Saturday, November 29, 2014 - Goa (Mormugao), India

We docked in Goa about 8.  We had a light breakfast, got our excursion tickets and got on our bus for “A Taste of Goa” tour.  We went to the Church of St Francis of Xavier where there is a 10-year pilgrimage underway.  Every 10 years they put his relics (body remains) on display and there was a 2+ hour queue of people waiting to see him.  We went to the front of the cathedral and walked through a huge “bazaar” selling everything.  People all dressed up for the pilgrimage.

Dancers greeted our ship on the pier in Goa

The cathedral where the relics of the saint were on display

Large cross in the church yard

Inside the old church

The old church in Goa

The new church where the relics were on display

The large colorful bazaar

The old church

 We then went to a Hindu temple – had to take our shoes off and the floors were filthy.  We couldn’t really tell what was going on – lots of chanting.

A Hindu temple in Goa

Not very clean water at the temple

The Hindu temple

Side entrance to the Hindu temple

Pretty architecture

Then we went to The Spice Garden – a large plantation that had lots of spices growing.  We had lunch there, which was typical Indian fare.  Then we took a walk through the gardens and received an explanation of the various spices from our guide, Avi.  One man was a “tree climber” and he demonstrated how he can climb way up a tall palm tree and then jump from tree to tree.  Fascinating.  He used a rope tied to his feet on the “inside” of the tree where he was climbing.  Mid-afternoon we headed back to the ship – a 1 ½ hour drive.

Colorful women doing a dance at the nature park

We went on a nature walk through a beautiful forest

This man climbed this tall palm tree

There he is way up at the top

The guide explained all of the plants in the park - interesting

We went for ice cream and coffee and then watched a movie on the in-ship movie channel.  We watched sunset from our patio with a bottle of wine, and enjoyed sail away from our balcony.  We showered, dressed and went for drinks and dinner in the Compass Rose.  We ended up talking to Nathan and Allen from the show and had dinner with them and Katie from Chicago.  A fun dinner.

The sun setting over the Indian Ocean in Goa, India

We had drinks in the Observer Lounge with Patricia and Paul and then went to bed about 11.