Welcome to Goa, the smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population of India. If one is asked to describe the essence of Goa in one word, then it would have to be the Portuguese word sossegado, meaning laid back in English. Goa was Portugal’s first toe – hold in Asia, and served as the linchpin for a vast trade network for over 450 years. Wherever you travel in Goa on your holiday package to Goa, vestiges of former Portuguese domination are ubiquitous, creating an ambience that is at once exotic and strangely familiar. Goa is little bit of Rio de Janeiro meets Ibiza. But then Goa is a lot of things. This little seaside state, with an identity that’s a seamless blend of Portuguese – Latin influences and Indian tradition was crackling enough to have been one of the Millennium destinations of the world.