Loutolim is home to a number of impressive Portuguese mansions but just one, Casa Araujo Alvares, opposite Ancestral Goa, is officially open to the public. You can tour the interior of the 250-year-old house on an informative automated half-hour ‘sound-and-light show’ that illuminates rooms and furnishings to accompanying commentary.

This 250 year old mansion belongs to the Alvares family and forms part of the Ancestral Goa tourist complex, set up to recreate Goan village life under Portuguese rule. It was named after owner Eufemiano Araujo Alvares, who was a prominent lawyer during the colonial period.

The mansion has been constructed around an inner courtyard and features a chapel at its center. It’s gracefully furnished with European antiques and old photos. Each room has been preserved as it was centuries ago, including the kitchen filled with traditional implements. The office of Eufemiano Araujo Alvares has an intriguing desk with secret drawers and corners, and a collection of antique smoking pipes. Other unique items are a collection of thousands of Ganesh idols, and a prayer room with hundreds of icons (pictures) of Jesus hanging in it.

The Alvares family has installed an automated “sound and light show” tour of the property (the first of its kind in Goa), which illuminates each room and provides a commentary. It gives visitors an informative insight into life of a Goan-Portuguese family in the olden days.