Weekend Trip to the "Gibraltar of the East".

[NiteshP]

After booking our accommodation and dumping our stuff at the hotel we returned to the caves. After climbing the 100 odd steps we reached the top. But to our disappointment there was not much to see, although the view from top was amazing. Here a few snaps.

View from the top

Empty caves.

It started raining again so we rushed down the steps and drove back to Mahad. There are a lot of hotels available in Mahad to suite every bodies budget. After having tea we left the hotel and decided to check out the place. Went around the market place, but there was nothing exciting about this town to write home about, its just like any other sleepy konkani town. Decided to called it day since we had to start early in the morning next day - our destination was Raigad.

Will post the remaining part soon..

 

[Zinam]

Photos are really excellent!

So the above place (4th Pic from Top) can also be called as Great Wall of India :)

 

[sriharsha]

@ nitesh
you had the ac on even when it was raining? there is complete greenery everywhere in all the pics. still you kept the ac on? i would be dead for sure.

 

[NiteshP]

Yes Sriharsha, the AC was running during the entire trip, it helps prevent dust and other things entering the car, interiors remain pretty clean.

 

[Arun]

Your car is so well maintained!!I envy you!

Driving in such awesome atmosphere must have been a great experience!!

 

[RSM]

Nice detailed report Nitesh.

 

[NiteshP]

Hi Friends,

Its been a while since I started posting on this website, started this thread almost three years ago. But certain commitments at office and Home front kept me away.
Anyways, I am posing some more photographs from this trip and a few more which were taken last year, been there twice since I started this thread.

Hope you would enjoy these pics taken enroute.












The road before the climb begins...

 

[NiteshP]

Here's another set taken after reaching about half way up. The fort, which rises 820 metres above sea level, is located in the Sahyadri mountain range.



The peak peeping out of the clouds on the left in the photo below is called the "Takmak Tok". It is beleived be a cliff from which the sentenced prisoners were thrown to their death.







Raigad covered in Mist



That's my Xeta...

 

[NiteshP]

The Ropeway.....
In 1996 a this rope way was setup by a private company for people who wanted to avoid the steep climb of nearly 1450 steps and three and a half hours of extreme demands on your physical stamina, that leaves you too exhausted.

After parking the car and getting our stomach's full, we decided use the ropeway for going up and planned to walkdown during our descend.





Empty cars going down..



Finally we reached the top... this is the ropeway station on the fort covered in cloud..



Will post the other pictures soon.

 

[anisghos]

Excellent "green" pictures.. Loved so much of greenery.. The clouds, the mists, the rains all added up to the beauty of the pictures...

Keep them coming..

 

[Thetraveller]

Raigad in mist/cloud looks awesome. Really great green pictures. That part of the country is sooo green. It soothes the eye everytime you see it

 

[singh890]

Excellent pictures, everything is just awesome, the greenery, mountains, mist, rain. It's just beautiful. And the i really liked the very first picture of your thread. Nice road, which is a very rare sight.

 

[NiteshP]

Although the ropeway took us to the top in less than five minutes, those five minutes seemed to be no less than five hours... Why?

Imagine sitting in a contraption that has Ice Cold metal seats, no safety belts, a flimsy lock that holds the door from opening and a huge rock placed on the floor between the four seats facing each other. Now to make it more interesting imagine that this metal cage is suspended from steel ropes that run hundreds of meters before disapering in clouds above you. That's the Raigad Ropeway for you.

As the ropeway started moving up I couldnt resist clicking away whatever I was able to capture. The Ice cold seat, the lack of safety belt and other worrying thoughts just flew off my mind..... but that was before we entered the clouds. As soon as the cab entered the clouds things were diffrent thought, suddenly mist/water droplets/ condensation.. whatever you want to call it was all around, the camera could not focus on anything, visibilty was almost zero and I could barely see the guy sitting in front of me. The fun part was next.... strong gust of wind was making the cab sway from side to side, suddenly I realized the purpose of the huge rock placed in the middle of the floor

Nobody was talking to anybody and then after a minute and a lot of anxious movements, I saw that we were approaching a strange looking structure which turned out to be the ropeway station on the fort. I jumped out of the cab as soon as it came to halt.... Aushutosh had jumped already. The mist had painted everything in white and whatever was visible looked very hazy. The entire setting was very spooky it seemed like a diffrent world altogether.... a world devoid of colour... it seemed like we were watching black and white television.

I will let the photos do the talking for themselves, here are a few snaps that I took after reaching the top.









More to follow soon.

 

[NiteshP]

Raigad is one of the well preserved forts of Maharashtra, here's a set of photo's taken on the fort.

The palace of Shivaji Maharaj once stood here, the wooden roof is long gone, only the stone wall's remain.

The throne of Maratha empire, this a fiber replica, the original is in britan I guess...

One more...

This was taken inside a Archway known as the "Nagarkhana" which was the grand entrance to the courtyard. It is said that the acoustics of the courtyard were such that even a faint whisper would echo across the hall.

The Coronation of Shivaji Maharaj happened in this Courtyard. It is said that the ceremony was performed in presence of twenty thousand priests and was precided by the famous priest from varnasi called "Gaga Bhatt"

This is the "Palkhi Darwaja", it is said that this entrance was used exclusively by Shivaji maharaj to access his palace and the courtyard.

The "Jagdishwar Mandir", is the temple dedicated to lord shiva. Its situated some distance on the northen side of the fort way from the palace and the courtyard.

Inside the "Jagdishwar Mandir"

Just behind the temple is one of the most important place on the fort, Its the tomb of Chattarapati Shivaji Maharaj. He died on this fort on 3rd April 1680.

just Behind the Tomb, there is a memorial constucted for Shivaji Maharaj's faithful dog "Waghya". It is said that after Shivaji's death waghya also jumped to his death.... not sure if it is true, but the locals say that it is.

 

[NiteshP]

Here's an Interesting one.. This is some text carved in the stone near the tomb of Shivaji Maharaj, it is called the "pratipat chandra lekh" and talks about the construction of the fort.