GO-Alibaag

This year, continuing my travel month after month to the places like Pattaya, Bangkok, Goa, Panchgani, San Juan Island, Seattle, Mount Rainier. This time, wheels turned towards Alibaag to welcome the monsoon. The journey wouldn't have been complete without Meenal, Piyush and Monika. All the trees and hills welcomed us with fresh green smiles. 

We started our journey late Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the hide-n-seek between clouds and sun on the way. It was late evening when we were at Kihim beach, and could pay a visit to moon-light floating on the sea-waves. This view did not last for long as clouds came back again to let moon take a set-back and it started pouring; A cup of ginger tea with Indian snacks in the drizzl, what else one can ask for! Our next destination was "Hotel Ravikiran" near Alibaag (selected after visiting a couple of hotels around), where we just crashed with a plan to get up early morning 4:00 AM and head towards Kanakeshwar Temple  :P  Apparently, this didn't materialize (as expected) 

Map to nearby place of Alibaag

Alibaag or Alibaug (Alibagh), the headquarter of the Raigad district is a coastal town in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, India. It's best known as 'mini Goa' for its historic marine forts, fine beaches and clean water. Located 35 km south of Mumbai, Alibaag is a popular weekend getaway for the citizens of Pune, Mumbai and nearby places. It is approx 140 km from Pune and we traversed the route via Pune-Mumbai expressway - Khopoli - Pen - Alibaag. 

Alibaag Beach: This beach has an energetic vibe. It attracts the tourists for its historic Kolaba Fort. A beautiful sunrise and sunset can be enjoyed here. We enjoyed a small trip on horse-cart in the morning. 

Kanakeshwar temple: It is situated on a hill near Mapgaon village, about 12 km away from Alibaag and falls on the way to Mandawa. It takes 700 steps to be climbed to reach the top. We couldn't visit this holy place due to lack of time. In the hopes of visiting it sometime later, we moved ahead. 

Varsoli Beach: This is relatively less visited but cleaner, beach with sparkling white sand. We stop-by this place for sometime and enjoyed mango, coconut and casuarina trees. We had Puri-Bhaaji as our morning breakfast. 

Rameshwar Temple, Chaul: While going to Birla Temple, we couldn't stop us by visiting this temple. This temple is old, but still attracts all the tourists for its vibrant colors and old heritage. Chaul is a historic town situated about 15 km away from Alibaag. It is famous for its Portuguese ruins, an old church, a synagogue, Buddhist caves, the Hamam Khana and this temple.  

Birla Temple or Vikram Vinayak Temple, Salav: Just after Revdanda, it started raining heavily, and we stopped our car on the river-bridge to enjoy the dark sheds of clouds over our heads. I don't have words to describe the view when the rains were fast approaching us from the west, it was incredible and for a moment felt like as if I was watching Discovery Channel. We could not stop on the bridge for too long as it was quite dangerous. Just a 2 km drive and we were at beautiful Birla Temple. The white idols of Ganesh, Shiva-Parvati, Radha-Krishna, Ram-Darbar and Goddess Durga were so lively that one can feel their presence in the serene environment. We could have the images only in our memories. Alas! Photography is not allowed at this place. The temple is still under construction. 

Kashid Beach: Quite a crowded place, where one can enjoy horse ride, camel ride and other rides at this beach. Meenal and Monika enjoyed the camel ride at the Kashid sea-shore. We enjoyed and relaxed at this place for sometime. Enjoy my last trip to Kashid and Murud Janjira fort. 

Murud-Janjira: Janjira is the legendary fort situated not very far from Alibaag. Due to high tides and heavy rains, we didn't opt for the Janjira fort visit. Near the Murud beach, we had our late lunch followed by tea and sweet-corn. The view covering the Murud beach with running horse-cart and the Kasa fort in the sea is eye catching.

Alibaag Fort - Kolaba (or Kulaba) fort (Not to be confused with Colaba in Mumbai): It is situated in the sea at a distance of approx 1 km from the Alibag shores. With low tides, one can easily walk to the fort in waist-deep water. However, during the high-tides, boats, horse-carriage needs to be used. We opted for horse-carriage and paid 100 INR per person. Below snap gives more info about the fort. 

Imp Note: Try to visit it during 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. or very early in the morning, when water is quiet and don't have high tides. 

It's possible to enjoy Alibaug in a day. However, if you can, the place demands 2-3 days visit. One can take walk along the sealine beaches, relax and unwind. Best time to visit Alibaag is from November to February. Monsoon season adds to the beauty, but calls for precautions at the same time. 

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Kashid and Murud Janjira Fort

After a long time, Our team finalized to enjoy a weekend. (Some couldn't come at the eleventh hour due to their personal reasons), but we managed to execute our plan successfully. Thanks to Shaju and all enthusiastic people for travel like me.

We decided to go to Kashid Beach and Murud Janjira Fort and prepare the plan one day back. We started early in the morning approx 6 a.m. Murud Janjira is approx 200 KM away from Pune. We followed via Mumbai Pune Expressway - Khopoli - Pen - Alibaug - Kashid - Murud. Our first stop was the breakfast point at Mumbai Pune expressway, where we have a little breakfast, which two of us (including me) puked out near Alibaug. After that, we reached Kashid beach as per our execution plan.

Kashid is a small place but attracts the people residing in Mumbai, Pune and nearby regions for weekend vacations. Kashid is famous for its white sand, blue seas, green mountains (greener during monsoon), rivulets (small river) and paddy fields. We enjoyed some time under the sun, have the horse-cart ride near the sea. Having one friend (Zabi) knowing Marathi was beneficial throughout our tour.

Some of us scrabble their names in the sand with effects :) After that we move forward to Murud area, that is approx 20 KM away, which have good hotels and has many good places for sea food lovers in this region. We have our lunch there, that was satisfying. In the way, We viewd (Kasa Fort and Murud Janjira Fort). The view covering the beach and the fort in the sea is eye catching. Janjira fort was our next spot.

Murud Janjira Fort: It is beautifully constructed in the sea (not beautiful now as most of the area is converted to ruins), but still it is worth to watch. The name may have derived from the Arabic word Jazeera (meaning 'an island'). Some people also named it as "JAL JEERA" (Fort in the water). You have to go through sail-boats to reach this fort. I wouldn't be inking more about the history of this fort.

We reached here when the sun was just above our head. This was the most hilarious part of the day, when we were boating towards the fort from the beach, as the high tides bring water three times inside the boat. You can see the thrill behind the specs of Shaju, Anjali and Shweta holding their nerve and the tightly hands being almost at the end of the boat.

The entrace is not visible till the time you reach in front of the entry stairs of this fort. While being on the boat, it reminds the song "Ye Jo Desh Hai Mera" from SRK acted "Swadesh". I captured some video with this song in its background. The sailer sails the boat technically using the wind direction and boat-curtain applying boat balance at the same time.

The entrance fee is 20 INR (Including to and fro ferry ride). The guide fee is 30 INR (per person.. also depends on, How many people are in your group to get the discount) Though they wouldn't narrate much, but the benefit you will get with them is to cover most of the part within that time span. They also said, If you are not in the same returning boat (or missed that), you have to give them 800 INR to get on the other boat.

Other than that, the fort has 4 mosques and 1 temple in it. At the middle of the fort, there is sweet water (I would say soft water) that is strange in itself as the fort is build in the sea area [No need to mention sea water being salty]. The guide told us that there is an underground natural spring (Water fountain) below the sea level.

From the top of the fort, You can see every part of the fort. At this point, wind keep on chatting with you, but you will like it even being it hot. From this fort, you can watch another fort (Padamdurg Fort, now known as Kasa Fort), that is not accessible to general public and requires special permission from the Navy.

In the rainy season, The fort remains close (mainly June-Sep mid), as the sea level increases, and there are much higher tides. Again we returned to the Kashid beach to have some sea-sports and enjoyed till the sunset. For the time being we have a cup of tea and relaxed here.

During our return, We play Antaksari (All language songs singing) throughout. Thanks to all - Zabi, Shaju, Anjali and Shweta who made this weekend trip more enjoyable. [Missing other team-mates who couldn't manage to make this somehow]

Wanna to have a look to another Fort nearby Pune-Mumbai "The Lion Fort"
Enjoy the nearby places and beaches at Alibaag.

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