DISCOVER DAMÃO IN DAMAN
Boas Vindas!
Welcome to my tiny, oyster-of-a-world, hometown 🙏
In the 16th century, the Portuguese came in from the sea…
You’ve arrived from cyberspace and are at the threshold of discovering a unique Portuguese enclave on the western shore of India.
History says that Damão was a chance discovery of Portuguese captain, Diogo de Mello, when his ill-fated caravel was literally washed ashore in July 1523 following one of those violent cyclones typical of these waters.
Your discovery is more by choice than chance—your search intent and Google’s bias to my keywords! 😉
Damão or Daman?
Check it out as you would the two sides of a 78 rpm shellac record…
Or, a guinea you chanced upon on Devka beach the morning after a ‘Dubai landing’ in the ’70s, when Daman was in the (s)limelight as a smugglers’ paradise:
Damão—Old-World charm: The setting in my romance novels
Daman—Nostalgia in new clothes: The setting for your venture or adventure
Damão is not just its former Portuguese name—when broken up into its two syllables, ‘Da mão’, it reveals the secret behind the characteristic hospitality of the typical Damanense: ‘Let’s shake hands!’ 🤝
But what’s in a name, anyway? It’s the unique culture and centuries-old traditions that have been breathing life into these cold, stone monuments—a heady blend of Portuguese and Indian cultures that’s multicultural, multilingual, multiracial, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious.
As a visitor, you get to see the oyster shell—the Portuguese architectural heritage that has withstood the ravages of time:
🦪 THE OYSTER SHELL
• The Portuguese churches
• The Portuguese chapels
• The historical buildings and monuments
Like the Câmara Municipal de Damão—Asia’s oldest municipality
• The imposing Portuguese forts
(On either bank of the creek)
The rocky home the oyster attaches itself to—for life