Reis Magos Fort, Goa

• Open: Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00–17:30.
• Closed: Mondays.
• Entry: ticketed. Current prices are not published on an official page, so take some cash and check the rate at the gate.

The fort does not open early, so a sunrise visit is not an option here. The afternoon light suits it best: the laterite turns a warm rust colour and the river below goes silver. Allow about an hour. There are stairs and uneven floors throughout, so wear shoes you can climb in.

The fort sits at the narrowest point of the Mandovi's mouth, which is the whole reason it exists. The Adil Shahi Sultanate of Bijapur kept a military post here in 1493. After the Portuguese defeated the Sultanate, they built a fort on the spot in 1551 as the first line of defence for their capital upriver at Old Goa. It was enlarged several times and rebuilt completely in 1707, so most of what you see today dates from that reconstruction.

At first the fort lodged viceroys and officials arriving from or leaving for Portugal. In 1739 it held out against the forces that had overrun most of Bardez. It carried 33 cannons, had a freshwater spring inside its walls and a set of underground rooms and passages. The Goa Tourism Development Corporation notes that British troops are said to have occupied it from 1798, during the Napoleonic Wars.

Once the capital moved to Panjim and the naval threat faded, the fort lost its military role and became a prison, in use until 1993. Restoration began in 2008, led by INTACH and the Government of Goa with funding from the UK-based Helen Hamlyn Trust, under the architect Gerard da Cunha. In 2012 the fort reopened as a cultural centre.

Of all of Goa's forts, this is the rare one with its walls intact rather than picturesque rubble, and the restoration itself is part of the visit.

• The Mario Miranda gallery. More than 300 works by the Goan cartoonist Mario Miranda, known for crowded, affectionate scenes of Goan street life. Seeing them hung in a former prison is an odd and cheerful pairing.
• The restoration exhibit. A room on how the fort was rescued, useful for reading the walls once you go back outside.
• The ramparts and turrets. Steep laterite walls with the cylindrical watchtowers typical of Portuguese forts. From the top you see the river and the open sea at once, with Panjim spread along the far bank.
• Reis Magos Church. Just below the fort, and usually seen on the same visit.

The fort stands in Verem, in the Bardez taluka of North Goa, on the hill above Reis Magos Church. It sits directly across the Mandovi from Panjim, and its reddish walls are visible from the capital's riverfront, so it is an easy half-day add-on to a day in Panjim or to the Candolim and Sinquerim beaches further along the same coast. Taxi or scooter is the usual way in; agree with the driver that you want the fort, not just the church.