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Goa sightseeing
Ancestral Goa  
Located at Laoulim, 10-km from Margao, ancestral Goa is a mock up village dating Back a century. Built in a verdant hillside, a guided trek takes one down the Goan memory lane. Amidst a variety of rare wild flowers and mushrooms, a variety of exquisite insects and mushrooms and birds are also sighted. A species of frog, now almost extinct, which was once a Goan delicacy, might also hop out along the trail.

 

Municipal Garden / Church Square

The leafy rectangular park opposite the Indian Government Tourist Office, known as Church Square or the municipal garden, forms the heart of Panjim. Presiding over its east side is the town's most distinctive and photogenic landmark, the toothpaste white baroque façade of the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. Flanked by rows of slender palm trees, at the head of a criss-crossing laterite walkway, the church was built in 1541 for the benefit of sailors arriving here from Lisbon. The weary mariners would stagger up from the quay to give thanks for their safe passage before proceeding to the capital at Old Goa - the original home of the enormous bell that hangs from its central gable.

Fountainhas
Panjim's oldest and most interesting district, Fontainhas, lies immediately west of Pato, overlooking the banks of the oily green Ourem Creek. From the footbridge between the bus stand and town centre, a dozen or so blocks of neoclassical houses rise in a tangle o terracotta rooftops up the sides of Altinho Hill. At siesta time, Vespas stand idle on deserted street corners, while women in western clothes exchange pleasantries with their neighbours from open windows and leafy verandahs. Many building have retained their traditional coat of ochre, pale, yellow, green or blue- a legacy of the Portuguese insistence that every Goan building should be colour washed after monsoons.

 

The Secretariat 
The road that runs north from the church brings you out at the riverside near Panjim's oldest surviving building. With its sloping tiled roofs, carved stone coats of arms and wooden verandahs, the stalwart secretariat looks typically colonial. Yet it was originally The Summer Palace of Goa's 16th century Muslim ruler, the 'Adil Shah. Later, the Portuguese converted it into a temporary rest house for the territory's Governors and then a residence for the Viceroy. Today, it accommodates the Goan State Legislature.

 

Statue of Abbe Faria
Hundred metres east from the building is situated a peculiar statue of a man holding his hands over the body of an entranced reclining woman shows Abbe Farin, a Goan priest who emigrated to France to become one of the world's first professional hypnotists.Statue of Abbe Faria said to be the father of hypnotism. 
Idalcao's Palace 
This is the oldest surviving building in Panaji today. Once the castle of Adil Shahs, it was rebuilt by the Portuguese in 1615 and until 1759 it was the Viceregal Palace and then the palace of viceroy's of Goa for a short while from 1759 to 1918.In 1918, the viceroy moved to Cabo Raj Niwas in Dona Paula. It has housed Goa's Secretariat, legislative assembly and other important government offices. 

 

Church of the Immaculate Conception 
It was built in 1541 and rebuilt in 1619 and main place of worship, and it stands above the square in the main part of the town, reaches by the several intersecting flights of stairs. Panaji was the first port of call for voyages from Lisbon, so Portuguese sailors would visit this Church to give thanks for a save crossing before continuing to Old .
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