Panjim · the signature walk
Fontainhas at First Light
Ninety minutes on foot — start at the Altinho steps at a quarter to seven, come down into the Latin Quarter as the sun reaches the facades, and finish at the church stairs.
The route at a glance
- 01Up the tiled stairway from Fontainhas to Altinho
- 02Down by the other stairway to the Mahalaxmi temple as its bells go
- 0331st January Road
- 04The Chapel of St Sebastian, 1818
- 05Along the lanes to São Tomé and the old post office square
- 06Finish at the foot of 18th June Road looking up the zigzag stairs to the white church
A route diagram, not a survey map — the turns in the order you walk them. Distances between stops in an old city are short; the time goes on looking, not walking.
- 1
Up the tiled stairway from Fontainhas to Altinho: the Patriarchal Palace gate, the radio station, the roofs below catching light
- 2
Down by the other stairway to the Mahalaxmi temple as its bells go; shoes off if you enter
- 3
31st January Road: ochre, blue and green facades repainted after the monsoon, the poder on his bicycle with the bread
- 4
The Chapel of St Sebastian, 1818 — the open-eyed crucifix inside, no flash, quiet if Mass is on
- 5
Along the lanes to São Tomé and the old post office square; the Fundação Oriente's gallery
- 6
Finish at the foot of 18th June Road looking up the zigzag stairs to the white church, the sun now on its face
Before you set off
Save this page for offline reading, or carry the Panjim City Edition, which prints the same route. Old-city lanes are uneven and often stepped; where a stop is up a stair or a ramp we say so in the step itself. If a turn looks wrong, it probably is — walk back to the last numbered stop rather than improvising.