A day out with my family to the Spice Plantation Goa

We rented a Thar for a sunday and started our trip towards the Spice plantation located in Ponda. It took us an hour to reach our planned destination. We reached at around 12 noon. As soon as we reached we were greeted with the long and green trees with cool air and shade. Once we entered the spice plantation campus, a guide who was with us for our entire trip took care of us from saying welcome to visit us again soon. We were again greeted traditionally with a garland of flowers, a tika on our forehead and a glass of cold kokum juice or a glass of lemon tea as per our chioce.

Our itinerary at the Spice Plantation Goa

We were guided by first showing us all the different raw spices planted in goa as per their seasons. Each and every spice was explained to us right from their seed to their uses and benefits. We were all given a live demonstration of the spices and even flowers and trees as we walked through the plantations. In brief the various spices which you can yourself see growing are Vanilla, Black pepper, Chillies, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Coriander, Nutmeg at the Spice Plantation.

You will also be introduced to famous All Spices plant, which has aroma and taste of five spices. Around Spice Plantation you will see Goa’s traditional Plantation, Tropical trees like Cashew, Areca nut (Betel nut) palm trees and Tropical Fruit like Star fruit, Jack Fruit, Custard Apple, Bananas, Papayas, Pineapple. You can also see at least four different Citrus Fruits, the Spice Plantation also has a few Coffee Plants, which is a rare sight in Goa. We also were lucky to spot at the spice plantation watching a Kingfisher dive for his catch. And also monkeys jumping from one tree to another. The spice plantation really refreshed our senses and made us feel a part of nature. We also spotted some birds like Cuckoos, Koel, Cousals, Owls, Maina, Hornbills, etc.

After our guided tour we were served a sumptous Goan lunch in an open air restaurant. Food was served in a traditional manner on a Banana leaf. For a apetizer after a long walk we were served Goa’s world famous Kaju Feni or Urraq (A lighter version of Feni). The buffet had a choice of Rice, Pulav Traditional Fish Curry, Vegetable Curry, Fried Fish, Fried Potatoes, Chicken Xacuti, Veg Kurma, Papad and Lime Pickle, fresh fruits along with traditional Goan dessert. Mouth watering right ?? 🙂 . The spice plantation lunch was like a feast.

Wow..that ended our trip and we drove home safely with a exiting and funfilled day well spent !!

JF