Trip members: Karthik and family
Trip date: 28, 29, 30 and 31 March 2019
Trip Plan : Chennai - Mumbai - Alibaug - Kashid - Murud - Mumbai - Chennai
Day-1 - Mumbai local sight seeing
Day-2 - Mumbai - Alibaug - Kashid - Murud
Day-3 - Murud - Mumbai - Mumbai local sight seeing
Day-4 - Mumbai local sight seeing
Day-1
Started by 6:45 AM Indigo flight to Mumbai, we landed around 8:30 AM. We had booked cab through online for 4 hours - 40 kms package and it was readily waiting at 9 AM. We took the baggage and boarded the car.
Our first stop was the SiddhiVinayak temple. Being Thursday, there was no queue in the temple. This temple is a very auspicious temple in Mumbai and We had a very comfortable dharshan. There is free chappal stand near the temple; do not budge to the hawkers to leave the chappals for free and buy something in the shop. Camera is not allowed in the temple premises so as photography. However, mobiles are allowed. There is a cloak room near the temple to deposit camera and bags. We came out in 10 minutes and had some local snack - Misal Pav at Hotel Siddhivinayak.
Next, we crossed through Haji Ali Dargah and then stopped at Mahalakshmi Temple. Photography is allowed outside the temple and not inside. Again, here, there was no crowd at all and had a very pleasant and peaceful dharshan of the Goddess. We had dharshan in 5-10 minutes and came back.
The driver then showed us Antilla, the house of Ambanis. The towering modern house is around a km from Mahalakshmi temple and who does not want to see it. The driver was a mature person to show us what he could in 4 hours and next drove through Girgaon Chowpathy beach and then through the marine drive. We stopped momentarily by the marine drive towards the end and recorded some memories. The driver offered to stop at Taraporewala Aquarium, but, we were not interested. It was almost 11:45 by then. We saw Chattrapathi Shivaji railway Terminus and then got down at Hotel Colaba Suites.
Hotel Colaba Suites is around 400m from Gateway of India and is on the 4th floor of a business area. We dialed the reception and they helped us in locating the hotel. The rooms were very clean, the service was very kind and good. No frills hotel with no inconveniences. We got recommendation for a good veg restaurant from the hotel reception - Hotel Kailash Parbat and had lunch there. The rotis, chappathis, sabji, rice - all were fairly good at Kailash Parbat.
We then walked down to Gateway of India. First, we cited Hotel Taj from outside - which is just opposite to the Gateway of India; infact the hotel is a "bigger" landmark. We walked by the road adjacent to Arabian Sea towards Gateway of India. Gateway of India is an Arch monument built by the British to welcome the King and Queen who landed in India in 1911. The monument was completed in 1924. The waterfront here is called Apollo bunder. The Taj hotel is just opposite to Gateway of India. One cant take the eyes off seeing the Taj Hotel from outside. We spent around 0 minutes around the monument.
As we were going around, the tickets for last boat to Elephant caves were getting sold around 2:40 PM. We were not really planning to goto Elephanta caves; however, got lured by the moment and bought the tickets. It is Rs.200 per person - 2 way. Elephanta caves are on the Elephanta Island. The boat ride on the Arabian Sea was quite scenic - looking back at Gateway of India and Hotel Taj from the waters, lots of yachts and ships around. It takes exactly 60 minutes for us to reach Elephanta caves. The boat is at 2 levels, the boatmen collect Rs.10 for the upper deck. We went by the lower deck. We reached Elephanta caves jetty by 4 PM. The walk to the caves from the jetty is little steep and difficult for elders and people with ailments. Around 400m of the walkway can be transported by a toy train - Rs.10 per person. This is one third of the distance. The rest two-thirds is a climb. There are lots of shops for souvenirs and eating; however, lot of monkeys as well. We reached the top by 20 minutes.
Elephanta caves is an ASI - UNESCO site. The Elephanta caves has rock cut caves and sculptures. There are 7 caves in the place. The cave 1 is the best of all for the massive and beautiful rock cut sculptures. The caves are dated back to 5th century. This cave has a main entrance and a side entrance. The most important sculptures are Trimurthi, Lord Shiva and Parvathy, Lord Natraja, an Arthanareswarar sculpture and a Shivalinga. The pillars are also ornamental in few places.
The caves 2,3 and 4 have very less or no sculptures. The cave 2 had couple of large sculptures and more dilapidated.
Further down, we preferred not to continue as they had no sculptures. Given that the crowd is wrapping up and all might plight towards the boat for the return journey, we decided to turn around and go back. the boats are not fixed to go and return; tickets taken, we can board any board that goes back to Gateway of India. Restrooms are available on the way to the boat jetty. We walked down the stairs, bought a souvenir and boarded the boat back. There is a location called Cannon hill view in the island, which we skipped. We were back on the boat by 5:15 ad the 1 hour return journey was eventful watching the sun go down by the breezy evening and a grand view of the Mumbai-Colaba skyline.
We reached back Gateway of India, had samosas and tea in a roadside shop - samosas were amazing ! We had dinner at Hotel Kailash Parbat again, Tawa Pulav, Pav bhaji, chapathis and sabjis. No complaints on the taste and quality of food. Post dinner, we did a leisure walk to Gateway of India and spent around 1 hour as the Gateway of India and Taj were illuminated.
Day-2
Booked the car online for 2 days, to cover the beautiful Konkan beaches and sprawling forts by the Arabian sea. We checked out and started by 6:30 from Colaba towards Alibaug through Panvel. We stopped near Panvel at Hotel Sri Dutt snacks - a small road outlet serving amazing local good - Vada pav, Upma, Poha, Thali Peet, Thaak, Misal pav. We had several of those small portions and each of them were very good. The day's tone got set with this breakfast and towards Alibaug.
The roads are curvy and narrow. Average speeds of 60-70 kmph is the norm and plan accordingly. First, we stopped at Alibaug beach. Two immediate things to notice as one sees the beach are : beach sports and the Kolaba fort on the right side. There are few beach sports here in Alibaug beach like horse riding, 4-wheel bike rides. We saw the Kolaba fort and it looked quite big than what we thought. A walk to the fort by the beach and through the waters is possible when it is low tide - till 1 PM. Else, one needs to use a boat to cross. There are 2 options to reach the fort during low tide - by walk and by horse cart. One third of the distance is through knee high water. We preferred to go by horse cart - Rs.100 per person including waiting and return journey.
The Kolaba fort was one of the forts ruled by the great Maratha king Shivaji. The fort was then used by Portuguese, Sidhis and then the British. It takes around 30 - 45 minutes to get around the fort and enjoy the beautiful views. The entry fee is Rs.25 per person. The fort hosts a Ganesh temple as well. The fortification is quite damaged and one needs to walk carefully on the fortifications. There is a rear arch to the fort facing the Arabian sea and the place is picturesque.
The plan was to visit Nagaon beach, but given the hot weather and other forts and beaches to visit, we skipped Nagaon beach and next went to Korlai fort. All the way enroute, the route is quite interesting with curves, small bridges and beaches on one side. Korlai fort is present before the Kashid beach (12 kms) over a hillock when travelling from Alibaug (17 kms from Nagaon beach). The fort is a quite an elevation and gives a spell bounding view of the Arabian sea in almost 360 degree view. The fort had been built by Portuguese for a great sight of Arabian sea to have control in the area. The very narrow cement road on the hillock by the beach was guided by google maps. At a time, only one vehicle can go on this road as the road is very narrow. There is Korlai lighthouse and one needs to enter the lighthouse area to gain access to the fort. The parking area for few cars is available at Rs.20 and same as entrance ticket for the Korlai lighthouse.
There are steps leading to Korlai fort, however, they are ruined and quite steep for elders to climb. My parents staying back while we climbed up. As we climbed up the steep path, the elevation achieved was making the view beautiful ... more and more with every few steps! The fortification is around 15-20 feet in height and it is important you get to a maximum height within the fort to get the view of grandeur! The fort has a complete 360 degree view of Arabian sea and a treat to watch. With sun scorching so hard, we found it difficult to spend more time; 20 minutes was fair!
We got down and climbed the lighthouse. The lighthouse as any, has steep stairs and offers beautiful view of the Korlai beach. The view from the fort is obviously exotic while one need not miss the view from the lighthouse as well.
We then started towards Kashid Beach. 12 kms from Korlai fort, one cannot miss Kashid Beach. This is one of the best beaches in Maharashtra with a view of thick pine trees, white sand and clean beach. There are shacks and small rooms available nearby and people camp here. We spent around 15-20 minutes in Kashid beach and the time was memorable. The view from the beach is absolutely beautiful. Kashid beach also had some water sports like banana water ride and water scooters.
We were hungry by now and reached Murud for lunch - 17 kms from Kashid. We had lunch in Hotel Shoreline. They freshly prepared the order of Jeera rice, veg pulao, dal, veg sabji. All were quite fair and decent. There were 1 or 2 other customers only as it was a weekday. We then checked in to Hotel Golden Swan beach resort. Golden Swan beach resort is one of the best places to stay in Murud. The cottages were very clean, spacious and absolutely comfortable. The resort had lot of shades for the visitors to walk around and relax. There are also private sitouts for every cottage. Access to beach is quite comfortable and we spent rest of the evening enjoying the sunset views. Padmadurg fort is a glance from the resort. Padmadurg fort is one of the forts which are completely located in Arabian sea and no tourists are allowed now.
The Murud beach is quite unique with less waves and beautiful black soil patterns. The sunset view was very relaxing with a nice breeze. Wish time just could freeze as the nature and wind soothes anyone.
We had dinner at the restaurant in the resort. The rice, rotis and Gobi kheema, chaas were absolutely good. Had a good nap!
Day-3
Up around 6:15, spent time on the beach in the morning followed by the buffet - uthappams, aloo parathas and bread. The food was quite good again. After breakfast by 8:45, we checked out and reached the Rajapuri boat jetty to get on the boat to Murud-Janjira fort.
Murud-Janjira fort is one of the famous forts in Maharashtra as it is fully on rock structure in mid of Arabian sea waters. Sail boats are available to reach this fort from the Rajpuri boat jetty. A boat sets course once it gets 25 people onboard, waits there and does a return of the set of tourists back after 45 minutes. One way journey takes around 15 minutes. By 9 AM, we were attempting to be early birds and when we reached, only one boat of single big group had set its course. In 5-10 mins, 25 people gathered and we were on the way. The Murud-Janjira fort was constructed by Sultan of Ahmednagar and was never captured. The fort had many cannons and could never by captured by any invaders.
Three unique things about the fort are:
1. The entry of the fort is unknown until anyone reached 20-30 feet close to the fort. The steps are hidden between the fortifications making it very secure and disabling enemies to plan.
2. The fort has the third biggest cannon in India, covering upto 12 kms of distance, giving the fort a great dimension to plan and attack approaching enemies.
3. The fort is oval shaped, had 5-storey palace and lot of storage supported by 2 big fresh water ponds. Also, there is a secret underground passage in the water leading to the mainland town of Murud.
These aspects provided greater edge for the fort and still stands as uncaptured, till united with India during the unity for Independence. We took a guide paying Rs.50 per head and it was useful to know lot of things from the guide.
We returned back to the land by 11:00 AM and set the map to Mumbai. The return trip to Mumbai is same route via Kashid - Alibaug - Panvel. It took close to 5 hours for the road condition and traffic to reach Mumbai apart from the lunch break. We had lunch at the outskirts of Alibaug around 1 PM.
We reached Mumbai by 4:30 and checked in at Hotel Kumkum near Minerva theatre - around 2 kms from the Girgaon Chowpathy beach. The rooms in Hotel Kumkum were very good - spacious, clean, and very good hospitality and service from reception. We also got extra bed for the child immediately. We requested our cab driver to drop us at Girgaon Chowpathy beach before we release the cab.
We spent the evening by having Pav bhaji at Sukh Sagar snacks and then reaching the Girgaon Chowpathy beach. We spent around 90 minutes enjoying the evening breeze and marine drive view along with sunset. We then enjoyed the local good and had great gastronomical delight at the food stall of Girgaon Chowpathy beach. We had cheese veg sandwich, pani poori, cheese dosa, kechiya masala pappad, ragada pattice, malai kulfi with rabdi and ended with a very good beda. Beach, evenings and food in Mumbai - who does not want to have this combo!
Day-4
We ordered breakfast for room service - idlies, poha and upma - all were absolutely good at Hotel Kumkum. We then checked out and complete the Mumbai sight seeing before leaving back to Chennai. We requested the same cab for a day for Rs.2200 (8 hr / 80 kms) and he obliged. We drove through Worli beach and then Bandra-Worli sea link. The charge for a car to go through the sealink is Rs.70.
Next, we went through the Bandra area - cited celebrity houses, The Taj - Lands end and Band stand. The shore at the Band stand is rocky and cannot enter the sea. However, a walk by the shoreline is always interesting and relaxing.
Juhu beach is one of the happening beaches in Mumbai with lot of water sports. We reached the beach around 9:30 AM and it was quite nice a sight of lot of people in the mornings in the beach and enjoying the sea breeze with time in water sports. We spent around 20 - 30 minutes here in the beach.
Around 20 kms from Juhu is SGNP - Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivalli. The plan was to visit Kanheri Caves and then if time permits, visit the zoo at SGNP. The Kanheri caves are located deep inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park - around 7 kms from the SGNP entrance area. A fee is collected as entrance to the SGNP - Rs.58 per adult, Rs.31 per child and Rs.195 for a car. We had pay for the driver as well. Quite high for an entry to an area and again, we need to buy ASI site entry fee (Rs.25 per adult) to enter Kanheri caves. The Kanheri caves are dated back to 1 BC and are believed to be one of the oldest cave formations of India. There are 109 caves in the location. The road to Kanheri caves is well laid and the whole place is a forest.
The caves are Buddhist shrines and an important place of prominence during the Buddhist settlement. Out of the 109, hardly 5 caves have the sculptures. Rest of the caves have a plinth like structure where people can sit and meditate or take rest. The caves with sculptures are Cave 3, 11, 34, 41, 67 and 87. The cave with sculptures are not so ornamental, however couple of them have big Buddhist sculptures and stupa. Cave 3 has a large Avalokiteshvara sculpture. One of the caves has a magnificent meditation centre - very good acoustics. The sun was quite harsh on the day and we made a quick walk around the caves. Rest of the caves are all very near to each other and almost all have a plinth like structure and nothing more. The pathway is maintained really well and at places quite steep for elders. One can cover all caves in 90 minutes, however, apart from the mentioned numbers nothing really holds any sculptures.
We spent around 45 minutes and turned back after seeing most of the sculpted caves. There is nice local canteen selling hot bhajjis, aloo vada and samosas. The snack was very good after the walk around. Beware of monkeys all along the caves. We then came down and stopped for a lion and tiger safari at SGNP.
The lion and tiger safari comes at a charge of Rs.77 per person and every 30 minutes the safari vehicle operates. Surprisingly, the safari vehicle drive us into big areas of lion and tiger and shows them in the cages ! wow ... never ever one can imagine to take a safari and see the big cats in cages ! Enough and we came back in 30 minutes ! Not worth the time or spend !
The driver took us to Hotel Radhakrishna at Andheri West. There was a waiting time of 20 minutes; however, we had very good food - Sambhar rice, curd rice, Kebab pulao, roti and tawa mix veg. All items were absolutely very good. The ambiance, service, food quality and cleanliness all gets a thumbs up.
We reached the airport back by 2:45 after completing the tour as per the plan!
Trip date: 28, 29, 30 and 31 March 2019
Trip Plan : Chennai - Mumbai - Alibaug - Kashid - Murud - Mumbai - Chennai
Day-1 - Mumbai local sight seeing
Day-2 - Mumbai - Alibaug - Kashid - Murud
Day-3 - Murud - Mumbai - Mumbai local sight seeing
Day-4 - Mumbai local sight seeing
- Mumbai – Alibag – 95 kms (3 hr - if started early morning, else may be even 4-5 hours!)
- Alibag – Kashid – 34 kms (1 hr)
- Kashid – Murud – 17 kms (30 mins)
Day-1
Started by 6:45 AM Indigo flight to Mumbai, we landed around 8:30 AM. We had booked cab through online for 4 hours - 40 kms package and it was readily waiting at 9 AM. We took the baggage and boarded the car.
Our first stop was the SiddhiVinayak temple. Being Thursday, there was no queue in the temple. This temple is a very auspicious temple in Mumbai and We had a very comfortable dharshan. There is free chappal stand near the temple; do not budge to the hawkers to leave the chappals for free and buy something in the shop. Camera is not allowed in the temple premises so as photography. However, mobiles are allowed. There is a cloak room near the temple to deposit camera and bags. We came out in 10 minutes and had some local snack - Misal Pav at Hotel Siddhivinayak.
Next, we crossed through Haji Ali Dargah and then stopped at Mahalakshmi Temple. Photography is allowed outside the temple and not inside. Again, here, there was no crowd at all and had a very pleasant and peaceful dharshan of the Goddess. We had dharshan in 5-10 minutes and came back.
The driver then showed us Antilla, the house of Ambanis. The towering modern house is around a km from Mahalakshmi temple and who does not want to see it. The driver was a mature person to show us what he could in 4 hours and next drove through Girgaon Chowpathy beach and then through the marine drive. We stopped momentarily by the marine drive towards the end and recorded some memories. The driver offered to stop at Taraporewala Aquarium, but, we were not interested. It was almost 11:45 by then. We saw Chattrapathi Shivaji railway Terminus and then got down at Hotel Colaba Suites.
 |
| The tallest skyscraper under construction |
 |
| BEST ! |
 |
| Antilla |
 |
| On the marine drive ... |
 |
| Queen's necklace .... |
 |
| Rajabhai Clock Tower |
 |
| Chattrapathi Shivaji railway Terminus |
We then walked down to Gateway of India. First, we cited Hotel Taj from outside - which is just opposite to the Gateway of India; infact the hotel is a "bigger" landmark. We walked by the road adjacent to Arabian Sea towards Gateway of India. Gateway of India is an Arch monument built by the British to welcome the King and Queen who landed in India in 1911. The monument was completed in 1924. The waterfront here is called Apollo bunder. The Taj hotel is just opposite to Gateway of India. One cant take the eyes off seeing the Taj Hotel from outside. We spent around 0 minutes around the monument.
As we were going around, the tickets for last boat to Elephant caves were getting sold around 2:40 PM. We were not really planning to goto Elephanta caves; however, got lured by the moment and bought the tickets. It is Rs.200 per person - 2 way. Elephanta caves are on the Elephanta Island. The boat ride on the Arabian Sea was quite scenic - looking back at Gateway of India and Hotel Taj from the waters, lots of yachts and ships around. It takes exactly 60 minutes for us to reach Elephanta caves. The boat is at 2 levels, the boatmen collect Rs.10 for the upper deck. We went by the lower deck. We reached Elephanta caves jetty by 4 PM. The walk to the caves from the jetty is little steep and difficult for elders and people with ailments. Around 400m of the walkway can be transported by a toy train - Rs.10 per person. This is one third of the distance. The rest two-thirds is a climb. There are lots of shops for souvenirs and eating; however, lot of monkeys as well. We reached the top by 20 minutes.
Elephanta caves is an ASI - UNESCO site. The Elephanta caves has rock cut caves and sculptures. There are 7 caves in the place. The cave 1 is the best of all for the massive and beautiful rock cut sculptures. The caves are dated back to 5th century. This cave has a main entrance and a side entrance. The most important sculptures are Trimurthi, Lord Shiva and Parvathy, Lord Natraja, an Arthanareswarar sculpture and a Shivalinga. The pillars are also ornamental in few places.
The caves 2,3 and 4 have very less or no sculptures. The cave 2 had couple of large sculptures and more dilapidated.
Further down, we preferred not to continue as they had no sculptures. Given that the crowd is wrapping up and all might plight towards the boat for the return journey, we decided to turn around and go back. the boats are not fixed to go and return; tickets taken, we can board any board that goes back to Gateway of India. Restrooms are available on the way to the boat jetty. We walked down the stairs, bought a souvenir and boarded the boat back. There is a location called Cannon hill view in the island, which we skipped. We were back on the boat by 5:15 ad the 1 hour return journey was eventful watching the sun go down by the breezy evening and a grand view of the Mumbai-Colaba skyline.
We reached back Gateway of India, had samosas and tea in a roadside shop - samosas were amazing ! We had dinner at Hotel Kailash Parbat again, Tawa Pulav, Pav bhaji, chapathis and sabjis. No complaints on the taste and quality of food. Post dinner, we did a leisure walk to Gateway of India and spent around 1 hour as the Gateway of India and Taj were illuminated.
Day-2
Booked the car online for 2 days, to cover the beautiful Konkan beaches and sprawling forts by the Arabian sea. We checked out and started by 6:30 from Colaba towards Alibaug through Panvel. We stopped near Panvel at Hotel Sri Dutt snacks - a small road outlet serving amazing local good - Vada pav, Upma, Poha, Thali Peet, Thaak, Misal pav. We had several of those small portions and each of them were very good. The day's tone got set with this breakfast and towards Alibaug.
The roads are curvy and narrow. Average speeds of 60-70 kmph is the norm and plan accordingly. First, we stopped at Alibaug beach. Two immediate things to notice as one sees the beach are : beach sports and the Kolaba fort on the right side. There are few beach sports here in Alibaug beach like horse riding, 4-wheel bike rides. We saw the Kolaba fort and it looked quite big than what we thought. A walk to the fort by the beach and through the waters is possible when it is low tide - till 1 PM. Else, one needs to use a boat to cross. There are 2 options to reach the fort during low tide - by walk and by horse cart. One third of the distance is through knee high water. We preferred to go by horse cart - Rs.100 per person including waiting and return journey.
The Kolaba fort was one of the forts ruled by the great Maratha king Shivaji. The fort was then used by Portuguese, Sidhis and then the British. It takes around 30 - 45 minutes to get around the fort and enjoy the beautiful views. The entry fee is Rs.25 per person. The fort hosts a Ganesh temple as well. The fortification is quite damaged and one needs to walk carefully on the fortifications. There is a rear arch to the fort facing the Arabian sea and the place is picturesque.
The plan was to visit Nagaon beach, but given the hot weather and other forts and beaches to visit, we skipped Nagaon beach and next went to Korlai fort. All the way enroute, the route is quite interesting with curves, small bridges and beaches on one side. Korlai fort is present before the Kashid beach (12 kms) over a hillock when travelling from Alibaug (17 kms from Nagaon beach). The fort is a quite an elevation and gives a spell bounding view of the Arabian sea in almost 360 degree view. The fort had been built by Portuguese for a great sight of Arabian sea to have control in the area. The very narrow cement road on the hillock by the beach was guided by google maps. At a time, only one vehicle can go on this road as the road is very narrow. There is Korlai lighthouse and one needs to enter the lighthouse area to gain access to the fort. The parking area for few cars is available at Rs.20 and same as entrance ticket for the Korlai lighthouse.
There are steps leading to Korlai fort, however, they are ruined and quite steep for elders to climb. My parents staying back while we climbed up. As we climbed up the steep path, the elevation achieved was making the view beautiful ... more and more with every few steps! The fortification is around 15-20 feet in height and it is important you get to a maximum height within the fort to get the view of grandeur! The fort has a complete 360 degree view of Arabian sea and a treat to watch. With sun scorching so hard, we found it difficult to spend more time; 20 minutes was fair!
We got down and climbed the lighthouse. The lighthouse as any, has steep stairs and offers beautiful view of the Korlai beach. The view from the fort is obviously exotic while one need not miss the view from the lighthouse as well.
We then started towards Kashid Beach. 12 kms from Korlai fort, one cannot miss Kashid Beach. This is one of the best beaches in Maharashtra with a view of thick pine trees, white sand and clean beach. There are shacks and small rooms available nearby and people camp here. We spent around 15-20 minutes in Kashid beach and the time was memorable. The view from the beach is absolutely beautiful. Kashid beach also had some water sports like banana water ride and water scooters.
We were hungry by now and reached Murud for lunch - 17 kms from Kashid. We had lunch in Hotel Shoreline. They freshly prepared the order of Jeera rice, veg pulao, dal, veg sabji. All were quite fair and decent. There were 1 or 2 other customers only as it was a weekday. We then checked in to Hotel Golden Swan beach resort. Golden Swan beach resort is one of the best places to stay in Murud. The cottages were very clean, spacious and absolutely comfortable. The resort had lot of shades for the visitors to walk around and relax. There are also private sitouts for every cottage. Access to beach is quite comfortable and we spent rest of the evening enjoying the sunset views. Padmadurg fort is a glance from the resort. Padmadurg fort is one of the forts which are completely located in Arabian sea and no tourists are allowed now.
The Murud beach is quite unique with less waves and beautiful black soil patterns. The sunset view was very relaxing with a nice breeze. Wish time just could freeze as the nature and wind soothes anyone.
We had dinner at the restaurant in the resort. The rice, rotis and Gobi kheema, chaas were absolutely good. Had a good nap!
Day-3
Up around 6:15, spent time on the beach in the morning followed by the buffet - uthappams, aloo parathas and bread. The food was quite good again. After breakfast by 8:45, we checked out and reached the Rajapuri boat jetty to get on the boat to Murud-Janjira fort.
Murud-Janjira fort is one of the famous forts in Maharashtra as it is fully on rock structure in mid of Arabian sea waters. Sail boats are available to reach this fort from the Rajpuri boat jetty. A boat sets course once it gets 25 people onboard, waits there and does a return of the set of tourists back after 45 minutes. One way journey takes around 15 minutes. By 9 AM, we were attempting to be early birds and when we reached, only one boat of single big group had set its course. In 5-10 mins, 25 people gathered and we were on the way. The Murud-Janjira fort was constructed by Sultan of Ahmednagar and was never captured. The fort had many cannons and could never by captured by any invaders.
Three unique things about the fort are:
1. The entry of the fort is unknown until anyone reached 20-30 feet close to the fort. The steps are hidden between the fortifications making it very secure and disabling enemies to plan.
2. The fort has the third biggest cannon in India, covering upto 12 kms of distance, giving the fort a great dimension to plan and attack approaching enemies.
3. The fort is oval shaped, had 5-storey palace and lot of storage supported by 2 big fresh water ponds. Also, there is a secret underground passage in the water leading to the mainland town of Murud.
These aspects provided greater edge for the fort and still stands as uncaptured, till united with India during the unity for Independence. We took a guide paying Rs.50 per head and it was useful to know lot of things from the guide.
We returned back to the land by 11:00 AM and set the map to Mumbai. The return trip to Mumbai is same route via Kashid - Alibaug - Panvel. It took close to 5 hours for the road condition and traffic to reach Mumbai apart from the lunch break. We had lunch at the outskirts of Alibaug around 1 PM.
We reached Mumbai by 4:30 and checked in at Hotel Kumkum near Minerva theatre - around 2 kms from the Girgaon Chowpathy beach. The rooms in Hotel Kumkum were very good - spacious, clean, and very good hospitality and service from reception. We also got extra bed for the child immediately. We requested our cab driver to drop us at Girgaon Chowpathy beach before we release the cab.
We spent the evening by having Pav bhaji at Sukh Sagar snacks and then reaching the Girgaon Chowpathy beach. We spent around 90 minutes enjoying the evening breeze and marine drive view along with sunset. We then enjoyed the local good and had great gastronomical delight at the food stall of Girgaon Chowpathy beach. We had cheese veg sandwich, pani poori, cheese dosa, kechiya masala pappad, ragada pattice, malai kulfi with rabdi and ended with a very good beda. Beach, evenings and food in Mumbai - who does not want to have this combo!
Day-4
We ordered breakfast for room service - idlies, poha and upma - all were absolutely good at Hotel Kumkum. We then checked out and complete the Mumbai sight seeing before leaving back to Chennai. We requested the same cab for a day for Rs.2200 (8 hr / 80 kms) and he obliged. We drove through Worli beach and then Bandra-Worli sea link. The charge for a car to go through the sealink is Rs.70.
Next, we went through the Bandra area - cited celebrity houses, The Taj - Lands end and Band stand. The shore at the Band stand is rocky and cannot enter the sea. However, a walk by the shoreline is always interesting and relaxing.
Juhu beach is one of the happening beaches in Mumbai with lot of water sports. We reached the beach around 9:30 AM and it was quite nice a sight of lot of people in the mornings in the beach and enjoying the sea breeze with time in water sports. We spent around 20 - 30 minutes here in the beach.
Around 20 kms from Juhu is SGNP - Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivalli. The plan was to visit Kanheri Caves and then if time permits, visit the zoo at SGNP. The Kanheri caves are located deep inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park - around 7 kms from the SGNP entrance area. A fee is collected as entrance to the SGNP - Rs.58 per adult, Rs.31 per child and Rs.195 for a car. We had pay for the driver as well. Quite high for an entry to an area and again, we need to buy ASI site entry fee (Rs.25 per adult) to enter Kanheri caves. The Kanheri caves are dated back to 1 BC and are believed to be one of the oldest cave formations of India. There are 109 caves in the location. The road to Kanheri caves is well laid and the whole place is a forest.
The caves are Buddhist shrines and an important place of prominence during the Buddhist settlement. Out of the 109, hardly 5 caves have the sculptures. Rest of the caves have a plinth like structure where people can sit and meditate or take rest. The caves with sculptures are Cave 3, 11, 34, 41, 67 and 87. The cave with sculptures are not so ornamental, however couple of them have big Buddhist sculptures and stupa. Cave 3 has a large Avalokiteshvara sculpture. One of the caves has a magnificent meditation centre - very good acoustics. The sun was quite harsh on the day and we made a quick walk around the caves. Rest of the caves are all very near to each other and almost all have a plinth like structure and nothing more. The pathway is maintained really well and at places quite steep for elders. One can cover all caves in 90 minutes, however, apart from the mentioned numbers nothing really holds any sculptures.
We spent around 45 minutes and turned back after seeing most of the sculpted caves. There is nice local canteen selling hot bhajjis, aloo vada and samosas. The snack was very good after the walk around. Beware of monkeys all along the caves. We then came down and stopped for a lion and tiger safari at SGNP.
The lion and tiger safari comes at a charge of Rs.77 per person and every 30 minutes the safari vehicle operates. Surprisingly, the safari vehicle drive us into big areas of lion and tiger and shows them in the cages ! wow ... never ever one can imagine to take a safari and see the big cats in cages ! Enough and we came back in 30 minutes ! Not worth the time or spend !
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| Identify the big cat ! Lion or Tiger ? |
We reached the airport back by 2:45 after completing the tour as per the plan!
