Unhavare Hot Water Springs near Panhalekaji Caves near Dapoli in Maharashtra (India)

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Unhavare Hot Water Springs near to Unhavare Village which is around 33 KM away from Khed ST bus stand in Khed. There are not on NH17 aka NH66, but one has to travel on the Vakavli Karanjali Road from Khed to access these caves. At the village Fanasu. The right takes us to Panhalekaji Caves and the left to Unhavare Hot Water Springs.

Unhavare Hot Water Springs

After visiting the Panhalekaji Caves we headed over to see the Unhavare Hot Water Springs. The narrow bumpy roads took a lot of our time. Again these roads will test your car/bike suspension. The directions to the springs are available on google maps.  The roads are deserted. 

Finally at around 7PM we were at Unhavare Village, the hot water springs are located very near to the village. There is provision for refreshments available here. But again the shops close at sundown. 

I managed to take some snaps in the low light at the spring premises. There was a group of boys who were in the water. 

Unhavare Hot Water Springs

We dipped our feet in the water. The temperature of the water was the hottest amongst all the hot water springs we covered on our itinerary as of today. Even at this time the temperature was roughly around 40 - 50 degrees. 

We chatted with the boys who were bathing in the spring premises. Two of them had come from Mumbai, for a marriage in their family. 

They informed us that there are two pools, this one is for the men, and the one enclosed is for the women and children. The spring premises is not lit at night. But we could still see around thanks to the moonlight. 

We then headed over to the shop to have some Falooda, which was very refreshing after hot water dip.  

Unhavare Hot Water Springs

The time was now 7:30 PM on my watch. We had to head back to Khed, as there is no lodging facility available here. 

Not sure if ST buses ply from Khed bus stand or Dapoli to reach this village, as it is totally isolated. But we did see a rickshaw or two on the way. Meaning shared rickshaw are available. 

We had to follow the same track back, to reach Khed, there is no street light so one has to rely on the car headlight. With continuous dropouts in the phone signal, there were times when we were lost on the dark roads, nevertheless we still managed to ask locals and head back to Khed. 

That night we stayed in Khed itself. Next morning we had Malvan on our itinerary.

Goa - Cabo de Rama Fort

Monday, December 1, 2014

Cabo de Rama Fort also known as Cape Rama fort is located in located in Cancona district in Goa. It is located at the southern tip of Goa. Margao is located 25 KM away from here. 

After having breakfast at Madgaon Cafe in Margao we headed off on the bike to visit the fort. 

The roads to Cabo de Rama are lovely and it is fun driving on them. The locals are very helpful with directions. We found churches and markets on the roadside too. 

We inquired with one of the locals about the fort. He replied, "That is the fort" Pointing ahead. A yellowish color structure stood there. "That?" I asked to which he replied "Yes."

We raced to the fort and finally were there. We parked our bike near the bus. A private bus which plies from Margao City to this fort. But no sign of the driver on it.

Cabo De Rama got its name from Lord Rama. Legend goes the Lord Rama had taken refuge here with his wife Sita when he was exiled from Ayodhya for 14 years. 

Now this was much before the fort was built by the Raja (King) of Soonda. Portuguese defeated the Raja of Soonda to take possession of the Fort. The Portuguese fought continuous battles with Hindu and Muslim Kings inorder to retain possession of the fort. The Portuguese kept making amends to the fort. But they later deserted the fort in search of something better. 

The fort currently has got fantastic fortification, a church of Santo Antonio (St. Anthony) in its premises and a couple of broken down structures in its premises and cannons The fort has drop dead cliffs all around it. It offers an interesting view of the sea and another hill next to it. 

The fort is surrounded by a moat on one side and the sea on the other. The moat is filled with wild vegetation. The the moat was huge we were not sure, as to how deep it was. Moat can be a great way to protect the fort from enemy attacks. This is the second instance of a moat, the first one I had seen in Daulatabad in Aurangabad. 

The walls of the fort are built of Chire. Chire's are used all over Goa to built houses and boundary walls. This is from where they originated. Though the walls of the fort are in good condition but they are not  tall enough. Maybe that's why they built a moat around it.

The entry to the fort is via a big yellow color building tiles on the roof. Two cannons are placed on either side of the entrance to welcome you. I can recollect a smiliar entrance at Vijaydurg Fort where in cannon balls were placed on either side of the entry point. 

The Yellow House houses a very old statue of St. Mark who was martyred on a tree.

We entered the fort premises now. We saw the St. Anthony Church in a distance. A couple of cannons scattered all over the place.

As it had just rained here, the smell of the soil was just amazing and  it was green all over.

The best way to see the fort is my walking on the walls of it, and that is just what we did.

As the fort is located at the end of the land  it offers a beautiful view of the sea and land around.

In a distance we saw a small rock with a tree on it. As the sea was rough, the water was lashing on it. We were waiting here to get a perfect shot.

We located this water body on the fort premises. Currently filled with muddy water. But it has steps leading to it on one side. Maybe once upon a time, it might have been surrounded by steps on all four sides leading to it. This is what remains of it.

There are a couple of structures on the fort. But today they are just walls with no roofs, maybe these were houses once upon a time.

Fort has a couple of bastions which offer a very good view of the Fort, but as it is monsoon there is wild vegetation all over. As we wore shorts here we were attached by mosquitoes. On my legs there were at least 8 mosquitoes trying to suck blood at one point and me trying to kill them. They managed to suck blood out of me and I managed to kill them all in the end. Damages I suffered , loss of blood and mosquito bite marks all over my legs till the knee.So if you visiting this fort do wear long pants.

Soon the weather changed, The sun was making its presence felt and we started to sweat and thirst for water. But that didn't dampen our spirits and we still went on exploring the fort.

In a distance we saw the color of the water. Two shades of water. It was due to the shallowness on the water.

We managed to locate another way to enter the fort. The walls of this entry point had small crabs all over it. There were steps here which took us to down to the sea. There is no beach here but just small pebbles and rocks to which water was lashing against due to the tides. The smell of it was awful. The water was dirty.

We climbed up the stairs once again and started walking on the walls. We noticed a few cannons here. These cannons had emblems on them. Thought he emblem was not clear there was a number 1206 below it. Trying to understand what that meant. Was it that there were 1206 cannons atop this fort or was it built in that year. This remains a mystery. Saw cannons with emblems in Daman

Had noticed cannons with emblems in Moti Daman fort too.

We finally reached the St. Anthony Church. There is no date mentioned as to when the Church was built. Maybe it s mentioned on the inside. The church is painted white in color with dark blue borders. The Church shone in the hot sun. Making it one of my best pics on the fort.

Services are held in the church. The church was closed as it was a weekday and there was no way we could enter its premises. The area around the church is clean and the vegetation nicely trimmed. The church has 14 Stations of the Cross around it. All churches have the 14 Stations in it, this is the first time I have seen something like it on the outside.

Guess how many people were here. Just the two if us. We walked out of the fort and entered a shop on the outskirts of the fort. We had cold drinks here. We inquired as to how many people come here, to which we were informed that in the summers loads of people pay it a visit, but thi sis off season and so its just us.

We refreshed ourselves and kick started to Margao city.

We skid and fell in the fields as our bike lost control on a sharp right turn. We were driving at a speed of 70 km per hour.State of our bike and my pants here. As the fields were filled with water we didn't get hurt but managed to get bruises on our legs and hands. First fall on our trip.

We then moved to our second spot the Holy Cross Chapel at Baradi.

Goa - Road to Cabo de Rama Fort

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

After having breakfast at Madgaum Cafe we decided to visit Cabo de Rama Fort.

Now we had three options, public transport, Private Car or Bike. We decided to take the services of a bike to travel around as it would save on time and also we could travel where buses wouldn't take us.

There are buses plying from Margao City to Cabo de Rama Fort, this is the cheapest mode of transport. But the frequency is not very good so we decided to avoid it. Car travel is very comfortable but costly as compared to Bike and so we decided on bike. 

Bikes are available on rental basis near the Garden at Margao City. The Yellow Building to be more precise. Not sure what the name is. We took Hero Honda Splendor Plus to travel around. Rental being Rs.250 for a day excluding petrol. Filled the tank with Petrol worth Rs.200 we headed out of the city on the NH 17 to Cabo de Rama Fort.

Goa has very good roads, I should say. Felt good to drive on them and we were enjoying every part of our journey. No potholes on the tarred roads.

It was a gloomy day, and as it was monsoon season we were sure it would rain any time so we were prepared for it. In the rains it is advisable to drive slowly as the roads are wet and bikes can skid anytime due to thin tires.

The Fort is located in Cancona District around 25 km, from Margao City. So by bike it would take us around an hour's time to reach it. We took the NH 17, took a right at Chinchinim,, crossed Assolna, then Betul and then finally Cabo de Rama Fort.

The Tar roads cut through the fields. We could see fields all around, flooded with water. Some of the fields were green, others were golden but we could see them as far as our eye could see them. The skies were dark and cloudy waiting to pour on us. 

We crossed a couple of bridges the view which they provided was just amazing. The huge water bodies with coconut trees all around them. Tiny houses next to the water bodies. I wouldn't mind having a house next to the river. Fishing everyday for fresh fish , marinating them in herbs and cooking over firewood. The taste of it. Oh la laa. My mouth has already started watering just thinking about it. 

The population of coconut trees is increasing in Goa. This part of Goa gives you the feeling as if you are in Kerala. But you are in Goa.

The roads were deserted, every 10 to 15 minutes we could see a vehicle passing by. Though sign boards are missing here, I can't say missing but very few of them. But you can ask the people they are very friendly and give correct directions. We asked near the Churches and market areas, they gave correct directions and hence we reached the fort in an hours time.