Travelled with Qatar from Manchester, flight was on time, smooth transfer at Doha and arrived Dabolim 3.30am on 27th January. Our usual driver, Arthur, collected us from the airport and before we knew it we were back home in Angelas Guest House, Candolim. We were initially disappointed to being allocated a studio rather than our usual apartment but it was actually fine and we had a lovely balcony that got the sun all day. We overlooked Shivers restaurant and their beautiful gardens, there is a small piece of land in front, amazing watching the various wildlife coming and going, we also made 'friends' with a small herd of cows and calves that visited everyday. They got to know there was a good food supply and would come and gaze lovingly up at our balcony waiting for the bananas, bread etc we got for them everyday. Sounds a bit daft writing it down but they were such a friendly little herd. Our favourite a little brown and white cow gave birth to a gorgeous little calf whilst we were there, we were like proud parents!!!!
In the main the meals we had were good with the exception of our first morning when we made an early visit to Sunnyside Up, left hand side end of beach road. Poached eggs on 'sweet bread' - not a good mix and coffee so thick you could stand your spoon up in it. Its a nice place though and we were just unlucky I think.
We ate several times at Curry House Sinquerim which is our local restaurant, large varied menu and certainly always seemed to be freshly cooked - thoroughly recommend their garlic chicken tikka, OH had some nice seafood dishes there. Very reasonably priced and the staff are very welcoming. They are overdoing the Rajhastani folk band entertainment though, they seemed to be on almost every night of the week!!!. We usually spent an hour or so late afternoon at the Tiger bar, which is opposite our guest house, just watching the world go by, very pleasant. There is also an internet cafe there so could keep up with news from home and the horrendous weather reports.
We ate at Shivers, lovely setting but the veg could do with cooking longer, they were raw!!!, price for carvery 400Rp or 500 for lamb option. Mango Grove, lovely veggie curry, Chocolatie, excellent breakfast, Friends, nice roast meal, Ruffles excellent as usual - none of these were expensive. We also ate at Tuscany Gardens, which was a pretty average pasta dish and quite expensive. We had a couple of enjoyable evenings at the Carvery quiz on a Friday - it's 9.00pm but you need to get there early to ensure you get a table
Outstanding for us was the Bistro, absolutely superb fillet steak with all the trimmings, thank goodness we didnt eat there until towards the end of our holiday otherwise I doubt I would have got O/H to go anwhere else. We also discovered Bon Appetite as a daytime haunt, what a fabulous little place, we spent some wonderful days there just chilling out.
We enjoyed a couple of visits to Lovely Jubbly shack at Asvem, what a nice group of lads they are there, I'm not a seafood fan but O/H liked being able to pick out his fish from a selection which was then cooked to perfection.
We had a mid week wander around Mapusa market, plenty of bargains to be had and less manic than the usual Friday market. The fruit, veg and spices on offer are amazing.
We didnt have any problems with taxi drivers, beach sellers, beggars, Eastern Europeans, marauding dog packs, cows obviously. The traffic is as mad as ever, but you get used to it. The 'new' pavements could do with a damn good sweep so you could actually use them rather than walking in the road but you just accept it - its India.
Only downside regarding the flight home was the absolutely appalling meals on offer. The breakfast we unfortunately were offered on both legs of the journey was inedible. Definitely not the gourmet experience you are led to believe you get on the worlds 5 star airline.
Sorry its such a boring report but all I can say is that I am rested and relaxed and can't wait to go back - this was our 18th trip to Goa.
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It is far from boring- loads of info for those lucky enough to still have Goa to look forward to 
