In the shade of a moss-draped trail in Bicholim, North Goa—where the Chorla Ghats begin their slow, deliberate rise—lies a quarry, still and half-forgotten. A small group stands at its edge, listening. As Mackinlay Barreto, Founder of The Local Beat, begins to speak, the landscape stirs. Stories begin to surface—of labour, longing, and love—until the quarry seems to breathe with memory.
Guided heritage walks, once confined to textbook-style tourism, are being reimagined by a new generation of cultural custodians: Researchers, writers, chefs, archivists, and former architects who lead with lived experience and a storyteller’s instinct. There are no geo-tags here, no “Instagram hotspots” of a city. They are inviting travellers—and often locals—into the living rooms, courtyards, and kitchens that cities usually keep hidden.
“We’re not just walking through history,” says…
