Fort Aguada

Located on the outskirts of Candolim, Fort Aguada is the best preserved of the many Portuguese forts of Goa. It was built on a flat top of a rocky promontory in 1612 to protect the mouth of the Mandovi River from the Dutch.

Fortress walls made of red stone vertically break straight into the sea, forming an impregnable barrier at the entrance to the Mondovi River Delta. Fort Aguada has never surrendered to the enemy.

For the defense of the fort on the perimeter stood 79 guns. The fort itself consists of the upper and lower parts. Lower - for the defense of the coastline. The upper one is for maintenance of the fort. It also housed a large potable water storage facility (over 10 million litres), and sailors often visited it to replenish their supplies. Hence the name: aguada means “water”. On the territory of the fort there is a four-storey lighthouse building, the oldest lighthouse of this type in Asia.

Some parts of the fort continue to be used to this day.

So the southern part adjacent to the sea is the functioning prison of Aguada. The rest is open to visitors.