🛕 Trip to Goa? Don’t miss the gorgeous temples

Goa is usually associated with magnificent beach holidays or trance parties - an image popularised by American hippies who drove in flocks to India during the 1960s.

And, thanks to Bollywood, Goa also conjures images of churches and wine-guzzling, guitar-strumming anglophiles making merry.

But what most people don’t know is that Goa is dotted with magnificent Hindu temples, some very ancient, with intricate sculptures and carvings dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries.

In fact, what is also not known to most people outside Goa is that it is a Hindu-majority state (more than 70 per cent population) and that Goa’s original name was the Sanskrit Gomantak, or “Land of the gods”.

Notwithstanding a violent past, the temples of Goa today are magnificent structures showcasing an amalgam of Indian temple, Mughal and Portuguese architectural styles and are a must-visit.

Here’s a whistle stop tour of the most famous temples: