves at the Coco Nest watching the rest of the match with the local crowd. It was a nice experience to watch a match sitting outside, but the match result didn’t go our way, and so the excitement waned. So we came back dejected to our rooms, still not believing that after beating everyone convincingly throughout the series, we lost so badly in the finals.

Bliss

Anyways the next day was our last day in Goa. I went for a last swim in the sea, and was surprised to see that the water was warm even in the morning. (After living in Europe for so long, warm waters in the morning seem like an impossibility). After the swim, it was time to return to the hustle bustle of city life. As always, it was quite a relaxed time we had in Goa. And to the next time…

In the village of Ely

Ely Cathedral

In the summer on 2023, I made a trip to the UK and spent a few days with a friend in Cambridge. Unfortunately, I caught flu on the second day but the first day I explored Cambridge and a nearby village called Ely. And it turned out to be such a hidden and unknown gem.

Village of Ely

We took a short train from Cambridge to get to Ely. It was a cute little sleepy town with a famous cathedral and lot of canals around, enough to spend a nice day walking its streets. And it was nice to see so many tourists around too. 

Ely cathedral

We first explored the old town. We walked past King’s Ely, a famous old school from the 900s, an old Bishop's house and then came to the imposing Ely cathedral overlooking everything in town. It was grand from the inside, decorated with a fully painted roof and stained glass all around. It was just spectacular in its beauty and scale. And the outside was stunning too. Apparently, this cathedral (and town) had a prominent place in medieval times but lost its importance later. The other famous spot in town is the famous politician, Oliver Cromwell's house.

Inside the cathedral

There are loads of such charming little Jane Austen-esque buildings all around. We walked into one such place for coffee, the Poet's house. It felt quite relaxing to just sit in such surroundings and have tea. Apparently, the town was originally built on an island, and therefore has a lot of canals around. There were many river distributaries around too, many of which have been reclaimed. 

Ely riverside

After exploring the town, we walked to the riverside, and it was quite fascinating.. There were lot of pubs and restaurants to hang around there. And of course lot of boats 😊. We walked around a bit, all the way till the fields out of town and then were off to Cambridge.

 

Cambridge

Cambridge is always a pleasure to be in, to walk by the river around the colleges. We had dinner there, amazing Korean food. Guess given the diversity of students here, the food places are also diverse and tasty. The main student area felt quite active but as soon as you get out of the main student area, it's so quiet and peaceful. As if you've come to another place itself. Overall, we had a nice ‘countryside ‘day there and I can't wait to be back for more such leisure days.

Long weekend in the Ardennes region

Our chalet in Ardennes

In the summer of 2023, I finally got a chance to spend a long sunny weekend in the Ardennes region, an area of deep forests and rolling hills, spread out across three countries - France, Belgium and Luxembourg. It was a lovely driving trip over 4 days. On the way there, we stopped in the mountain resort of Valkenburg and in the student town of Maastricht while driving back. In Ardennes, we spent one day walking around and visiting (apparently) the smallest city in the world, Durbury. And the second day, we visited Luxembourg City.

I loved my time there, relaxing while being surrounded by nature. And the chalet we were staying at was another highlight of this trip. It was such an idyllic weekend, and so close to Amsterdam, that I could see myself going there again for sure (though that never happened 😁).


Driving to Ardennes, through Valkenburg 

It is a 4 hour drive from Amsterdam to Durbury, though it took us a lot longer due to rains on the way. The first part of the drive was through dried out vegetation as it had been a hot summer. The second part got greener though. And for the first time I saw hills in the Netherlands (yes they exist!) in the province of Limburg. So we decided to have a lunch stop in the hilly town of Valkenburg. And what a stunning stop it was.

As usual it was a rainy day, and I timed our stop so that we could spend the non-rainy hours exploring the town. We had lunch next to the city walls, with a view of the hills around. At the restaurant, we ran into a waiter who knew a lot about India, its culture and history, and chatted with us through our lunch about it. It was such a welcome surprise, I would never have expected to find someone who knows about India in such a small restaurant in a small town like Valkenburg.

Valkenburg city walls

After lunch, we walked around the old town. It was such a gorgeous little place, with a castle, a moat and city gates all around. And there were colourful flowers everywhere. The old town was full of grand buildings, all made of yellow stone. All around there were huge city gates. After that, we walked up the hill to the castle ruins and loved the views of the town from the top – they were stunning.

We spent some time in the high street, it was lined with charming shops, restaurants and hotels. The wares being sold there was quite nice actually. Apparently, Valkenburg is quite a popular resort in the Netherlands and that showed in the good quality of stuff being sold there. We walked into a shop selling the famous cuckoo clocks from Blackforest and ended up buying one! Another surprise for us, as we wouldn’t have expected it.

City gates of Valkenburg

The people here felt different too, they were less tall than the Northern Dutch and appeared less fit too. They spoke in a softer tone and were warmer. I now understand why the North and South Dutch say that they have different cultures. I felt the same about the people here too.

We were supposed to have a very short stop at Valkenburg but ended up spending 3 hours exploring the town, it was just so inviting. We didn’t want to leave but had to, and its good we left when we did, because by the time we left, it started raining again! After that, we also got stuck in a thunderstorm on our way to Belgium. There was a heavy downpour and the highway was flooded with water. For some time, we could barely see the road or the cars ahead of us. It was a bit scary, but thankfully all the cars started driving slowly and we all made it out safely. It was still quite an interesting experience to drive on a highway with such heavy rains when you can’t see anything.


Our accommodations

View outside our chalet

We reached Durbury still in daylight and got a chance to look around our accommodation for a bit. We had booked a chalet at Sunclass Durbury – a vacation bungalow park in Ardennes. It was a green wooded area with secluded wooden chalets spread out across the park, surrounded by trees and greenery. It felt like we were very close to nature, living a simple life nestled in the the woods. But with all modern amenities. The vacation park was managed by a company and had many facilities including an indoor pool. We loved our stay there, waking up to the chirping of birds. And eating our meals in the outdoors, under the trees. Even though it was summer and very hot during the day, the mornings and evenings got a bit chilly. But we still ate outside every time, to just enjoy the nature all around.


Day out in Durbury

Walk to Durbury

Our first day, we walked about 4kms from our bungalow park to the town of Durbury. It was a sunny day and so was fun to be in nature and the countryside. We walked through an adventure valley and then along a small river all the way to Durbury. There was such a vibrant green colour all around, every turn was just picture perfect.

Durbury

The city was small and quaint. Most of the houses were built of a grey coloured stone and had an eerie look to it. Once at the city, we walked through the main street, past a castle to a waterfall. And spent some time there. There were a few food festivals going on and loads of people enjoying the summer everywhere. It was just so idyllic, we just spent some time walking around and exploring the place. The heat got to us though, and we rested the rest of the day in our chalet.

Durbury along the river

Our bungalow park did not have an electric charging point. So in the evening we drove around a bit looking for one and found one next to a random restaurant along the road. While waiting for the car to be charged, we walked to the neighbouring village of Petite Han, and took a walk in the village. Even that was such a surprise. There were these huge palacious houses in that village, most of which looked empty. Still it was impressive to see a random village somewhere like this offer such luxurious living.


Day out in Luxembourg

Radhadesh

Some of our friends lived in Luxembourg and we thought of visiting them during the day, covering another country too 😀. On our way to Luxembourg, we first stopped at Radhadesh, the European headquarters of the Hare Rama Hare Krishna mission. It was located right next to our bungalow park. We had seen the boards earlier and somehow couldn’t believe it, so went for a visit anyways. Radhadesh is a huge castle type chalet located atop a small hill, with green grounds all around, and some houses in the neighbouring area for people to stay.

Radhadesh

We had breakfast there which was simple tasty Indian food. And free. The volunteers were cooking and serving us food. It was quite a nice experience. After that we went into the castle which was decorated like a Hindu temple. They had photos of Indian gods and their teachings on the walls. There were a few other places to see nearby, so we explored it for a bit. It was quite a surprise to run into such a place in the middle of nowhere in Belgium.

Terrace of Europe

After that, we were on our way to Luxembourg. It was a 2 hour drive through forests, hills and charming villages everywhere. And then we were in Luxembourg. It is a very small but extremely rich country. You can sense it as soon as you enter it, the roads and infrastructure all around is much better. Also all public transport in the country is free – buses, trains, everything. All public transport is also electric.

Luxembourg City

The capital city of Luxembourg, called Luxembourg City is spread out all along a valley with steep cliffs on both sides. The old city with its grand buildings are all along this valley, the rest is spread out on the top. After lunch at our friend’s, we took the local bus into town which apparently is also the scenic route bus. The entry into the city is impressive, you go down a valley and see the whole city spread out in front of you. The first view is quite spectacular and rich. All the buildings are grand and well maintained. And you can see a few castles all around.

Shopping street

We got off at the main bridge, and walked towards the city centre. We explored some of the shopping streets and the main market square. It was clear from the stuff being sold in the flea market, that this was a rich country. As was visible from the other shops too, they had a lot of good expensive stuff.

 

Adolphe bridge

We crossed the Adolphe Bridge to the other side of the valley and took another bus, no 13, and then tram no 1, from one end of town to the other. The city was pretty actually, simple and pretty. There were grand houses all the way. And the bus at the end goes into charging after every trip. It almost felt like we were in a toy city. We stopped at a park for a bit too, to rest from the sun.

We walked past a few of the places listed on the to-dos for Luxembourg City - Terrace of Europe, Grand Ducal palace, Place de Armes, Golden Lady (Monument of remembrance) and Notre Dame cathedral (which was closed) - but to be honest nothing was striking. And thus the trip to this country was over.


Driving back, through Maastricht

Maastricht along the river

While driving back, the weather was better and we saw gorgeous Belgium without a thunderstorm ruining our view. We stopped in the student town of Maastricht for a break but were unimpressed with the town. We visited the market square and did some local shopping. Then walked along the river and saw loads of churches everywhere. There wasn’t a lot more else to do there actually.

So we didn’t stop there long. And kept driving back to Amsterdam. On the way, we stopped at a random place on the way for lunch, at a lake called Strand in s-Hertogenbosch. It was full of people enjoying the sun, swimming and just enjoying the good weather. And this is what I will miss about the Netherlands the most – the Dutch know how to enjoy good weather, by being active and in nature. After the stop, we drove on towards Amsterdam. The rest of the drive was the same old, flat Netherlands.

Living in nature

Overall, I loved our trip to the Ardennes, the simplicity of nature it offers. Definitely a place I would recommend for weekend trips from the Netherlands.