Konkan is a thin strip of land, about 50 kms at its widest between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats or the Sahyadri

Tour Guide of Goa and Karnataka

Konkan is a thin strip of land, about 50 kms at its widest between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats or the Sahyadri mountain ranges. This belt has had strong links with seafarers from the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Due to these links the region has inherited a mix of cultures. Apart from fertile soil, ample natural resources and mineral wealth such as bauxite and silica sand, the region also boasts an annual average rainfall of 3500 mm. Perhaps this natural wealth is what drew Vasco Da Gama to Konkan in 1498, leading to Portuguese colonisation of Goa for four centuries and more. In December 1961 Indian troops marched into Goa and liberated the state. At noon on January 26, 1998 the first train from Bombay passed the soft soil Pernem tunnel. Shortly afterwards the train pulled in at Madgaon, covering a distance of 590 kilometres and creating history. You could now travel from Bombay to Mangalore along the West Coast and reach Kerala on a route that was so far just a dream.

GOA:

Discover Goa with 105 km. of the Konkan Railway line running through it. From Mumbai it takes only 12 hours overnight to Goa, about half the time it takes on a grimy and uncomfortable bus journey. While beaches like Calangute, Vagator and Dona Paula, are the first areas that tourists gravitate to, but Goa has far more to offer to the visitor. Panaji, the capital, only a small fishing village until four centuries ago, is one of the most beautiful in the country, rising on the wooded terraces of the Altinho Hill, and sloping down to the Mandovi river. Here where red-tiled cottages blend with casuarina and coconut palms and Kunbi women in colourful sarees mingle with priests in white robes, the atmosphere everywhere is redolent of the past. Even the Secretariat is a 14^th century palace, Idalcao, built by the Sultan of Bijapur, Adil Shah. As for the Central Jail, across the Mandovi, it is really the 17^th century Aguada Fort!

On the outskirts of Panaji is the ghost city of Old Goa, with its majestic churches; among them are the Bom Jesus Basilica, with the embalmed body of St. Francis Xavier, Se Cathedral, with the biggest bell in the world, the Chapel of St. Catherine, constructed in 1510 on the very spot where Alfonse Albuquerque defeated Adil Shah.

There are temples too, including the one at Pernem, which has a spring with medicinal properties and the 12th century Mahadeva temple at Surla. There is the 800-year-old Kalikadevi temple at Kansarpal, 14 kms away from Mapusa and the Sri Mahalsa temple at Mordal too, popular with people of all faiths because the deity Gomantaka is believed to fulfill the wishes of all her devotees. Visit the Shanta Durga Temple at Kavalem with its impressive idol of Goddess Durga, flanked by Vishnu and Shiva, and the 400-year-old Sri Mangesh Temple at Priol with its lofty stambha (lamp tower), a feature unique to Goan temples.

KARNATAKA :

With Konkan Railway running through 273 kms of coastal Karnataka, a whole host of destinations have opened up to tourists. Mangalore, the palm-fringed port that forms the end of the Konkan Railway line, is located near the backwaters formed by the coverging Netravathi and Gurupur rivers. Eleven kms away is the Ullal beach with a picturesque seaside village situated at the mouth of the two rivers entering the sea. From Mangalore you can visit 1the Sultan Battery, a remnant of Tipu Sultan's fort, which once guarded his naval station here. You can take excursions to Dharamsthala, noted for the Manjunatha temple, Ghati Subrahmanya, a popular pilgrim centre, Karkal, famous for its 13-metre high monolithic statue of Lord Gomoteswara, or you can laze around at the beach resorts of Maravanthe and Malpe.

If religion is what interests you, Udupi, where Konkan Railway has a station, is a well-known spot for pilgrims, one of south India's holiest Vaishnavite centres. The Hindu saint Madhav (1238-1317) was born here and the Krishna temple and mutts he founded draw people in lakhs. The largest numbers arrive in late winter when the town hosts a series of spectacular car festivals with gigantic chariots being drawn through the streets. You may also, while in Udupi, take a boat from the nearby fishing village of Malpe beach to St. Mary's Island, where Vasco da Gama placed a cross in the 1400s, prior to his historic landing at Kozhikode in Kerala. An added attraction of a trip to Udupi is the piquant cuisine, now famous both in India and abroad. The masala dosa, the crisp stuffed pancake made of fermented rice flour was first prepared by brahmin hotels in this town.

There are many other places of interest - Mookambika Temple of Goddess Parvati, with its Swayambhu idol near Bijur; Sri Murdeshwar Temple near Kaikini; Kodagu (Coorg), the smallest district in the state, and the most beautiful hill station, with its coffee plantation and orange groves; the Nagarhole game sanctuary 77 km. away; the Kokrebellur and Ranganathittu bird sanctuaries, and of course, Shravanabelagola, a popular Jain pilgrim centre, wedged between the Indragiri and Chandragiri hills. Here, the 1,800 year-old statueof Lord Gomateswara stands 17 metres high, and is one of the tallest and most graceful monolithic statues in the world. Once in every 12 years, on the occasion of Mahamastakabhishekha, this colossus is anointed with milk, curd, ghee and saffron.

Konkan Railway has been specially beneficial to foreign tourists who want to visit karnataka. When they come to India, Mumbai and Delhi are their first destinations. Now with Konkan Railway, the distance between Mangalore and Mumbai has been cut down by a whole 1,127 km., cutting down travel time from 41 hours to a mere fifteen. From Delhi, tourists are saved 784 km, reducing the distance from 3,033 km. to 2,249km.