Photo: iMahesh (CC BY-SA 4.0)
A self-guided audio walking tour of Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India on the Mandovi, taken by Afonso de Albuquerque in November 1510 and emptied by cholera, malaria and the decline of trade until the capital moved to Panjim. It starts at the Basilica of Bom Jesus, built between 1594 and 1605 to hold the relics of St Francis Xavier, and crosses to the Se Cathedral, begun in 1562, with the site of the Inquisition's palace to its south, the archbishop's palace, the Church of St Francis of Assisi and its museum, and the Chapel of St Catherine where the Portuguese broke into the city. Down by the river come the gate of Adil Shah's palace, the domed Church of St Cajetan and the Viceroy's Arch; then up Holy Hill to St John of God, the Convent of St Monica with its Museum of Christian Art, Our Lady of the Rosary and the lone tower and ruins of St Augustine. The walk ends east of the centre at the pillory, the Carmelite ruins, the Chapel of St Francis Xavier and the 1542 gate of St Paul's College. Cruise ships come in at Mormugao, about forty-five minutes away by road.
19 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 28 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 9 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
Basilica of Bom Jesus, Se Cathedral, Archiepiscopal Palace, Church of St Francis of Assisi, Archaeological Museum, Chapel of St Catherine.
Gate of the Palace of Adil Shah, Church of St Cajetan, Viceroy's Arch, Church of St John of God, Convent of St Monica and the Museum of Christian Art, Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Chapel of St Anthony, Tower of the Church of St Augustine, Ruins of the Church of St Augustine.
The Pillory, Church of the Carmelites, Chapel of St Francis Xavier, Gate of St Paul's College.
The Jesuit church of 1594 to 1605, its laterite bared in the 1950s, which holds the silver casket of St Francis Xavier.
The cathedral begun in 1562 and dedicated to St Catherine, left lopsided when one of its two towers collapsed in 1776.
Built where Albuquerque's forces entered the city wall in 1510, with a stone plaque on its east wall recording the capture.
The river gate honouring Vasco da Gama, whose city side shows a crowned woman with a sword above a fallen Indian figure.
The one tower left standing of four on the Augustinian church of Our Lady of Grace, once the belfry, its bell now in Panaji.
A basalt pillar with iron rings where offenders were tied and publicly whipped, its shape suggesting it came from a temple.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 19 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration. 19 narration points.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every narrated point in Old Goa — the Churches and Convents of Velha Goa, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
19 narration points, including Basilica of Bom Jesus, Se Cathedral, Church of St Francis of Assisi, Church of Our Lady of the Rosary and Archiepiscopal Palace. That is about 26 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.
Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~1–2 hours total, but you walk at your own pace. 19 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.