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Margao attractions
Margao attractions
Some landmarks in Margao include (around Abade Faria Road and Padre Miranda Road) include Presentation Convent (Holy Spirit Church area) and Fatima Convent (near the municipal square) are two of Margao's oldest unisex high schools started and being run by Catholic religious congregations, for girls.
Clergy Home along arterial Padre (Pe.) Miranda Road, near today's district hospital -- Hospicio, an unique edifice in its own right, founded by Rev. Antonio Joao de Miranda a humble Catholic clergyman, after whom the thoroughfare outside is named -- was among the first shelters for retiring priests built by the Goa Archdiocese. Seen today is the recently reconstructed version.
Clube Harmonia was called the Clube de Margao (subsequently renamed as Teatro de Harmonia) operating from a house at the Borda locality. The idea of a modern building for the Teatro de Harmonia was mooted by its members in 1936. The present structure was built 1955. Together with Bernado Peres da Silva (BPS) Club, Clube ABC and Margao Cricket Club, Harmonia is today a leading socio club of the town.
Hindu Mathagramasth Sabha: As the 'mathagram' in the name suggests, it's a Brahmin institution. Has rendered yeoman's service in education, irrespective of creed or caste, to Margaoites. Runs the Damodar Arts & Science Higher Secondary School (not to be mixed up with Damodar College, that's run by Vidhya Vikas Mandal, a different ball game), one of the best higher secondary schools in Goa, if one goes by Std. XII science board exam results.
Agha Khan's Children's Park: Few would be aware that the northern half of the Margao municipal garden was actually developed by a businessman, Abdul Javerbhai Mavany, hailing from Margao's minuscule Agakhani community. He did that after two young sons were lost to cancer and High Highness, The Agha Khan, was visiting Goa. The park was inaugurated by Goa's last Portuguese Governor General, Vassalo e Silva, in 1959.
Margao is home to the popular deity of Damodar, as reflected in names of local educational and other institutions.
It has four diocesan of churches, Holy Spirit in the central area, Our Lady of Grace adjoining the municipal square, St. Sebastian at Aquem and Rosary near the football stadium at Fatorda. The Holy Spirit, while entering the city from the Panjim side, is Salcete taluka's second-oldest (after the one first built within the Rachol Fort) built 1564-65, its present (fourth edition) edifice, re-built in 1645, being more grand.
The town has four chapels with near-Parish size following at Mungul, Ambajim, Borda and the picturesque 'Monte' hillock, all with resident Chaplains and regular daily services. In addition, there is a major church of the Carmelite order at Malbhat, besides half a dozen chapels of various religious orders from Jesuits to Salesians. A walk around this church-square reveals some grand homes, and great photo-opportunities. Check the scenic chapel on the nearby Monte Hill.
Check the scenic chapel on the nearby Monte Hill.
Gomant Vidhya Niketan: After Portugal became a republic in 1910, Margao based Hindus used the end of religious discrimination and their new found freedom to establish this noble institution on on March 19, 1912. It was then known as Saraswat Brahman Samaj (renamed to the present in Nov-1962) and ran a public library at the southern end of Abade Faria road. The present building housing the library in the rear of the ground floor and an auditorium upstairs -- venue of most of Konkani and Marathi stage shows to this date -- was built 1965. The society also runs a physio-therapy centre from rented premises further down the road.
A modern stage centre, Ravindra Bhavan, recently completed and situated near Fatorda's Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru football stadium, promises to be South Goa's major centre for the performing art
Among the town's spots one could check out: the early 20th century municipal building (Câmara) and the municipal garden lying in front of it, the muncipal garden, the recently-beautified Anna Fonte (natural springs), the Old Market or Mercado Velho, the Hindu crematorium ('smashant bhoomi'), the Catholic cemetery and the Muslim burial ground ('kabrasthan') all on Pajifond's Rua das Saudades.
Margao also hosts Goa's largest Nehru sports stadium, where one can run into popular off-monsoon evening football matches, and even the occasional international cricket Test match.
Konkan Railway is working on a Skybus (elevated rail system) which can be seen in Margao, amidst challenges on the fronts of costs and technology. Konkan Railway claims its Skybus, which technology it has patented, will follow the existing roads without taking "road space and be as flexible as a bus". It will have rail-based mass transit capacity, not divide the city, be derailment and collision-proof, free from vandalism, noise-free and pollution-free, and non-invasive (requiring the "least amount of scarce land space and not come in the way of development").
Margao's name is believed to come from "matha-grama" (the village of religious maths) as it was a village of temple schools (mathas) -- including the principal Vaishnavi 'math', Jeevottam, before it was shifted to Partagal in Canacona half a millennium ago. Margao's main Matha, Jeevottam, was shifted to Ordhofond, Partagal in Canacona in 1475, as political battles took on religious tones in those medieval days. Margao was also a temple town, with as many as 13 temples in 1544 when the population was around just five thousand, according to writer and former Margao municipality chief S Valmiki Faleiro.
Margao's Holy Spirit church square is also known for its baroque architectured church. It also is lined by palatial mansions around it. Structures in this area are low-rise, adding to the stately nature of the locality, with a maximum of two structures. Many have balconies (the balcao or balcoes) and varandas facing the square.
Running parallel to the Church Square is the Old Market's commercial street. Next to the church is a landscaped area called the Praca da Alegria (Square of Happiness).
Another landmark in Margao is the commercial-shopping area around the municipal garden and the old bus stand. Part of the garden was developed by the Mavany business family, and dedicated to the Aga Khan, during a visit of his to colonial Goa. Swami Vivekananda is also known to have stayed in the home of another business family, the influential Narcinva D. Naik residence, during a visit to Goa way back in 1892. The mansion also houses Margao's well-known temple-hall Damodar Sal.
In Aquem Alto, Arlem was Goa's first brewery started by the Chowgules at a locality of the same name (Arlem), on the outskirts of Margao. Incidentally, Goa's second brewery was the Mallya's, at Bethora-Ponda. Former politician Monte Cruz must have been the last to join the club with his brand of Kings.
Goa Bottling, better known locally as "Gold Spot" after the popular aerated softie it bottled in the yesteryears, was a latecomer to Goa. It straddles the corner junction of Margao-Ponda NH-4A and Margao's Eastern Bypass road. Among Goa's very first aerated soft drink bottlers was a seaman from Velim, who, immediately in the post-Liberation years, started his Crunet bottling unit at Borda, in Margao. Coke's Goa franchisee, the politically-prominent family of the Sequeiras, later started their unit in Borim. The mining-based Modu Timblo group later started Goa Bottling. It's now owned by Pepsi's Delhi-based principal franchisee in India.
Cupid's Haven is a recent-coinage open air event venue located nearby. It hosts dances and wedding receptions.
Also located nearby is Goa's second plant that makes industrial and medical oxygen gas from thin air, Goving Poy Oxygen. (The first was Gas Carbonico, on Margao's outskirts at Nuvem, a village that was once part of Margao. The company was taken over by Margao Govind Poys, once a smalltime hardware establishment that diversified into multi-purpose gases with factories in Cochin, Nashik and Goa.)
Also part of the city's map are places like the Pandava cave (near the current St. Sebastiao Church at Aquem, Torsannzor -- a healing mineral spring, more famous than Ana Fonte in yesteryears -- among others.
Some of the buildings are still styled in a colonial way, from the Portuguese past. Some places to visit in and around Margao are:
Municipal Building, believed to have been built around 1770.
Indo-Portuguese styled Houses along Margao - Borda Rd
Holy Spirit Church, and the Church Square at Margao. Dating back to the 1564-1675 period.
Monte Hill. From atop this hill one can see the whole of Margao.
Colva Beach, some five kms out of Margao.
Old Market, dating back to the pre-Portuguese era.
District Court (1777) and jail.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Margao
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Margao - updated May 2024
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Margao Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.