We stayed at the award-winning Summertime, secluded on a hill, with easy access to Calangute and Candolim beaches. Here, the flavours of the real Goa unfolded like an unscripted play. The three-bedroomed, one-storeyed villa — with a deep, pillared verandah — is ensconced in its own private wilderness and enveloped in a silence so deep that the mere crunch of dry leaves underfoot made trilling birds pause. But it’s the hedonistic escape that Summertime provides, “a put-your-feet-up-style luxury,” as owner Sucheta Potnis describes it that is so alluring.