India: Hot Spot

MISSIONARY STYLE Built to house the mortal remains of Goa's most famous visitor, St. Francis Xavier, the Basilica of Bom Jesus is as impressive a fragment of cod baroque as you'll find in Asia. A 16th century missionary, St. Francis worked a diocese that stretched from Africa to China, but he died in Macau while waiting for his Chinese visa to come through.

The interior of Bom Jesus is folkish and crudely executed compared with its European prototypes, but the big draw is St. Francis' body,...