|| ST. ESTEVAM ISLAND / JUVEM ISLAND ||

Sant Estevam or St. Estevam is a beautiful village that lies 21 kms from Panjim and 11 kms from Old Goa. It is also known as Ilha de Jua or Zuvem and is famous being a very scenic estuarine island which is breathtakingly beautiful.
The people in Sant Estevam are very hardworking and fun loving and are known as the Zuvekars. There is a fort situated here on a hillock which was built in September 1668. It was named as the fort of St Francis Xavier and is also known as the fort of Jua.
From the village, the fort of Jua can be approached by means of a fairly formidable flight of rough steps. The climb is well worth the effort and at the top is a modern but impressive shrine to Christ the king. It has a special incident related to it where a sailor used to pray here regularly at the shrine before rejoining his ship as he was deeply attached to Goa and loved to view it regularly from this fort.
The view from the fort at Sant Estevam is actually scenic looking down towards the iron ore mines and loaded barges moving towards Mormugao. Originally, the fort was believed to serve as an outpost to protect Ilhas from Muslim invasions.
There is also a church situated in Sant Estevam known as the church of St. Stevens or the Santo Estevam church. It was built in 1759 and was one of the large churches to be built. It is special due to its exterior portion resembling a false dome surrounded by twin towers with lanterns.

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