After a relaxing 8 days in Palolem we moved 15 minutes up the coast to Agonda for the next 12 days of ‘trying to get Debbie’s arm working properly’ recuperation a.k.a. more sitting on our arses in the sun.
Agonda is quite different to Palolem – quieter, more ‘natural’, a bigger beach, bigger waves, the resort centred on a single road behind the beach than the beach itself, and almost exclusively foreign holidaymakers (whereas Palolem tourists are probably 90% domestic).
Accommodation – Agonda Palm Beach Resort – just 6 months old, a collection of 9 lovely little chalets around a central garden, with 4 fancier double story beachfront suites with spa bath on the balcony, and a bar/restaurant. Obviously given Steve’s ‘carefulness’ were were not in a beachfront suite! A really nice place, well managed and with lovely staff, expensive for India at around £65/night but then Goa is relatively pricey. The garden chalets are identical apart from bed configuration – ours was a twin with the 2 single beds pushed together. We managed to move halfway through our stay, primarily as we’d been given the worst-located chalet and constant movement of staff to and from the kitchen next door was disrupting the peace when relaxing on our little terrace. An unexpected benefit of our move was that the kingsize bed was longer than the singles, so Steve’s feet were no longer hanging off the end of the bed, and the mattress was FAR more comfortable.
Just 1 day into our stay, the ‘naturalness’ of Agonda brought a twist to the lying on the beach plans. The beach is a designated nesting site for Olive Ridley turtles and as Goa has a modest turtle conservation programme, and turtle eggs had been spotted, the Forest Department swooped in on our 2nd day. All sunbeds were banned from the beach and music prohibited. Apparently the police turn a blind eye but the Forest Department are clearly not bribeable, and there are VERY hefty fines for establishments that don’t observe the restrictions. Being divers, and lovers of turtles, we obviously applaud the conservation efforts, but the turtles lay their eggs at night when the tourists (and sunbeds) are safely tucked up for the night, and volunteer conservationists comb the beach each morning for turtle eggs and move them to netted enclosures for safety – so the removal of sunbeds is probably overly cautious. One of us wasn’t best pleased, the other didn’t give a stuff as he sits in the shade anyway, but we managed to get sunbeds brought to the little garden outside our room so Debbie could continue to bask in the sun. It was funny listening to the guys at our hotel telling new residents that it’ll just be a couple of days until the sunbeds are back – when we left the sunbeds had been gone for 11 days and there was no sign of them returning any time soon. The impact on the beachside resorts and businesses must be huge for however long the ban lasts as people were getting in taxis and heading out of Agonda. As lovely as our resort was, if we’d not paid for our entire 12 day stay upfront we may have suggested returning to Palolem. Even though we only had to to walk an extra 10m from our garden sunbed to the sea, it somehow made a difference not being able to lie on the beach. As it was, we just relaxed and the days whizzed by, and every now and again a passing cow would wander off the beach, through our resort and past the end of our sunbeds.
We did have a few things happening at home while we were relaxing in Agonda that took some of our attention. We have to remember that we are not on holiday, we are traveling, and that we have things to deal with – hence why we both have laptops with us.
Firstly and most importantly we became grandparents for the first time on 24 January when Steve’s daughter-in-law Aimee gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Carey Finn Greenham. We’ve already had a FaceTime call with the little fella, hopefully a regular occurrence while we are on our travels, and we’re nipping home to meet him in the flesh at the end of March.
Then we finalised the rental of our house – so that’s it, we have to keep traveling as we have agreed a tenancy through to the end of January 2027.
And we spent a stupid amount of time on matters relating to our sailing club – Debbie analysing and pointing out errors in the accounts, Steve raising other issues, both of us attending the AGM by Zoom (3 hours of our life we won’t get back but at least we had a supply of cold Kingfisher to keep us going).
The restaurant scene in Agonda is very much focused on the main street and inside beachfront restaurants, rather than tables on the beach (probably due to the turtles), and continued to be excellent quality and value. Agonda is more expensive than Palolem as measured by our Kingfisher Price Index – a small bottle is typically Rs 120, up to Rs 180 in some places, where the usual price in Palolem is Rs 100. It’s still as cheap as chips but at least 20% more expensive than Palolem.
Zest is the most popular and famous place in Agonda – a lovely veggie/vegan cafe set amongst bamboo with stunningly good food, full of hipsters and the yoga crowd. Corn fritters with avocado & eggs and garlic mushrooms on sourdough are exceptional brekkie choices, but the smoothie bowls also look great.
The Rhino is a bit of a ramshackle place but incredibly popular, so much so that we couldn’t get a table the first time we tried. Undeterred, we set off earlier the following evening and were asked to grab a drink and wait, a table would be available shortly. And so it was, and a very rude lady slyly grabbed it ahead of us! The staff immediately moved her on and showed us to ‘our’ table. This place is all about the tandoor/grill – there’s even an Aussie on BBQ duty so they must be taking it seriously. Greedy pigs ordered far too much food – a mixed tandoori grill to share, which in itself would’ve been sufficient as it (unknown to us) came with rice, nan and a curry sauce. We really didn’t need the dal tadka and mushroom masala which we’d enjoyed making at cookery class. Defeated, after a couple of beers each and another surprisingly reasonable bill, we left – only to be met by a wandering cow who’d popped in while passing to check out the BBQ.
Kopi Desa was somewhere we visited a few times, a lively bar/restaurant close to Zest and attracts folk for the wood fired pizzas, rotisserie chicken and Sunday roasts. Rotisserie chicken here is exceptional – Debbie had a half chicken with masala spicing and all the trimmings and was defeated after just the breast meat, onion rings and a couple of chips. Steve wanted the special – a 300g fillet steak – as it is very rare to see the sacred cow being offered on Indian menus. So half a chicken and half a cow, plus a couple of beers each it was. £22 in case anyone is wondering! Steve wanted to return for their famous Sunday lunch but we both forgot having been so busy doing nothing. On another visit we couldn’t resist the chateaubriand to share at a bargain £16 including sides. We get the feeling that this place isn’t Indian-owned given their liberal offering of beef.
Greenland restaurant outside our hotel entrance does amazing curries, but then we’ve not yet had a bad one – touch wood. The most memorable thing about Greenland is the crazy waiter, who asks for your order and then sings it as he dances his way to the kitchen. Mad as a box of frogs!
The Rose on the beach is an ultra-stylish, recently remodeled place – with prices to match. Lovely design and ambiance, decent enough food (I wasn’t prepared to pay £22 for 3 jumbo prawns though) – but off the scale on the Kingfisher price index at Rs 180 for a small bottle, which is almost double the price of restaurants in Palolem, or the same price as a bottle double the size. We really should get a grip though, even that’s only around £1.80 – a third of what we’d pay in a pub at home. On another visit we asked to look at their fresh fish – they wanted Rs 2,900 (£29) for a lovely big Kingfish but that was far too expensive and we told them so, and the waiter returned with a far more reasonable price so we had that cooked Richardo style (Goan, spicy) to share. These treats need to be limited to weekly though – we’ve got 730 days of eating out to fund!
Treetop Tava was the venue for our last evening – a bit of a hike out of the village and over the river. Set above the trees (no shit Sherlock), it offered a magnificent view towards both the sea and river delta. Fabulous sundowner cocktails and another great curry, and not expensive as the guide book had suggested.
After the previous dramas related to getting cash, we were pleasantly surprised to find that Agonda had a working ATM, close to St Anne’s church. All addresses in Agonda seem to be ‘close to St Anne’s church’ though. Confidence that we could now obtain cash easily meant one thing – SHOPPING!
Debbie didn’t pack her tatty old sarongs, reckoning that she could get lovely new ones in India – which she did at two for a fiver after a little bit of half-hearted bartering. I’m sure that price could’ve been halved, but the man was nice and I’m sure it made his day. They are excellent quality (not), leaking dye all over anything they touch if a bit wet, but luckily colours to match swimwear were chosen.
Not exactly a big expenditure was a new button for Debbie’s trousers – not checked before we left home rather than popped off due to too much Kingfisher and curry honestly. The local tailor provided and attached a perfect new button and said that Debbie could pay what she felt appropriate. Now given that a silk top only costs a fiver here, although cheeky she thought Rs 200 (£2) for a button and 5 minutes work was OK. The tailor was delighted!
Debbie also splashed some of the cash on a massage – nice but not the most luxurious venue – at £15 for an hour. Well it was actually £13 but no-one in India ever has change from a Rs 500 (£5) note, but we need to remember what things cost at home. She has decided to spend all the money she was reimbursed from the private medical company for her pre-trip physiotherapy should be spent on massages to supplement the exercises being done several times a day (once she’s managed to get into the sea through the crashing waves and successfully avoided being trashed in them, the latter not always happening).
After we’d been away for 10 days, given that we are traveling light it was time for us to get some washing done. We dropped off two full laundry bags to the pregnant lady at a house down a side street, following the ‘laundry with washing machine’ sign and just left it after being told that it’d be ready the following morning. No ticket/receipt – would we ever see our clothes again? We nearly didn’t! Dave & Sue in the chalet next to us went to collect their laundry and only on noticing something pink in the bag luckily realised it wasn’t theirs – it was Debbie’s striped beach towel. The cost for all that washing? Rs 270 – about £2.70.
Towards the end of our stay in Agonda – Debbie’s work colleague Jude and her Sharon friend arrived. With our original plan we wouldn’t have overlapped in Agonda, so it was great to see them and have a couple of sundowners.
12 days of doing nothing passed in the blink of an eye – Debbie’s arm/shoulder isn’t recovered yet but she’s managing – next stop is Kerala……
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