Ramshej fort near Nasik on Nasik Gujarat Highway

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Ramsej or Ramshej Fort is located around 10 KM away from the city of Nasik, in Maharashtra. One has to travel on the Peth road, which is the Nasik Gujarat Highway. From the Aashewadi Phata there is a road that leads to Aashewadi village, which is the base village to Ramshej fort.

Ramshej fort

Manohar, Vineet and Thomas joined me in exploring Ramshej Fort, Chambhar Leni Caves and Pandav Leni Caves, all in the Nasik belt.

Foggy roads

We met at Ghatkopar in the east at 5:20 AM. The route is tagged on Google Maps. Ramshej Fort is around 180 KM away. We then headed via the Eastern Express Highway to Kalyan, for the final pit stop to refill on CNG. By 6 AM we were at the CNG pumping station. As there is was no crowd we filled the car with gas and headed over the Mumbai  Nasik Highway. As there was less crowd on the road, we picked up on speed. We were greeted by foggy roads. The fog was so intense that we could hardly see the vehicles a couple of feet away. It was fun travelling in the fog.  Finally the fog gave way to bright sunlight.

Watchout for this signboard near Aashewadi Phata

Kanda Bhajiya at Hotel Shri Krushna near Aashewadi Phata

Due to a small accident on the highway, we were stuck for almost 45 minutes. Somehow the roads cleared out and we started on our journey. 

Manohar picked up speed and we kept moving on the highway. As the route was tagged on  google maps, we didn't have to ask people around for directions. 

Ram Mandir next to Ramshej Fort

Fortification of Ramshej Fort

We traveled by the Nasik Flyover as we wanted to skip the signals and finally on the Peth Road. We stopped at Aashewadi Phata. 

There are a two hotels here, on either side of the road. We decided to try the food at Shri Krushna Hotel. It serves Jain Food and along with Veg Food. I ordered the Kanda Bhajiya. Doesn't the photo look yummy. The Kanda Bhajiya was spicy, it bought tears down by cheeks, but that didn't stop me from eating them all. The food is costly. Don't recollect the price. Manohar any inputs on the cost? 

Another hill in a distance

We met Prakash at the hotel reception. He spoke English fluently. I was surprised to hear him speak. After enjoying the kanda bhajiya we asked him for directions. He asked us to travel on the road, till we reach a temple in Aashewadi village. Park the car near the temple and then walk it out to the fort. 

We drove the car to the Aashewadi village. Aashewadi village is a cluster of around 15 to 20 houses. We parked the car  near the temple premises. We then started our trek to Ramshej Fort. 

Stairs leading to the fort

We exited the village and then took a right and saw a track, crossed the barb wire and walked on the cemented road. The cemented road, then turned to stairs and finally we were climbing rocks to reach the top. It was ziz zag way till the top. 

View from Ramshej Fort

Ramshej means Lord Rams bedstead. During exile he had made this fort his residence for sometime. That's how the fort got its name. During the reign of Sambhaji, Aurangzeb tried to conquer this fort. Sambhaji and his men resisted the attacks for around 6 years.

The view of the hill near the fort is amazing. Greenery all around us. We kept climbing and finally in 45 minutes we were atop the fort. At the entrance of the fort is the Ram Mandir. There is a cave below the temple, it provides fresh drinking water.

That's us

Atop the fort there is very little fortification left. On the left hand side is a plateau. It offers a wonderful view for of the land around.
There are a couple of caves on the Fort premises. They are not in use. They must have been used for storing and boarding purposes. They were not Buddhist nor Jain nor Hindu Caves.

Caves atop Ramshej Fort

There are a couple of water tanks cut out in the rock. Not sure how deep they are. It still has water filled in them. But the water is not suitable for drinking purposes as the water color has turned green. 

We walked a little ahead, we saw a temple, painted white. There were people sitting in it discussing some issue . We didn't want to bother them , so we decided to move ahead and view the fort.

Fortification of Ramshej Fort

Fortification of Ramshej Fort

Nothing much to see on the Fort premises. Have to admit, the view it offers of the surrounding  is just amazing . Thanks to the sun , once again, I got to click some wonderful photos. It took us around 45 minutes to see the fort. We then decided to head back to base as we had Chamber Leni and Pandav Leni Caves to be explored.

There is no provision of food on the fort. Food is available at Aashewadi Phata. Also ST buses ply on this route, you can board one from Nasik. 

Water tank atop Ramshej Fort

Temple atop  atop Ramshej Fort

It took us 30 minutes to reach Aashewadi village. We then boarded the car and headed to Aashewadi Phata to have lunch, we had lunch at Hotel Dhanashri as they serve Non Veg Food. LOL. Lunch for us comprised of chicken rice plate and Dal Fry. Doesn't the food look yummy. It was a little expensive but the food was finger licking good. We paid around Rs.530 for a wholesome meal for four.

Hills in a distance

That's us

Lunch at Hotel Dhanashri

If you have noticed the signboards of both hotels are in Gujarati, as we were not far from the Gujarat border. Buses playing to Gujarat and Rajasthan ply from this road. 

We then traveled by the Peth Road to visit Chamber Leni Caves.

Malsej Ghat in Pune in Maharashtra

Monday, July 13, 2015

Malsej Ghat is situated in Pune District in Maharashtra.. It is located around 125 KM away from Mumbai (Ghatkopar Railway Station in the West) to be more precise. It can be reached by road. It lies on National Highway 222. 

Map

Malsej Ghat was on my to do list for quite sometime now. I wanted to explore it in the monsoons as the weather would be nice, plus there would be plenty of waterfalls on the way. 

NH222 to Malsej Ghat

I let Manohar and Dominic know about my plans. Don't you remember them, we had done Panchgani and Wai together. Oops I forgot to mention Kohoj. As decided we met at Ghatkopar Railway Station in the west. This is our common meetup point when on treks. We met at 8 AM. Wasting no time we set out to explore Malsej Ghat in Manohar's car. 

Hill Range covered with different shades of green

Map to Maslej Ghat from Ghatkopar Railway station is attached, so that you too can follow the same, if  you have Malsej Ghat on yout to do list.

It was hot and sunny when we headed out of Mumbai city limits, soon we crossed Kalyan and the weather  started changing. My eyes could see the different shades of green enroute to Malsej Ghat on National Highway NH 222. The color green has always been soothing to the eyes, it makes the eyes relax. 

The hill caps covered in clouds

We then braked for breakfast at Murbad. There are a couple of small shops outside the Murbad ST bus stand, who sell tea, vada pav, samosa, break cutlet, tea and fruits. We had some mouth watering vada pav, samosa and bread cutlet here. Manohar, do you want to talk about the samosa. 

We then headed off to Malsej Ghat, there are a couple of small villages on the way which also serve snacks and food apart from the the Dhaba's on NH222. 

Hill ranges

NH222, was now growing thinner and thinner, the road turned at every nook and corner, but it offered a beautiful view of Naneghat and the hill ranges next to it on one side and the villages in a distance on the other.  NH222 circles the Naneghat hillrange. The top of the hill range was in the clouds, though it was not raining, the weather was amazing. Cool winds blowing was making us feel good, had it rained it would have been much better.  As the weather was dull, I had to switch my phone camera on HDR mode to get some good photos of the hill range. This is also the first time I tried to take some panaromic photos of the hill ranges. 

NH222 has got good roads, but there are plenty of speed breakers which will stop you from speeding up the hills. 

View of Malsej Ghat

As NH222 passes through the  jungle, there was thick forestation around us. As it was the forest area we decided to drive without any pit stops, we meet villagers on either side of the road, who were selling Jambool (Syzygium cumini), and other fruits grown on the trees in the forest, we didn't stop for fruits.

After 2 1/2 hours we finally see the first waterfall, though it was small in size, it gathered a huge crowd to it. We didn't want to be part of the crowd and hence decided to drive up the narrow and curvy ghats to reach Malsej Ghat, we were sure to find many more waterfalls on the way.

View of the hills from Malsej Ghat tourist point

Through the way, there were bikers on Royal Enfield's that raced in the opposite directions, maybe they too had come to see Malsej Ghat. Reminded me of my bike trip with Massey to Indurigad and Sangramgad.

The journey to Malsej Ghat offers a wonderful view of the hill ranges covered in diferent shades of green, the villages and the waterfalls in a distance, which seemed to be inaccessible from here. 

Manohar, Dom and Me at Malsej Ghat

Note that there are many people who come to visit Malsej Ghat, so be prepared to be greeted by the mob; families and guy groups with drinks hang around here, to bathe in the waterfall. So the crowd is mixed bunch. There are policemen posted at all the major points on the way, so that there situation is under control. Though drinking is  not allowed here, but people still get away with it. Food is not available here. The only snack is corn smoked on charcoal fire garnished with lemon and chilly powder,  as our stomach's were full we didn't patronise the corn stalls. Hot corn on a rainy day is a lethal combo. 

View of the hill range

NH 222 is narrow and winding, ghat section, the cliff on one side and the valley on the other. So drive safely here, plus be careful, as there are landslides that happen in this part of the region, apart from the waterfalls that happen on the road. 

Finally we were at the entrance of Malsej Ghat tourist spot, MTDC has a few row houses. The Flamingo Restaurant, caters to the food needs of the tourists, but it is packed. the row houses offer a wonderful view of the Malsej Ghat, the tall hill ranges covered in green and the deep valley's below. Again the area around the MTDC hotel is a tourist attraction and gathers a huge crowd. 

Malsej Ghat

MTDC resorts offer the best view in Maharastra at the cheapest cost, so if you want to stay at MTDC you need to book month's in advance. 

The weather was dull and cloudy, not sure when it would rain, with no trees for shade we still decided to take our changes and walk  along the railing which offered  jaw dropping view of the valley below, the NH222 which cuts through the hill range. 

All off a sudden the sun sneaked out from the clouds, making us sweat, but that was not acceptable by the rain clouds, which soon hid it behind them, the weather was nice and cool, no sweat at all. The smell of the mud, I so love it. 

Another view of Malsej Ghat

Private vehicles and ST buses plying to Nagar i.e Ahmednagar halt at Malsej Ghat,  they depart either from Kalyan or Murbad. So  if you like to travel by public mode of transport, now you know what to do. 

We then headed off via the NH222 to Mumbai, as it was around 2 PM on my watch we had to brake for lunch, again we had mouth watering Chinese Food at one of the roadside dhaba on the way to Murbad, After our Wai roadtrip, chinese food is a must eat on our travel itinerary. 

That's Me

Finally after having our stomach full we headed off to Mumbai via the same way we came here. Usually we use car as the mode of transport to visit a hill fort or a hill station, but this is the first time we just drove all the way to Malsej Ghat in the car. I am loving it, hope to  have many more car rides in the furture. 

All this cost us just Rs.330 each. (Ghatkopar to Ghatkopar inclusive of food and travel) Budgeted ride.

Durgadi Fort in Kalyan

Monday, January 26, 2015

Just a day in advance, we decided to visit the Durgadi Fort in Kalyan.

Medu Vada at a local eatery

Masala Dosa at a local eatery

 Shilpa who had accompanied me to Ankai and Tankai forts   joined me in exploring Durgadi Fort.   

We decided on Thane station on the Central Line as our meeting point. Reason being, I stay on the Western Line and she stays on the Harbour Line. 

Statue of Shivaji

We met at 10:45 AM at Thane station and then boarded a Badlapur bound train at 10:48 AM to alight at Kalyan station at 11:07 AM.  

Now Kalyan is a busy station like Dadar because of two reasons.  All the outstation trains stop here and secondly it connects the Karjat and Kasara line on Central Railway. 

Entrance to Durgadi Fort

We had breakfast in the form of Medu Wada and Masala Dosa at one of the eateries outside the station and then asked for instructions to visit the Durgadi Fort. The hotel owner gave detailed instructions. He informed us to board a rickshaw or State Transport bus to take us to Lal Chowki. The fort is located at a walkable distance from here. Alternatively one can also walk to this fort, it is hardly 30 minutes away. Check google maps for more 

information.

Bastion and Temple on fort premises

 The roads were packed with people and vehicles. Share rickshaw are also available. Not sure about the cost per head. We inquired with a rickshaw driver and he took us to Lal Chowki at a cost of Rs.50. Alternatively the bus fare is Rs.12 for two. But the bus seats are usually dirty. Now the question you have in your head is, How do we know? because on our way back we were travelled by bus as we couldn't get a rickshaw.

View of Ulhas River from Durgadi Fort bastion

A statue of Shivaji is located very near to the fort. 

The fort is located near Ulhas River. But by the looks of it, it appeared more like a creek to me than a river.

The fort is extremely small in size. The fort takes a minute or two to see. Some portions of the fort are still old while others are renovated.

Dargah and Durgadi Temple on Durgadi Fort

The fort houses a Temple (Durgadi Temple) and a Dargah. Though by the looks of the it, the Dargah appears to be very old. Maybe the Temple was renovated.  

Outside the fort premises there was a Police Bus and the policemen were posted over there. I was curious to know, why?

Dargah

I spoke to one of the policeman on duty there, he advised me not to take photos of the Dargah. I asked him why so much police protection, to which he pointed out to the Temple and the Dargah. Sometimes signs speak louder than words. I didn't click too many photos here, but we did sit in the shade of the ashoka trees, as confirmed to me by Shilpa, I was under the impression it was a mango tree. It offered handsome shade from the sun and also the cool breeze. 

Durgadi Fort

Felt at peace here, though we were very near to the busy roads, the sound of the honking of the motor vehicles was replaced by the chirping sounds of the birds. It was soothing to our ears.

Directions

History states that Shivaji had built this fort near the Ulhas river,which looks more like a creek to dock ships. We did see a couple of ships docked here. Wealth was found during the excavation of the fort, the fort was named Durgadi after Goddess Durga. The fort has changed hands many a times after it was built Shivaji.   

We then decided to head back to Kalyan station to head back home as I had to visit Kohoj fort the next day.