EPTPanjim is a really nice little city (I especially liked the "little" part). You can see the portugese influence in the building all over the city and you also realize immediatley that Goa is a prosperous state compared to the rest of India.
The second day there we went to Old Goa which was once a huge city and said to be more beautiful than Lissabon (also larger). There about 6 different churches there which could really stand in Portugal or anywhere in southern Europe.
Though there is not much more to do than this in Panjim and we saw it as a stop to get to Hampi anyway.
Hampi is really so far the place which I would recommend anyone to go to before you die. Yet please don't! Since up to now it is really a nice little village which is packed with small hotels, yet it is still really small. There is a huge number of small and little ruins spread all over the place. Those ruins are the rests of a huge Hindu-Kingdom which was later destroyed by a number of sultans which stuck together. It is somehow a really outer-world place, also due to the beautiful landscape in which you find it.
You can wander or cycle around there for hours and you will be amazed at every second corner.
I fear though that it will become more touristic, meaning more non-backpackers will go there and the whole chilled and calm spirit will be destroyed.
(I know pics and stuff, but uploading is forbidden here, but i have loads and upload them in my final summary at home end of august beginning of september)
We stayed in Hampi for 5 days and went back to Goa.
here we searched the beaches and found only closed down hotels and stuff in the north due to monsoon.
Finally we stranded in package-tourism-hell in Calangute beach where we fled today and went further south to Palolem beach, which is more like you imagine Goa. A place with a decent number of backpackers and a really beautiful beach with a small number of restaurants and bars at the beachside (good that the Indian government bulldozed almost everything here 2 or 3 years ago).
We haven't met mister monsoon since Mumbai so staing here for a while is really a possibility for me 9meaning more than 4 days).
Next stop will be Cochin in Kerala, depending on how much time I chill here just to get the train back to Delhi or to go on to Varkala.
