Anjuna, Goa, India

Anjuna, famous for it’s full moon parties in the 70s, is Goa's nightlife spot number one. The beach really is not that special. In fact, I did not like it at all.
 

Anjuna beach

What I liked about Anjuna was the fact that there was at least some nightlife going on, opposed to all the other places I've visited in South India. For me, it was a nice change at that time to go out for the first time in weeks. It wasn't a very big or very special party, just a bar that also had a dancefloor. (called Curly's ) Since I was there during the off-season, the party wasn't very big or very special. But I heared (try typing in “Curly's Anjuna” into Youtube) that during high-season the parties should be pretty big.

I looked very much forward to the weekly Anjuna flea market taking place every Wednesday, but upon arrival we were told that this event only takes place during high-season.

Accomodation:

In Anjuna, we stayed at two different accommodations. First at Villa Anjuna, one of the only hotels in Anjuna, which was ok but nothing to write home about. After 2 or 3 nights, we moved on to a private accommodation which is located in the backyard of a very big house next to “Chill Out”, just ring the bell and ask for their bungalows. Very good quality and reasonably priced with flatscreen TV, small kitchen area and a small terrace.

How can you reach it?

Anjuna can be reached by local transport via Mapusa when coming from the South.

Next to Anjuna are the two beaches Vagator and little Vagator, which are similar to Anjuna but without the infrastructure that makes Anjuna attractive (to me). It all depends what you are looking for really but I myself did not really like Vagator or little Vagator.

Standing right between Vagator beach and Little Vagator Beach, looking into the direction of Little Vagator
 

Little Vagator beach, you can't see it but it really is "little"

I always see people visited the posts I made but nobody ever leaves comments. I would love if you could leave a comment telling me if you like the topics I write about or if there are other topics you would be more interested in, in terms of travelling.

Palolem and Patnem, Goa, India

Let's get on with the remaining beaches of India I wanted to give you a brief overview of.
Today's topic: Palolem and Patnem.



cows at Patnem beach

These two stunning strips of sand are located directly next to each other and are just separated from each other by a formation of stones.

Palolem is a small beach town, consistent of about 2 to 3 streets. It has a variety of good restaurants and some decent accommodation possibilities.

Patnem is by far my favorite beach of all the Indian beaches I’ve seen. When I was there, during September, it was very quiet and very few people there. Though I guess this might change during high season.

Patnem

 

These two beaches are located at the Southern tip of Goa and can be reached by local transport as well as by taxi from the major Goan train stations.

What is so special about Palolem and Patnem:

Nothing really, those are just two excellent beaches with some nice beach town infrastructure provided in Palolem. I can really recommend the restaurant “Cheeky Chapatti” which serves excellent quality food. There also can be found some decent accommodation, but don’t expect anything too fancy.

Nightlife: As Goa is famous for it’s excessive parties, you might wonder about the nightlife going on in Palolem. Since I was there in low-season, there wasn’t going on anything except for one bar which was open all night. I can imagine this to change in the busy season.

I stayed at Oversee’s Travel which had quiet a good standard for a reasonable price. It is located next to Cheeky Chapatti. For a good breakfast, check out Casa Fiesta which is a bit cheaper than Cheeky Chapatti and right next door.

Palolem beach

How can you reach it?

Since Goa is the smallest of all Indian states, you can reach almost any part in 2,5 hours or less by taxi. Palolem is about 1 hour by taxi from Madgoa, one of the major train stations. You can also travel by local bus service, which takes a bit longer and is a bit less convenient but a lot cheaper.

The sea at Patnem beach

My recommendation:

If you ask me, Patnem was the most beautiful beach of all the beaches I have seen in India. Paired with the nice beach town of Palolem, it makes a great getaway to relax a few days from a tiresome journey or just enjoy the nice surf.

London

Big Ben

On my way back from Lincoln last week, I had the chance to spent two days in London.

What can I say really, London is a great city. I did not do any sightseeing this time, as I have spent several weeks in London before but it is as MUST for every traveler. It is such a vibrant, modern city and the Londoners are sights themselves. Not at last is it one of the major fashion capitals of the world. It has more to offer than would fit this post, so I will just share with you a few pictures I took while being there.

 

Westminster Abbey

By the way, I spent Monday to Friday of this week in Barcelona so stay tuned for one or two posts about this lovely Spanish metropole. 



My Apologies,

I have to postpone the series about the beaches of South India for a bit because I spontaneously traveled to England this week and forgot to take the pictures with me, of the different beaches and beach towns.

But I can offer some footage from England and Spain instead, which I will try to get up while still in England and close after I got back from Spain.

Until then, how about this beautiful beach, which is not actually a beach but a lake near from where I live.  Germany is actually quiet nice in summer… it’s the winters I dread. 

Cherai Beach - Kerala

This very long (10km) beach is located about 25km from Cochin (Kochi) on Vypin Island.

The biggest advantage, if you ask me, is it's proximity to the beautiful old colonial town of Fort Cochi, an absolute MUST SEE when visiting Kerala.

How can you reach Cherai Beach?

Take a ferry to Vypin Island, then a rickshaw to Cherai Beach. Ferrys to Vypin depart from Ernakulum and Fort Cochi. Getting from the port of Vypin to the beach takes about 40 minutes.

Honestly...

there is not that much to say about this beach. It is a fairly clean for Indian standards, you can swim, it is a nice beach. There are not (palm) trees directly on the beach, so do not forget to bring sun screen and a hat to protect yourself from the sun.

Some parts of the beach are kind of lonely, with just very few people, wheras some parts are really crowded. The crowded part is especially near the restaurants and little food stalls. Especially during festivals like Onam this is a popular place for Indian tourists. The later it gets, the more crowded. Although the beach is so long, I there were very few hotels and restaurants there. I immagine this place to get absoulutly quiet at night, don't expect any nightlife!!!

My recommendation: I recommend to stay in the beautiful colonial city of Fort Cochin (Fort Kochi) and make a day trip to Cherai beach. Fort Cochin offers all kinds of accomodation, ranging from cheap hostels to 5* hotels. Same with restaurants: some of the most fancy restaurants of Kerala are situated in Fort Chochin.

Andreas Altmann: Reise durch einen einsamen Kontinent

Let me share with you another book I can recommend! This is a real love-hate-relationship, because I really honestly love some parts of this book and I do absolutly not agree with some other parts.

First of all I'm sad I have to say that this book, until now at least, has not been translated into any other languages and therefore is just available in German. But since a fair share of my readers are German, I thought I'd post it anyway.

What I liked about the book:

It is very inspirational, easy to read and contains some interesting stories and information about Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Chile.

What I did not like:

I would have wished for a more poetic, even sophisticated language at times. Some topics or places, that in my opinion are very interesting, have been held a bit shortly. Visiting a city of 9 Million in 3 days - possible but I bet you won't be able to see everything.

Conclusion:

This is a book for all kinds of people. It is written in a rather simple language, don't expect it to enrich your life like books from some Nobel Prize winners do. It will certainly entertain you and it is definetly not boring at all!

My home town: Frankfurt am Main, Germany

I always blog about places far away from home, so today I want to share with you a picture of my home town: Frankfurt am Main/ Germany. Yesterday evening we took a boat ride along the river and I took this picture. You can see a small part of the skyline on the right.

Frankfurt is a rather small (690.000 inhabitants) but popular city. It is known world-wide because it has hosted the largest location of the German Stock Exchange for many, many years. Frankfurt International Airport is also one of the largest airports of the world, and third-largest in Europe. A lot of people just have been to the airport but did not take time to visit the city, although there are some quiet beautiful places (primarily located on the river Main).

I'm thinking about doing an extra blogpost dedicated to my home town, to provide you with some more useful information. Anyone interested in that?