The Only Olive - An experience
The Only Olive - A charming, riverside, Portuguese style 3-bedroom colonial villa that gets its name from the olive tree in the garden rumoured to be a hundred years old - like the house itself.
The Only Olive is situated on a hillock with lovely views of the surrounding village. It is set in canvassed gardens filled with an abundance of fruit trees.
The property has been lovingly refurbished by its responsible owners who have ensured that the villa was restored to reflect its former colonial glory to perfection all the while retaining its inherent Portuguese influences - shell windows and a shared well included.
This Portuguese style house with its airy, high-ceiling ed living room has ceiling fans and is tastefully furnished with a combination of old family heirlooms and restored furniture.
The House
The Only Olive is a spacious 3000 sq ft three bedroom colonial villa and is run as a B&B and offers a perfect escape for tourists from the beach crowd.
The master bedroom has an attached bath. The Heritage room and The Olive room which face the garden, have a shared bathroom. The Olive room has a queen size cot and the other two rooms have a king size cot. Extra sleeping arrangement if required are by spare mattresses.
Kitchen facility
Besides the complimentary breakfast if you want to have meals at home you could coordinate with Santhosh or feel free to use the kitchen. There's sufficient cookware and a two burner gas hob. Microwave and refrigerator make your kitchen experience practical and we have an RO for drinking water. However, we do recommend the "sweet" well water above the RO.
Staff
The property owner doesn't reside in Goa.
It's manned by Santhosh who takes care of the guests and the property and he stays with his family on the premises in an independent house.
He gets you the complimentary meal and if given advance notice and currency he would fetch the raw materials for cooking extra meals (150/- per meal per person plus raw materials). He knows a modest array of dishes. Pl note advance notice is required before the markets close by lunch time.
For any house-keeping related queries and functionalities of the villa and premises, Santhosh is the go-to guy.
Cabs/bikes
We provide our cabbie roster and nos for bikes too once a booking is confirmed and you could contact the vendors directly if you need an airport pick up or a vehicle for your mobility around that place. Or pl feel free to take a prepaid from the airport.
The Experience
Guests are encouraged to walk around the picturesque village, go fishing on the river with the village children, help water the garden, visit the neighbors who make and sell the best Goa sausages, visit the local village bar for some locally brewed feni, fire up the BBQ and cook your catch, enjoy a beer or a bottle of wine on the patio and experience life the way its supposed to be. SIMPLY - the real Goan way.
The Facilities
* Comfortable, nature cooled rooms with ceiling fans
* Complimentary breakfast
* Equipped Kitchen
* Clean and modern bathrooms and toilets
* Shared well for an Al fresco bath
* Fishing Rods and basic equipment
* BBQ
* Gardening equipment (we encourage people to help out with watering, weeding and planting)
* Honesty Bar: You are welcome to help yourselves with drinks from the Honesty Bar in the dining room and write down what you consume. Drinks and mixers will be added to your tab and can be settled before you leave.