Anjuna,
18 kms from Panaji is a popular beach area adjacent to Chapora fort- it was the
haunt of the flower generation in the sixties - and is still popular with the
younger generation.
In Anjuna there is magnificent Albuquerque mansion
built in 1920, flanked by octagonal towers and attractive Mangalore tiled-roof.
The Anjuna band plays for the beach party at night. Palm trees stand
motionless in the warm air. To the east is a mountain. If you want to return to
civilization, climb the mountain to get to Baga where you can catch a ferry out.
This is the Goa Freak capital of the World. Anjuna becomes a fair of
colors. Lines of vehicles full of tourists start virtually raising clouds of dust
in this area.
Anjuna attracts a weird and wonderful collection of over
monks, defiant ex-hippies, gentle lunatics, artists, artisans, seers, searchers,
sybarites and itinerant expatriates who normally wouldn't be seen out of the organic
confines of their health-food emporia in San Francisco or London.
Full
moon, when the infamous parties take place, is a particularly good time to be
here if you want to indulge in bacchanalian delights.
Only a Brit would
think about raving about the main beach, but it's worth the walk to the small,
protected sliver of sand at South Anjuna where the area's long-term house-renters
tend to gather.