[Ali G]

This is my first attempt at writing a travelogue. So kindly excuse the Ibn Batuta in me if i miss on some important aspects. Recently i had an escapade to Murud which is about 165 kms from mumbai via Revdanda (Mumbai-Goa Highway 17) You can make it in a rough 4 hrs with 2 eased out breaks in between. The place is known for its quiet long beaches and the janjira fort. We reached at about 12 noon and i had a hearty lunch and took a power nap on the hammock outside my cottage. The cool winter breeze and the shade under the coconut trees to which my hammock was tied upto made me sleep like a baby. It was just the right beginning of a relaxing weekend.

I woke up to the rising excitement levels of my friends who were all set to head to the beach. Some pictures to share..







Spotted a man riding his bullock cart on the beach up and down. My curiosity made me strike a conversation with that man to which i learnt he participating at a bullock cart racing meet in a nearby village. Thought to myself why not have some bull power(bp) for a change instead of horsepower coming from my OHC Here i am, up on the cart ready to ride this primitive mean of transport.



As the day turned into night my stomach was growling of hunger again which led me to this place called "patils" where you get the most amazing cult sea food which is as good as home cooked at the most reasonable prices. The concept is one of a thali( you do have an option of a veg. thali though) where you get everything in your meal from fried fish and prawns in malwani spices to a coconut base gravy with rice rotis and 2 diff veggies alongwith rice, papad and some locally made pickle. Im feeling hungry as of now as i describe this.
After a walk back to the cottage, I Snored away to glory as we planned to head out early to the fort next morning. Will write more on day 2 soon

[Ali G]

for the delay in posting the update for this thread as a dear friend's marriage kept me on my toes.
The next day we went straight out for the janjira fort. Its about 15-20 minute drive from beach to rajapuri village coastline where you need to get into a boat in order to reach the fort. Some pictures while i got there, it looks pretty small from this distance but the walls are about 40 feet high and the fort is spread around 22 acres and all this was managed in the 15th century 3kms into the sea by the siddhis.



Once we got to the coast we hired a boat for ourselves and the part i loved about the sailing is that there were no machines involved. This is some old school cruising with the help of the wind. Felt like i jumped back in time. It was cloudy as well as windy and looked as if it was going to rain. Few more pictures from the coastline:


Some more while sailing, and i tell you the sea looked more active every minute as the clouds started cropping up; but all of this was just adding up to my excitement.






As we got closer..



These walls have been battered by the Arabian sea for almost 500 years now and could never be conquered by its enemies either; including the portuguese and the british. Even the repeated attempts of the marathas could not shake this fort up making it the only one with such record on the maharashtra coastline.
more to come..

[bblost]

Very well written.

Lovely pictures.
You need a better camera as it is not able to do justice to the locale.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

@ali,
upload the pics fast.

Last year, i went to janjira fort from dighi port.
Its 45 min sailing.
Real fun is at getting down from sailboat to steps of fort. It scared me.
Though outer boundary is in great shape, everything is ruined inside the fort.

[Ali G]

Originally Posted by bblost

Very well written.

Lovely pictures.
You need a better camera as it is not able to do justice to the locale.

@bblost: Thank you so much for the appreciation, I was wondering if someone even liked or read the posts
I used my cellfone to get these pictures as i didnt have a good camera during this visit. Tried to capture what i could.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

@ali,
upload the pics fast.

Last year, i went to janjira fort from dighi port.
Its 45 min sailing.
Real fun is at getting down from sailboat to steps of fort. It scared me.
Though outer boundary is in great shape, everything is ruined inside the fort.

@ Ashish: yes it is scary as its very slippery coz of the algae and water on the rock steps at the entrance. I was disappointed to see the maintainence done by our archaelogical dept.

(Back to my narration)We entered the fort and found various emblems and symbols carved on the walls:
1. A lion controlling six elephants; one each with his paws and one with the jaws while the last with its tail.

2. This one is on the entrance, it potrays a lion with the word "Allah" over it in Arabic.

3. Another one

There are huge cannons in the turrets and the 19 towers of the fort. About 560 cannons were recovered in 1969 from this fort 3 of them being in the top ten for their range and accuracy amongst all other found across India during that era.
The fort had everything to suffice a population of 1500-1800 people inside it. Quarters for the army, medical centres, courtrooms, mosque, sweet water reserves(2 of them), Inventory for weapons, godowns to stock food and other necessities, a palace and 2 escape routes.
One side of the 3 storey palace(its in a sad state)

closeup of the sweet water reserve(the creepers growing through walls looked gothic)

The best view i got for this fort and scenic beauty around it is when i reached the highest spot on one of the towers.

[arindamray]

Place looks very interesting.

Any idea how much time it would take from Puna? Also what's the shore to shore time taken to visit the fort?

[Ali G]

Originally Posted by arindamray

Place looks very interesting.

Any idea how much time it would take from Puna? Also what's the shore to shore time taken to visit the fort?

@arindamray: Its about 230 kms from pune via the Mahad road. Keep coming down to mangaon then indapur followed by kolad, roha which leads you to murud OR you can come down to khopoli and take the same route i did from bombay. As time taken to reach majorly depends on personal driving style and the number of stop overs alongwith time taken in each; with the distance mentioned you should be able to calculate. As far as the sailing time is concerned, I was too busy clicking pictures and enjoying the natural ambience around me although i guess it should take about 20-30 minutes.

Back to the post;
from the highest point:


It looks like a personal fortified island from here.



If you look at the picture below carefully; when you look at the sea ahead, a little towards the left you will see another rock formation like small black pebbles floating. This is the Kasa fort and was built by Shivaji. Before Kasa fort was built Shivaji led siege on the Janjira fort six times but all his attempts were unsuccessful as the heavy duty long range cannons kept enemies at bay. Although, he could not complete building this fort in his lifespan; the marathas had to retreat. Later, Sambhaji alongwith the Peshwas too was unsuccessful to bring the Janjira fort down.

It was time to head back to our nest for the night as it was starting to get dark and all of us were exhausted and wanted to relax.


got back to the beach to watch the sunset.



As the sun went down, I sat down on the beach and eased myself. Felt like it was food for soul. Later, as i walked up to the place where i was staying, i heard the call for prayers and i followed up in the direction where the sound was coming from. There was a mosque facing the beach and I thought to myself; what better way to end this day?
With the waves hitting the shore at the end of their journey, it was quite peaceful to be praying with natures very own orchestra and end my day as well.
heres a pic of the village mosque:
Ate my fill and snored the night away only to go back to Mumbai next morning. Hope you enjoyed this photoblog & narration as much as i did posting it. Keep revvin'

[aah78]

Originally Posted by Ali G

Hope you enjoyed this photoblog & narration as much as i did posting it. Keep revvin'

Definitely brought back memories. I've visited Murud Janjira quite a few times - haven't been there for a long time now though.

Beautiful beaches and seafood to die for!

There are a couple of well known local restaurants - khanawals, as they're called in Marathi. Patil Khanawal is famous, and another small place right off the beach who's name I cannot remember - it also offered lodging services.

Also, the residents of the village run their own private food services.

The beaches up at Kashid, an hour or so away were even more isolated and almost private - with only a few locals hanging around. Suman Motels ran a beach resort at Kashid, I wonder if it still exists now.

[Aditya]

Originally Posted by aah78

Definitely brought back memories. I've visited Murud Janjira quite a few times - haven't been there for a long time now though.

Beautiful beaches and seafood to die for!

There are a couple of well known local restaurants - khanawals, as they're called in Marathi. Patil Khanawal is famous, and another small place right off the beach who's name I cannot remember - it also offered lodging services.

Certainly brings back memories - all those excursions we've undertaken over the years! Swayamsiddha is the name you're looking for. Next time you're in Mumbai, we'll drive down to Murud once agian. Too bad my Amby's gone.
Superb pics, Ali. Time to organise a Team-BHP drive.

[yogisays0909]

Believe me the roads to Murud are awesome. Its fun to drive, also the corners.
A friend has got a guest house thr, hotel kinda, just opposite to the sea named Hotel Seaface. the over night charges are very nominal appx 400 per room(Non-AC)

[Blur]

AliG, we read, we like, and we appreciate too

A weekend very well spent there!

Janjira is THE fort, IMHO. To date it stands undefeated. No enemy, nor nature's fury, could humble those majestic walls!

And those boat rides are to die for, especially for clity slickers like us.

Cheers!


PS: I could sit at that jetty all day, with those gentle waves lapping at my feet!

Originally Posted by Aditya

Time to organise a Team-BHP drive.

Wat an idea sirji! Count me in!

[aah78]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Certainly brings back memories - all those excursions we've undertaken over the years! Swayamsiddha is the name you're looking for. Next time you're in Mumbai, we'll drive down to Murud once agian. Too bad my Amby's gone.
Superb pics, Ali. Time to organise a Team-BHP drive.

Swayamsiddha is right! For some reason Kshanbhar Vishranti kept popping into my mind.

Those were the days. We made a hell of a lot of trips in the Amby and the 800.

Pami & Co. were with us on one of those trips too.

I still can't forget the fantastic drive Anya, you and me had in the Conty to Goa.

[Ali G]

Originally Posted by aah78

Definitely brought back memories. I've visited Murud Janjira quite a few times - haven't been there for a long time now though.

Beautiful beaches and seafood to die for!

There are a couple of well known local restaurants - khanawals, as they're called in Marathi. Patil Khanawal is famous, and another small place right off the beach who's name I cannot remember - it also offered lodging services.

Also, the residents of the village run their own private food services.

The beaches up at Kashid, an hour or so away were even more isolated and almost private - with only a few locals hanging around. Suman Motels ran a beach resort at Kashid, I wonder if it still exists now.

Ive mentioned about patils too.+1 on that, just exceptional food.
You are absolutely right about kashid. There is a Kashid beach resort there which is famous but i dont know if suman motels run it.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Certainly brings back memories - all those excursions we've undertaken over the years! Swayamsiddha is the name you're looking for. Next time you're in Mumbai, we'll drive down to Murud once agian. Too bad my Amby's gone.
Superb pics, Ali. Time to organise a Team-BHP drive.

I'm delighted the pics i shot reminded you and aah78 of the good ole' times.
Im in for the drive, tell me when to hit the road.
Thank you both for stopping by.

Originally Posted by Blur

AliG, we read, we like, and we appreciate too

A weekend very well spent there!

Janjira is THE fort, IMHO. To date it stands undefeated. No enemy, nor nature's fury, could humble those majestic walls!

And those boat rides are to die for, especially for clity slickers like us.

Cheers!


PS: I could sit at that jetty all day, with those gentle waves lapping at my feet!

Im honoured that you read, liked and appreciated. It was indeed one of the most soothing weekends ive had.

[sidd25]

Any one has some idea, if I can get on the spot booking at some decent resort @ kashid?

I am planning to go on Christmas long weekend with my wifey.

[SX4LOVER]

Originally Posted by sidd25

Any one has some idea, if I can get on the spot booking at some decent resort @ kashid?

I am planning to go on Christmas long weekend with my wifey.

HI SID!

most of the places around murud will be full around that time and you'll have tough time getting accomodation. i went in apr and still had to struggle. best is to try online bookings on holidayiq.com or google for golden beach swan resort (i think). otherwise MTDC's bed and breakfast accomodation details are also available on their website.

have a nice trip!!