In February 2014 I was fortunate enough to sort a quick two day trip to Goa with my Dad (a pilot). We flew out of Manchester on Wednesday morning and were back at Gatwick by Saturday.

Old Goa was founded by the Bijapur sultanate – a Shia Muslim dynasty that ruled a swathe of India from coast to coast in the southern central region. However, it is for its Portuguese prominence that the town is remembered, as it was made the colony’s most important city upon its capture from the sultanate in 1510.

The first building we visited was the 408 year old Basilica of Bom Jesus (Basilica of Holy Jesus) – a large baroque structure built from granite and basalt. Uniquely in Old Goa, it is unplastered – which sets it apart from all of the other churches, which are white. It was originally plastered, but was stripped of it by “a zealous Portuguese conservationist” in 1950.

We also look round the Church of St Francis of Assisi, Sé Cathedral, the Church of St Catejan, the Our Lady of the Rosary church, the Arch of the Viceroys and the ruins of the Church of St Augustine. All are within walking distance. The latter is the most striking, with an enormous fragment of a tower still standing in what is otherwise an abandoned ruin.