Calangute Tourist Information

Calangute is a palm-bedecked, sunny haven nestling in a green semi-circle of the villages of Arpora-Nagoa, Saligao and Candolim. The open end in the West has the Arabian azure bathing the beautiful beach known as the "Queen of Beaches." The scenic natural beauty of the peaceful coastal countryside, has turned Calangute in a world destination on the tourist map.

How the name Calangute originated is explained by different people differently. Some say that it comes from Koli-gutti (land of fisherfolk) and that the name must have changed often from Kolyianguttti, Kalangutti, Kolngutt, Kongott to what the Portuguese preferred to call it - Calangute. Of course, there are people who connect it with Kalyangutti (village of art) or Konvallo-ghott (strong pit of the coconut tree) because the village is full of coconut trees.

The wards of the peaceful fishing village are named significantly. Khobravaddo, with Catholics and Hindus almost in equal proportion, must have been the habitat of renders, and got its name from khobrem or copra from which coconut oil is extracted. Sauntavaddo is named after Sawants, Porbavaddo after Porobs, and Naikavaddo after Naiks or officers of the court who lived in Calangute. There are picturesque agors (saltpans) at Agarvaddo, which was known for fights a few years ago. Maddavaddo is full of madd (coconut trees), Dongorpur skirts a bottlegreen hillock and Tivaivaddo laces the beach. In Gauravaddo lived the gaudds and there must have been gauris or milk dairies.

The ward of Unttavaddo get its name from the camels, on which, the people of Carambolim travelled to Calangute during one of the epidemics. They were Prabhus, who after conversion became Lobos. Christianisation advanced into Calangute via Candolim.

The beautiful church we see today in Calangute, wasn't always like that. FX da Costa refers to a document of 1556 in his Anais Franciscanos em Bardez (Nova Goa, 1926), wherein it is mentioned that in the beginning, Calangute, Orda, Solpem and Pilerne belonged to the Candolim parish. Subsequently the palm-thatched chapel, built at Poriat in 1576 to serve as a church, was affiliated to the neighbouring Nagoa parish. The second church was constructed by the Franciscans, funded by the Ganvkars in 1595. It is said that one Vinayak torched the church sometime between 1602 and 1605 because of a property fraud he had perpetrated.

The Church of St Alex, which greets the vast traffic as the CHOGM road reaches the village, came up in 1741, through the efforts of the local Comunidade and the parishioners. Two towers and a magnificent dome grace the facade of the white-washed church. Indoors display the line and beauty of its architectural style and ornate altars. In 1996, the Calangutkars celebrated the fourth centenary of their parish church.

Historical records point out that the early Christians were the local Desai families and their mundcars. The destruction of the temple of Shantadurga at Devichem Bhatt in Poriat being in imminent danger of destruction then, one Desai ran away with the deity's idol. He took the deity, popularly invoked as Shree Shantadurga Kalangutkarin, to Nanora. Nearly 15 temples devoted to deities Santeri and Vetall and others dotted the sandy plain. In the return of the temples awaited by the Hindu community, now one sees the Shri Shantadurga Mandap at Naikavaddo, Toshavar Tastodi Mandap at Unttavaddo, Fonyar temple and Hanuman Shantadurga Babneshwar at Khobravaddo.

Traces of Buddhism too lie embedded in this coastal village. The narrow road snaking past the Bom Viagem convent along the caju covered foothills, leads to the springs at Mottant. The secluded spot is ideal for picnics and bathing. The waters are medicinal but the place being rather inaccessible remains unknown to many as does the fact that a Buddhist hermitage stood here once.

The most ancient institution is the Comunidade of Calangute, which belongs to the group of 19 village communities of Bardez and is composed entirely of non-brahmin vangods. All the nine vangods of Calangute belong to the Chardo class. As the tenth vangod, the vantely, though coming to the village from elsewhere, were given the equal rights in 1585 as in Raia in Salcete. It was a reward for their skill and help to construct and repair the dykes in the villages with khazan (reclaimed) lands. The ganvkars of the sixth vangor were Naiks, who after conversion took surnames like Fialho, Souza, Proenca, Lobo, Pires, Correia and Fernandes.

Christianity ushered in charitable, religious and educationational institutions to ameliorate the lot of the humble populace. The Congregation of St Alex was the first Diocesan Congregation founded by Msgr Herculano Gonsalves (from Cana in Benaulim) in 1935 at the Araddi hillock. It was renamed the Congregation of the Handmaids of Christ and has spread to several villages in Goa. The nuns run the St Alex Orphanage for unwanted and needy children of every caste and creed. To the ignored senior citizens these nuns reach out through their Home for the Aged. The benevolent institution is commonly known as Boa Viagem, because of the chapel built by the seamen of Calangute around 1707. People generally go for fresh flowers, wreaths and boquets.

Realising the need for women's emancipation, Msgr Herculano Gonsalves, who was the local parish priest, established the Little Flower of Jesus School for girls in 1930. Thirty fruitful years later, the school earned recognition by the SSCE Board in 1960. By 1966, they acquired a plot of land at Naikawaddo, where the institution serves the cause of education.

Fr Vital Sales founded the Don Bosco High School near the church at Naikavaddo in 1963. The affairs at the school took a different turn subsequently and some teachers rebelled. This resulted in the establishment of the People's High School in Calangute. It was later named the Mark Memorial High School after the local freedom fighter the late Mark Fernandes. In between, a group of socially enlightened alumni of St Xaviers College in Bombay - Alexyz Fernandes, Valentino Fernandes, Peter D'Souza and others - raised a school for non-formal education. The school was called Happy Learners and was run by aid from Holland. Though it's lying in limbo today, there was a time when the Learners' Society had hosted the first seminar of all India teachers of non-formal education.

Calangute Destination Reviews

Have you visited Calangute or do you leave in Calangute? If so, please share your thoughts and knowledge about Calangute with our community. Tell us about your experience. About these special places that make Calangute a place worth a visit. Tell us about places that shouldn't be visited in Calangute. Place your personal destination review about Calangute and let others benefit from your review.

Place a review about Calangute

Want to know more about Calangute? Want to find out what others experienced in Calangute? Read what others reported about Calangute and benefit from our tourist reviews about Calangute.

Invalid query on hotels