{"product_id":"the-rough-guide-to-goa-rough-guide-travel-guides","title":"The Rough Guide to Goa","description":"INTRODUCTION If any word could be said to encapsulate the essence of Goa, it would have to be the Portuguese sossegarde, meaning \"carefree\". For Goan expatriates, the term conjures up memories of long, lazy evenings on pillared verandas, surrounded by tropical vegetation and the heady scent of cashew and frangipani flowers, with the crash of surf drifting periodically through a curtain of coconut palms. The pace of life in this former colonial enclave, midway down India’s southwest coast, has picked up over the past twenty years, but in spite of the increasing chaos of its capital, beach resorts and market towns, Goa has retained the laid-back feel that has traditionally set it apart from the rest of the country. Its 1.4 million inhabitants are unequivocal about the roots of their distinctiveness; while most of the subcontinent was colonized by the stiff-upper-lipped British, Goa’s European overlords were the dissolute Portuguese, a people far more inclined to enjoy the good things in life than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. Goa was Portugal’s first toehold in Asia, brutally carved out by the explorer Alfonso Albuquerque in 1510, and served as the linchpin for a vast trade empire for over 450 years. However, when the Portuguese colonial mission began to flounder in the seventeenth century, so too did the fortunes of its capital. Cut off","brand":"Thryft Singapore","offers":[{"title":"Like New","offer_id":49578248470809,"sku":"DS498","price":7.9,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Very Good","offer_id":49578248503577,"sku":"DS498","price":5.9,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Good","offer_id":49578248536345,"sku":"DS498","price":4.9,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Well Read","offer_id":49578248569113,"sku":"DS498","price":4.9,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/0598\/4849\/files\/3471701_7c402f81-ff29-4392-826d-0abe28baef54.jpg?v=1725370630","url":"https:\/\/thryft.sbs\/products\/the-rough-guide-to-goa-rough-guide-travel-guides","provider":"Thryft","version":"1.0","type":"link"}