Always carry along an extra bag and extra money if you're staying anywhere in Salcette, for a walk through Margao's markets will likely leave you with hands full and pockets empty. Four decades after Portuguese rule ended on a sour note, colonial-era items are still hot buys in Margao, from centuries old lace to antique Far East furniture. Santa Fe, a new furniture outlet in Margao, specialises in importing furniture from Macau, another Portuguese ex-colony on China's southern coast. These include writing bureaux, grandfather clocks, Mahjong tables, and even a 97-piece dinner set from China. Not only is the furniture elegant, the fine workmanship means it?ll last for generations. Joints are dovetailed without using metal nails, and surfaces polished with layers of tang oil. A typically Goan product are the hand-painted blue-and-white tiles called azulejos, with exquisite Arab, Portuguese and Spanish motifs. In Benaulim, you get these at Johnny?s Handicrafts, near Holy Trinity Church (Tel: 2770452). Small items cost around Rs 100, and huge arrangements of Iberian tiles go upto Rs 1,00,000. Also check out the Goa Handicrafts Emporium at the Tourist Hotel/Residency at Margao. It offers terracotta from Bicholim, good cotton and shopping bags, table mats made from sisal or banana fibre, and colourful masks. To recreate the cuisine you ate in Goa back in Mumbai, pick up the wide range of masala pastes, from vindaloo and recheado masala to mixes for sorpotel and balchao. Also take back brinjal, gherkin, mackerel, or prawn pickle, and Goa sausages. Most visitors don't go back without cashews. The best buy by far, though, in Margao, is booze. You can only carry one bottle of feni out of Goa, but you can also get unusual brands of local coffee liqueur, cherry brand liqueur and tequila.