Summer breaks

At the end of April, keen on travelling somewhere with Soulkadi, we returned to Mrugaya in Amboli where we had gone a few years ago (link to that post here). We stayed there for a weekend, along with two other close-friend couples. Since the place had exactly three bedrooms, we had it all to ourselves. (There was a separate cottage under construction when we were there, and social media posts have indicated that that is also functional now.)

Then, in end-May, with Lily – whom the smooth flow of our daily lives depends upon – on leave,we decided to take a series of short breaks in places around Goa. In the process, we discovered a number of excellent pet-friendly options close to home.

Two of these – a ‘jungle cottage’ in Revora, near Colvale, and a ‘lake house’ overlooking the Carambolim Lake – were through AirBnB, while the Living Room chalets in Morjim were a more standard resort option. Luckily for us, each place turned out to be wonderful in its own way, and we had relaxed, re-invigorating sojourns.

This is a pictorial chronicle of all these short stays (click on photo collages to see them bigger).

The Mrugaya resort in Amboli

A short drive away from the Mrugaya property, we came across this reservoir of a dam, and spent some part of an evening there.

These are advertised on AirBnB as ‘jungle cottages’ in Revora; what the page doesn’t reveal (and neither do these photos) is that habitation, including the host’s house is right next door. Still, it was a pleasant, quiet place to stay.

Cats at our host Mearl Aunty’s house

The area around Revora-Nadora-Colvale is not somewhere we have explored much, so there was that to do. The Chapora river is a ubiquitous presence.

This ‘blue bridge’ that connects the village of Nadora to the island of Juem is evidently quite the Instagram hotspot.

As with most villages in Goa, the place is dotted with wonderful little places to eat, and eat we did.

The Living Room chalets in Morjim were a more fancy place to stay, and we wallowed in the luxury of doing so.

The resort is right on the beach, where we met a very friendly dog, who even tried to make advances on Soulkadi, who was having none of it.

The boys got up to some energetic Frisbeeing.

But order was soon restored.

Our next port of call was this one-room AirBnB right on the lake in Carambolim (Karmali). The deck overlooking the water was a great place to sit and read, doze off, or watch the birds.

A young Brahminy kite, who seemed quite comfortable around people, cam visiting.

Anjali decided to try out the night photo feature of her phone, and – in conjunction with lights under the deck that cycled through the colours of the spectrum, which reflected on the water – it produced psychedelic results.