Goa: Beaches and Old Goa

The Portuguese captured Goa in 1510, and the city now called Old Goa became the capital of their Asian empire. Religious orders arriving from Europe built chapels, churches, convents and cathedrals, blending Manueline, Mannerist and Baroque forms with local laterite stone and craftsmanship. UNESCO describes the resulting Churches and Convents of Goa, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986, as an ensemble that spread these styles across Asia where Catholic missions operated.

The Basilica of Bom Jesus, consecrated in 1605, contains the tomb of St Francis Xavier, the missionary known as the apostle of the Indies; the tomb was commissioned in 1665 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany and made in Florence. The Se Cathedral, dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria, and the Church of St Cajetan, modelled on St Peter's in Rome, stand nearby. The old city later declined and the capital eventually moved to Panaji. Portuguese rule lasted about 450 years, ending in 1961, and its legacy lives on in Goan architecture, music, festivals and cuisine.

Goa has a strong Catholic heritage alongside Hindu and Muslim communities, and village life revolves around church and temple feasts, markets and fishing. The Feast of St Francis Xavier on 3 December draws large numbers of pilgrims to Old Goa, and the relics are brought down for public veneration roughly once a decade, most recently from November 2024. Carnival before Lent and the spring Shigmo festival bring parades and music. Goan food mixes Konkani and Portuguese influences, from fish curry and rice to xacuti, cafreal and bebinca.