Alibaug One Day 5 Places - Kolaba Fort, Korlai Fort, Murud - Janjira Fort, Kashid Beach and Birla Mandir

Bhandup departure 05:00am

This time only 4 of us(as most of our other friends were at their respective native places) we decided to go Alibaug 3 days prior to Saturday. On Saturday early morning at 5.30 am were off to Alibaug in our friend's red Indica Vista. I guess everyone's well aware that only struggle when you want to go to a picnic is waking up too early in the morning(that's why mostly our other journeys start at night to reach the place early morning).Ones you go in the shower and all your sleep just vanishes and you're ready for the excitement.

Karnala Fort view 06:15am

               Around 6.15 am we see the sky begin brightening with the sun rays near the Karnala Sanctuary(Great view).and around 07.45am we were at our first destination Alibaug Beach.I still remember the day it was Lord Hanuman Jayanti so many temple and villages there were having ceremonies.

             Passing through the lush green and ancient village of Revadanda the roadway goes through one of the arches in the fort so some part of the fort is visible but not enough as the Revadanda fort it very vast standing across the Revadanda beach(famous for its unique black sand).

             Low tide on the beach and the way to Kolaba fort(also known as Kulaba fort) is quiet easy without a boat(although dangerous as you never know where the continental shelf starts). Mostly people go by boat to the fort which has a temple, water tanks etc. We didn't go inside the fort but took a few photos there. Nothing much to do on the beach we decided to take a leave for our next destination after strolling on the beach for about and hour.Our next spot was Korlai Fort.

Kolaba(Kulaba) Fort, Alibaug Beach

White Throated Kingfisher

Green Bee Eater

   It was going to take 20 to 25 minutes to reach Korlai so we had some breakfast and continued.On reaching Korlai it was all fisherman populated place and Christians had some Portuguese descents living there. All fishes drying on the concrete plains , Korlai is situated alongside the sea shore on a hilly area.The walls of the fort are visible from a distance down giving you the idea of the fort being super small(which took us by surprise later on).On the way you are able to view beautiful birds like Green Bee Eater, White Throated Kingfisher(and also various other species).

Way to Korlai fort

             The stairway to the fort starts from a Navy light house at the base,the stairway is not ancient it was built later on for easy access to the fort and takes you to a small doorway inside the fort.
             Not great with knowledge on forts but looking at the fort architecture, the way the arches and carving looked gave a conclusion of the fort being built by the Portuguese. Not much big in terms of width but the length of the fort was vast spread.

Entrance of Korlai fort

            Left side of the fort on entrance gives you the way to the watch tower and on the right side lies the rest of the fort including Lord Shiva Temple, Fresh water well, The fort's huge Main Entrance Gate, ancient Portuguese Church in ruins, Canons and at the very end other watch tower.

Fort wall view from the base

           Portuguese scriptures can also be seen on walls and from one of the watch towers you can also see the Famous Revadanda Fort and Beach all surrounded by coconut and other palm plantation. The fresh water from the well is used for the plants planted on the fort and also for some reconstruction activities. And the old church is a place to give you the feels about the historic event that happened there. We all waited to relax in the church taking all the cool breeze that almos made us all sleep but we had to make a move to see the rest of the fort.

Above are some of the pics that we took while on the fort. At around 12.30 pm we left Korlai fort after spending satisfactory time and went to Kashid Beach. As always being a famous tourist spot Kashid beach is full of people playing water sports and in the water even in the super heat of the summer. Seeing that we headed to have lunch in the near by hotel and went to see our next place which was Murud - Janjira fort. Half day went and we covered 2 spots and more two to go.

Spectacular view of Murud - Janjira Fort

About 20 - 25 minutes away from Kashid beach Murud - Janjira village has majority of Muslim population but the Muslims can speak fluent Marathi with the visiting tourist. Has car parking facility near the beach and boat services to go to the fort. We bought our tickets and waited for our ferry and within a matter of 15 - 20 minutes we were inside the fort. Its recommended to tour the fort with a guide as Murud - Janjira is a super vast fort and one day is not enough for seeing all the places and monuments in it. The guide can give you detail information as well as tour you the important not to miss places on the fort. Ancient relics , watch towers , grand palace, queens  room, Gunpowder storage, Freshwater ponds, Secret exit ways, Ancient tombs huhhhh!!...... there is a lot to see.

 Listening the stories about Siddhi Johar who built the fort and how Shivaji Maharaj was unsuccessful in winning it and Sambhaji Maharaj almost captured the super strong Murud - Janjira fort bring a proud feeling that even though we never won the fort but today this great infrastructure is a part of Maharashtra.

 

Boat service for Murud - Janjira

Canons (Names- Kalalbangadi, Chavari, Landakasam)

Due to limited time provided by the boat service we explored fort in a rush and around 03:45 pm we started heading back to the shore in our ferry and sat in out car arriving to our next spot Kashid beach. The heat was going down and environment was becoming cool and was a perfect time to spend on the beach. All eucalyptus trees, soft sand on the beach and we changed our clothes in the car and started having fun in the sea water

         
And nobody needs an explanation on how fun it is to enjoy in the sea...lolzz!!!

Around 06:30 pm we went into our car to change after playing in the water for around 2 hours and

were heading towards our last destination that is Birla Mandir in Roha(also the nearest railway station to Alibaug). On our way we also saw the ancient Nawab's Palace which cannot be visited as its a private property.

Photography is strictly prohibited here. We spend some pretty good time in the temple which surrounded by green gardens and sane silence.

          This is how we covered our six decided places on our list in Alibaug and it didn't felt super rushed and hushed throughout the day as we were able to spend ample amount of time on each places. Around 09.00 pm we we departed from Alibaug and reached home by 12.00 am.

                                                                                                       Thank you

New Update: Weekend visit Kihim Beach (21 Jan 2017)

  So this time I revisited Alibaug with my other friends in my building. this time a different location which I never visited before(honestly one of the best places in Alibaug). It is Mandava where we stayed and Kihim beach. We didn't visit much of the other tourist place which I did before which I wish I had a good camera at that time so that I could shoot the place i visited before in 2015. 

     Now I had the opportunity to shoot Kihim beach which I have added on my Youtube channel.

    So this time we stayed at a really good place(one of the relatives of my mates has a bungalow in Mandava) with all facilities and some relaxing things that every farm house has.

* A lotus pond with Koi and Gold fishes (can stare at them all day)

* A beautifully maintained front garden with many fruit trees.

* Meal in front porch

* Swings in the front garden to rest on etc

  Sounds like a vacation but I really wished we could stay more!!!! (Not to mention the fact that we actually talked about ghost stories till late night)

So I would like to mention the one beach we visited for fun. Kihim beach is actually now very famous amongst tourist. A once very silent beach has now a lot of cars parked near it and many food stalls and also decent amount of water sports.

 I was able to see two forts from the shore, very vaguely as Khanderi fort is too far off that i couldn't capture even the tiniest bit of it in my mobile camera but was able to capture a very vague glimpse of Underi fort from the shore.

 Every one knows the  awesomeness we feel on beach area. And the food and coconut water we have near it has its own unique feeling.

Here's the link to my Kihim beach video on my Youtube channel:

                                                                                                 Thank you