Now you wouldn’t expect to feel like you’re in South Italy when you go to Goa. Portugal, yes, maybe. But this place had me feeling like I wasn’t where I was at all!

I’m a sucker for history and naturally, I love all broken down monuments and forts and such. This detour wasn’t even on the agenda, but I was driving around Reis Magos one afternoon just to soak in the beautiful Portuguese architecture in this area, and before I could get to it, I drove past this mother of a fort on a steep hill right along the Mandovi. I had never before even heard of this place or known that it existed. But I had to go in.

This fort has so much interesting history behind it, and I had the guard take me around and tell me all of it. Apparently, this fort, after having served as…