Friday, July 13, 2012

Down by the riverside...

After missing the GEARs ride last Sunday because of work, I was determined for a nice Sunday cruising. After pestering The Wife, she agreed for the ride. The destination was St Jacinto's Island and then the Old Ferry Road on the other side of the river bank.



View St Jacinto's Island Trip in a larger map

Since we started off from Panjim around lunch time, our ride actually began with the lunch break. We stopped at Bonny's Bar & Restaurant for lunch which came in the form of prawns fry and a fish curry plate



Mushrooms outside Bonny's. These were not on the menu



Stuffed, it was time to hit the road. The Road from Bonny's to St Jacinto's Island (is the same road that goes on the Vasco) is wide and smooth... but not without its obstacles...



Yup, cows...
There's major ship yards and ship building yards along this road. An interesting sight was a 'slice' of a ship.


Yummy ship slices


And then you finally spot St Jacinto's Island. Its most prominent and visible landmarks are the bridge and the church.

Ok, I cheated, this is the view from the Vasco side of the road

A quick hop over the bridge and you are greeted to a magnificient view of the Zuari river. The dull, overcast conditions don't help, but we'll probably drop by this place again to check it out against bright blue skies and white clouds, instead of the all grey look the sky was sporting that day.

The Zuari Bridge in the distance

The St Jacinto's Island Church
The Church was closed, but before we could look for an alternate way in, we spotted a pup. I had some biscuits in the backpack so The Wife gave the pup some. Suddenly two more pups and a mum appeared and wanted the biscuits. All the biscuits were over before they were satisfied. They hung around a while before vanishing into the surroundings...



Snapped a couple of photos before heading out...

The bridge across the Zuari leading to the Island (Shot from the Island side)

The Church as it appears from the 'Panjim' side of the road.

Next, it was time to cross the Zuari and a ride down the Old Ferry Road, which had its own interesting sights...


Zuari Bridge from the other side

The church in the distance

Twosomes and Threesomes

The mysterious abandoned room

Fluffy dog

Puppies! You just have to shoot them :-)

And some more 'puppies at play'


So we rode back and were greeted by this strange sight.

Spot the odd one out

Here, the drinks are not on me...

Notice the yellow beer can hanging next to the cross?


Thankfully, there were no rains so we didn't hesitate to take the camera out. In fact, it got downright hot at some points, but thanks to the monsoon weather, a ride in the afternoon is actually possible. We stopped off at the CCD near GMC for a break before making our way to Panjim.