GOA

Naval Aviation Museum, Panjim Bridge, Patto Bridge

Naval Aviation Museum

The Naval Aviation Museum is situated at about 2 km from the airport on the Bogmalo beach. It is the only Naval Aviation Museum that exist in Asia and is also one of the only seven naval aviation museums that exist in the world. 

At the Naval Aviation Museum, real aircraft that span the retries history of the naval aviation in India is displayed. The towering Lockheed super constellation used in the 70's for maritime reconnaissance and the amphibian short sea land - one of among the only three surviving in the world, and the first naval aircraft to be acquired by India stands next to the museum. 

Also present at the museum are the Indian navy's first helicopter, the Hughes Hu 296c, the jet- trainer vampire, the anti- submarine Alize, the multirole dove and the fighter sea Hark (an indo-pak war veteran). However the sea harrier jump jet that is in frontline service with the Indian navy currently is the prize exhibit here.

Naval memorabilia is displayed inside the museum building. In the armament room lie Vintage torpedoes, rockets, and depth charges all deployed in previous wars. The archival photography section is adorned with aerial photos taken by Indian bombers that provide a graphic account of the destruction of Chittagong port and decimation of the Pakistani navy along with rare photos of Goa's liberation and those of the Indian naval aviation's finest hour - the liberation of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971.

The museum is open on all days from 10 am to 5 pm except on Mondays.

Panjim Bridge

Panjim which is the main city of Goa is well connected by the parallel bridges. The Panaji bridge also known as the Mandovi bridge connects the Betim village to the Panjim city. 

During the 1980's the Panaji bridge was notorious for its collapses and in order to ferry heavy transport vehicles a new road bridge was constructed. This bridge of Goa is very useful nowdays as earlier the people had to travel to Panjim via the ferry that shuttles between Panjim's old steamer jetty and the Betim settlement. 

Even though the magnificient Mandovi bridge now looks sturdy many people still travel by the ferry service available every 15 mins from Betim to Panjim and vice versa across the Mandovi river.

Called Panjim by the Portuguese, Panaji, which means "the land that does not flood" is the state capital of Goa. The Panaji city of Goa has typical Portuguese Baroque style buildings and old Villas. 

All Government Buildings are along the River side especially the Palace of Adilshah, the Sultan of Bijapur of the 16th Centaury. In 1843 the Portuguese made the Palace the seat of the Governor General of Goa. After Liberation it became the Secretariat building, and now to be made a museum. 

Patto Bridge

The Patto bridge a historic monument built by the Portuguese is a small bridge in Panjim the capital city of Goa. The bridge is the extension of the causeway known as Ponte de Linhares that is about 3.2 kms long and is considered to be one of the longest bridge in South Asia. Also the oldest causeway of its kind it links Panaji with the Ribandar village.

It is known that the Portuguese Viceroy Conde de Linhares Dom Miguel de Noronha who controlled the three talukas of Goa - Tiswadi, Bardez and Salcete from the capital city Velha Goa or Ela (today known as Old Goa) linked Panjim to Ribandar for light traffic coming from Old Goa. It was thus named after him. 

After liberation of Goa the Panjim side of the Ponte de Linhares bridge was known as the Patto Bridge. The bridge a fine piece of architecture with Roman style arches is built of laterite stone and the area around the bridge is known as Patto.