On an island that most Goa visitors cross in an afternoon and never forget, Agnes Desa Monteiro spent a lifetime. When her guests kept asking if they could stay longer, she realised she had been sitting on the answer all along — a 140-year-old Portuguese-era house that had been in the family for generations. The name was destiny. The homestay was inevitable.
The ferry from Old Goa takes five minutes. You board at the north bank of the Mandovi, the blue boat nudges across the wide, still water, and then you step onto Divar Island — and the pace of life changes completely. The roads are narrow and largely carless. The houses are painted in the faded pastels of the Portuguese colonial tradition. Coconut palms and mango trees line the lanes. The sound of the city, which was present just minutes ago across the water, is entirely absent. For most visitors, Divar is a place to spend a few unhurried hours before the ferry calls them back.
Agnes Desa Monteiro has lived on Divar Island her entire life. She knows, in the way that only the deeply rooted know a place, that a few hours are barely the introduction. After retiring from government service, she found herself associated with a local experiential tourism collective, inviting small groups of visitors to her family home to eat traditional Goan food, share stories about the island, and understand its culture from the inside rather than the road. The conversations at her dining table were long and warm and invariably ended in the same way: her guests falling in love with Divar’s charm, its slow pace, its refusal to be anything other than itself — and asking, always, whether they could come back and stay longer.
“Many of them told us they would love to come back and spend more time on the island,” Agnes recalls. “That was when we started thinking about opening a homestay.”
The setting was already there. A 140-year-old Portuguese-era house that had been in the family for generations stood on nearly an acre of Divar land, its high ceilings and oyster-shell windows and Mangalore-tiled roof the accumulated architecture of a household that had always known how to live well. Agnes and her husband Fausto undertook the painstaking task of restoring the property — carefully, deliberately, preserving every original architectural detail while integrating the modern comforts that genuine rest requires. In 2023, the house opened its doors as a homestay.
The name was decided by something that Agnes describes simply as destiny. DeSa was both the surname of the home’s original owners and her own maiden name. Monteiro was the name she acquired on marriage. The house was called Casa Desa Monteiro — The House of the Desa Monteiros — because it could not, really, have been called anything else.
The House
Walking into Casa Desa Monteiro is the experience of entering a space that has been lived in, with care and love, for a very long time — and has now been prepared, with equal care and love, to receive others. The restoration has been deliberately understated. Nothing has been imposed on the original architecture. High ceilings framed by exposed wooden beams, the traditional Mangalore-tiled roof, restored oyster-shell windows that filter the Goa light into something softer and more golden than it is outdoors — these are the bones of the house, and they have been left to speak for themselves.
The interiors complement the heritage without competing with it. Antique furnishings collected from different parts of Goa — four-poster beds, planter’s chairs, vintage cane furniture — occupy the rooms alongside the original architectural features. Modern amenities are present throughout: air conditioning, contemporary bathrooms, free WiFi. The effect is the combination that Agnes and Fausto were aiming for from the start: the old-world atmosphere entirely intact, the modern comfort quietly available without announcing itself.
The Four Suites
Each of the four en-suite suites draws its name and identity from Divar and its surroundings — a decision that gives the accommodation a coherence and a sense of place that standard hotel naming can never achieve.
The Susegad Suite is named for the defining spirit of Goan life — the Portuguese-derived concept of contentment, ease, the cultivated art of doing nothing in particular with considerable grace. It is the largest of the four, spacious and unhurried in the way that its name suggests, accommodating up to three guests. It is the room for those who come to Divar to remember how to breathe.
The Mango Suite takes its cue from the century-old mango tree that stands outside its window — the tree that has shaded this part of the garden for longer than the house has stood in its current form, whose roots know this soil as well as anyone. The room looks out at it. Family guests, or those travelling with children who want an extra bed within reach, find their home here.
The Rock Suite pays tribute to the geological foundation on which the house itself stands — the sturdy laterite rock of Divar that has held this structure through monsoons and centuries and the long, patient history of a Goan island. There is something grounding about a room named for the substance beneath it.
The Divadi Suite is the tribute room — the one dedicated entirely to the island that the Desa Monteiro family has called home across generations. Blue-tiled floors. Nautical touches. A painting of Divar by a noted Goan artist, whose work on the wall is the room’s anchor and soul. This is the room that guests who have researched Divar before coming tend to request — the one that was always going to be named for the island.
Together, the four suites accommodate up to nine guests — making the property an ideal choice for extended families, small friend groups, or those who want the experience of having a Goan heritage house essentially to themselves.
The Communal Spaces
The experience at Casa Desa Monteiro is not contained to the bedrooms. The balcao — the traditional Goan verandah that projects outward from the house on its characteristic laterite pillars, the social architecture of every old Goan home — is where mornings begin with coffee and the sound of the garden, and where evenings drift without urgency. The lounge provides the cooler alternative when the Goa afternoon asks for shade. The gazebo in the garden, settled into the greenery, offers a private corner of stillness.
And at the heart of everything — the room where the homestay’s essential character is most fully expressed — is the dining room. It is here that Agnes serves the home-cooked Goan dishes whose recipes came from her mother, alongside the stories and memories and local anecdotes that turn a meal into an education. The food is not restaurant food. It is the food of a family table that happens to have been laid for guests.
Agnes and Fausto
Agnes is simultaneously the cook, the host, the family historian, the cultural guide, and the reason that the homestay has the warmth it has. Her retirement from government service was not, it turns out, a retreat from engagement with the world but a redirection of that engagement toward the island and the people who come to it. She knows Divar as an islander knows a place — its old houses and newer ones, its festivals and farming calendar, its stories and its silences. She shares this knowledge with guests who want to understand where they are.
Fausto is equally involved in the day-to-day running of the property, and the two together make a hosting team of remarkable warmth and depth. Their son Savio and daughter-in-law Gail manage the property with them. Their other son Anosh and daughter-in-law Karen join when they return from overseas. This is, in the fullest sense, a family homestay.
What to Do
Divar Island’s pleasures are quiet ones. Cycling along the island’s lanes — an e-cycle hire can be arranged — through the paddy fields and past the old churches and the pastel houses is one of the finest possible mornings available within Goa. The Church of Our Lady of Compassion, sitting on the hilltop of Piedade with extraordinary views of the Mandovi River and the Goan countryside, is the island’s architectural centrepiece. The old village of Naroa and the settlement of Malar offer further encounters with the island’s heritage.
Boating along the mangroves — with the resident crocodiles occasionally appearing in the water, the migratory birds in the trees, the particular quality of a Goa interior waterway seen from the water rather than the road — can be arranged from the property. The island’s backyard, as Agnes describes it, is one of the finest birdwatching spots available near Panjim. Heritage walks, conducted by local specialists who know the island’s geological and cultural history, are available for those who want the full depth.
For those who want to venture beyond the island: Old Goa — the Basilica of Bom Jesus, Se Cathedral, and the layered archaeological heritage of the former capital of Portuguese India — is a short ferry ride and taxi away. Panjim’s Latin Quarter of Fontainhas, with its colour and galleries and cafes, is equally accessible. The markets, beaches, and restaurants of North Goa are within reach for those who want a day on the other side of the ferry.
Why It Stays With You
Every homestay in this series has a founding impulse — the specific reason that a private home opened itself to the public. At Casa Desa Monteiro, that impulse was as simple and as complete as it gets: guests kept falling in love with Divar, kept asking if they could stay, and Agnes — who has spent her whole life on this island — understood that the right answer was yes.
The 140-year-old house on nearly an acre of Divar land. Agnes’s recipes from her mother. Fausto by her side. The Susegad Suite living up to its name. The century-old mango tree outside the Mango Suite window. The painting of Divar on the Divadi Suite wall. The balcao, where the Mandovi air comes in each morning before anyone has decided what the day will be.
The name was destiny. The homestay was inevitable. The ferry back is always a little harder to take than it was to arrive.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Divar Island, Tiswadi Taluka, North Goa (accessible by ferry from Old Goa / Ribander) Instagram: @casadesamonteiro.divar Booking: Airbnb (search CasaDesaMonteiro Heritage villa Private Pool Divar) · The Blue Kite (thebluekite.com) · Direct via Instagram DM
Hosts: Agnes Desa Monteiro and Fausto Monteiro Family: Savio Monteiro and Gail (resident management) · Anosh Monteiro and Karen (overseas, visiting) Opened: 2023
Property: Nearly 1 acre · 140-year-old Portuguese-era restored heritage home · Exposed wooden beam ceilings · Mangalore-tiled roof · Oyster-shell windows · Antique furnishings throughout · Private swimming pool · Garden with gazebo · Balcao
Suites: 4 en-suite suites — Susegad Suite (sleeps 3) · Mango Suite (with extra bed, family-friendly) · Rock Suite · Divadi Suite (blue-tiled floors, Divar painting). Maximum 9 guests. All suites: AC · Private bathroom · Antique furnishings · Free WiFi · Modern amenities
Meals: Agnes’s home-cooked traditional Goan cuisine (family recipes from her mother) · Available with advance notice · All communal dining at the family table
Experiences: Island cycling (e-cycle hire) · Mangrove boating (crocodiles, migratory birds) · Heritage walk (Make It Happen) · Birdwatching in the backyard · Church of Our Lady of Compassion · Old Goa day trip · Panjim Fontainhas visit · Fishing and catch-and-dine · Feni tasting
Getting There — The ferry to Divar Island runs from Old Goa (near the ruins of St. Augustine) and from Ribander (near Panjim) — free, running frequently throughout the day with your vehicle. — Manohar Parrikar International Airport (Mopa): approximately 55 km from Divar — around 1.5 hours by road, then the ferry crossing. — Dabolim Airport: approximately 50 km — around 1.5 hours. — Panjim: approximately 8 km from the Ribander ferry — around 20 minutes by road, then the ferry. — Old Goa: approximately 3 km from the Old Goa ferry — around 10 minutes, then the ferry. — Once on Divar Island, the property is accessible by road (approximately 15–20 minutes from the ferry landing). Coordinate exact directions with Agnes on booking.
Nearby — Church of Our Lady of Compassion (Piedade hilltop): 5 min drive · Naroa village: 10 min · Old Goa / Basilica of Bom Jesus: 15 min by ferry + taxi · Panjim Fontainhas: 20 min · Chorao Island: adjacent (separate ferry) · Mopa Airport: 55 km
Best Time to Visit: November to February for the classic Goa season — cool, dry, and the island at its most tranquil · October for the post-monsoon green when the paddy fields are still lush · March to May for warm days before the monsoon, when the mango tree outside the Mango Suite is in fruit · Avoid peak Christmas and New Year weeks if solitude is the priority — Divar remains quieter than the beach belt but the ferries get busier
