These Old Portuguese districts, located west of the Ourem River , are Panaji's most interesting areas. The narrow cobbled streets, tiled buildings, shuttered windows and tiny overhanging balconies offer an atmosphere more reminiscent of the Mediterranean than of India . Local men sip feni in tiny bars. Some of best guesthouses of Panaji are in this quarter.
At siesta time, Vespa's stand idle on deserted street corners, while women in western clothes exchange pleasantries with their neighbors from open windows and leafy verandahs.
Many building have retained their traditional coat of ochre, pale, yellow, green or blue- a legacy of the Portuguese insistence that every Goan building should be colour washed after monsoons
The Chapel of St Sebastian stands at the end of a picturesque street in Fontainhas. It dates only from the 1880s and has a number of interesting features; a striking crucifix that originally stood in the Palace of the Inquisition in Old Goa is one such interesting piece .
