History of Dona Paula
Named after Dona Paula de Menezes, the daughter of a viceroy (in Portuguese India), who threw herself off the cliff, when refused permission to marry a local fisherman, Gaspar Dias. Dona Paula Beach is informally also referred to as Lovers Paradise.[1]
The Dona Paula Beach is also a major tourist attraction due to a myth attached to the place. According to this, Dona Paula is entombed in the Cabo Chapel, the residence of the Governor of Goa and is supposed to be seen emerging from the moonlit waves wearing only a pearl necklace. Several tourists as well as locals guided by this myth visit the beach for a glimpse of Dona Paula.[1] The Cabo Raj Bhavan is situated at a scenic spot of Dona Paula. It is also home of a historic British war-graves cemetery. After the end of Portuguese rule in Goa in 1961, Dona Paula became a fashionable residential area and address.
