Bankot Fort aka Himmatgad aka Victoria Fort in Ratnagiri district in Masharashtra

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Bankot Fort is located at the mouth of Bankot Creek, where River Savitri (which originated from Mahableshwar) meets the Arabian Sea. Bankot Fort is located in  Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra.  

Chicken Thali at Mandangad

 After having a spicy chicken thali at a local restaurant at Mandangad (market place near the ST bus stand) we decided to go visit the Bankot Fort. Here is a photo of the Chicken Thali. The Veg Thali photo is not available, as it is bad manners looking into other's food plate. LOL. 

The time was now 2:30 PM on my watch. We didn't want to waste any time travelling on the wrong roads so we decided to ask the locals for direction to reach the fort as fast as we can, as we had to board a ferry to cross over to visit Shrivardhan Beach. 

Entrance to Bankot Fort

Again the roads are not in the best condition, so one needs to drive slowly on the narrow roads. The roads offer a wonderful view of the hill ranges around. It took us around an hour's time to reach the Bankot Fort. One can reach by car to the entrance of the fort. So no climbing or trekking is needed here. 

Manohar, Neha and Me near Bankot Fort

The time was around 3:35 PM on my watch now. We decided to explore the fort. The fortification of the fort was intact. This is a very small fort in comparison to the many forts that I have seen. The Main Entrance or Maha Darwaza has two bastions surrounding it apart from other bastions. It also has a chor darwaza. We climbed over the walls of the fort to explore the fort from within and outside. 

Inside Bankot Fort

History doesn't mention as to who built Bankot Fort. But the fort has conquered by many. The latest rulers were the British who had named it Fort Victoria. They had conquered it from The Marathas, who had conquered it from the Portuguese and named it Himmatgad. The Portuguese had conquered it from Adil Shah.  

Fortification of Bankot Fort

Nothing much to see in the inside of the fort. There is a temple and water body. The entire fort can be surveyed in 20 minutes time. This fort might have been built as a watchtower offering a good defensive view of the creek, land and sea around.  

Shinning waters at Bankot

The fort offers a wonderful view of the Bankot Creek. As the sun was shinning, it appeared like the land was covered in a sheet of gold. Good I was wearing googles, else I would have been blinded with the glitter. 

Fortification at Bankot Fort

We then hurried away to the Bankot Jetty to board a ferry to cross the creek, to reach Shrivardhan Beach.  

Directions to Bankot Fort from Mandangad

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.

Vijaydurg

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Finally at 11 am we reached Devgad ST bus stand. The bus to Vijaydurg was at 1130 am. So we decided to refresh ourselves with some sugarcane juice at the sugarcane juice centre located at the entrance of the bus depot. 

Vijaydurg Fort from VIjaydurg Village

We then headed to the bus, only to find that the bus that had dropped us here from Kunkeshwar was going to take us to Vijaydurg.

Got ourselves a ticket at Rs. 58 for the 1 ½ hour journey only to be dropped off at the entrance of the fort. 

We were told by the bus conductor that the last bus is at 1630 hours to Devgad ST bus stand. 

Temple in fort premises

History states that this fort was constructed by Raja Bhoj of Shilahar Dynasty between 1193 AD to 1205 AD. Its original name was Gheria Fort. It was situated near village Girye.

Shivaji Maharaj won this fort from Adilshah of Bijapur in 1653 and renamed it Vijaydurg.

The massive walls of the fort were impressive. This 17 acre fort is 2/3 in the water and 1/3 on land access via land and has 17 bastions on it. Each of the bastions named after a particular person or God I guess. 

Cannons placed at the entrance of the fort

At the entrance of the fort is a house and a temple, the temple is painted orange in color. A few cannons were located there; they were mounted on the mud bricks.

At the main entrance of the fort are placed cannon balls on either side of the passage. There are many houses in its premises, though most of them are unoccupied but they are in good condition.

We decided to survey the entire fort by walking on the walls of the fort.  The walls give an amazing view of the sea and the village based near the fort.  It also offers a view of the fortification, similar to the one I saw in Lohgad. located near Visapur and Bhaje Caves.  

Fortification reminded me of Lohgad Fort

The walls were so broad that they could accommodate house like structures, a few of them have shapes in them like doors and windows and a few have tiled roofs. There are many with broken roofs too which have fallen within the structures.

Couldn’t stop myself from taking at photo at this place. Photo courtesy Hithakshi. 

That's Me

This fort had two walls for protection, one on the outside and the other on the inside, the outer one being small in height compared to the one inside.

Some parts of the fort are being redone, a big thanks to the guys who are trying to conserve our history.

We saw that one of the bastions was broken down; I guess this was done when a cannon ball was fired onto it from a sea vessel. I could see the damage it created. The impact bought down the entire bastion. 

View from the Fort Walls

I noticed that there are small openings in the wall for guns to shoot at the sea vessel, but what caught my eye is this mother opening that housed six small openings. I have been too many forts but something like this I noticed for the first time.

There were rooms for ammunition on the fort as well.

There are many huge structures placed all over the fort, they have windows in them but no roofs. No wonder what these were used for?

How I wish I had a time machine that could transport me in time.

One of the many structures built on the Fort

There are guides here who give information on the fort, but each guide interprets the fort differently. There is no uniformity in the information provided.

It takes around 4 hours to view the fort in entirety.

Again there were many idiots here who have ruined the walls by writing their names all over it.

Few visitors, maybe it was afternoon so it didn’t attract many. But to see this fort it takes around four hours so you will be baked in the sun. 

I located many of these unique slots on the fort walls, Maybe they were used to shot at the enemy outside the fort

This journey of ours through this magnificent fort was truly amazing. But we had to leave at our bus was at 1630 hours and to top it, it was the last bus for the day.

This fort surely ranks in the class of Murud Janjira. A beautiful fort.

A must on your trip to Devgad. 

Malvan Beach in Malvan

Monday, February 24, 2014

Standing on the Malvan Jetty gave me an amazing view of the land and the sea.

The Sindhudurg Fort parked itself in a distance clearly visible to my naked eye. The Front of the fort was so wide; I could gauge how big the fort actually was standing at the Jetty.

Malvan Beach was very colorful. Photos shot here are good enough to be kept as desktop wallpapers. 

Beautiful view of Malvan Beach. 

 The beach had white sand with green waters lashing on it. I missed the heavy rush of water gushing on the shores here. This place was like a haven for fishing boats. They were parked both on the white sands and the green waters of the sea . The white sands were covered with coconut trees so dense that I could hardly see through it.

The seas were very clear as I managed to see the bottom of the sea. A few rocky patches too could be seen in the sea. What I liked most is the color of the water in the sea. The green colored water was very refreshing to my eyes. It was basically because of the vegetation.  

Another view of Malvan Beach

There is a jetty erected on the Malvan Beach, boats plying to Sindhudurg Fort ply from here.

In the evening this place is packed with people, who come to see the sun setting in the waters, boys playing volleyball on the beach and the local fishermen pulling their boats out of the water after a hard day’s work. 

View of the massive Sindhudurg Fort from Malvan

Standing at the jetty gave me a commanding view of the sea and the land. I almost thought as if I was a General here looking after the territory I had. Imagining I had the fort, the sea and the land in my kitty.

But that was my imagination but the reality is that this place is truly beautiful. Do come here in the evening to spend it with the sea.

Alibag Watertrip (Kulaba Fort)

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Alibag is known for its beaches, but very few know that it is home to around six forts, most of them being sea forts.

So I sat down and designed an itinerary to visit Khanderi and Undheri Forts in Alibag. I had been here before, but the re-visit was for the benefit of Alhad Patil, who I had met via my blog. He had shown keen interest in visiting these forts. To our misfortune, we could not see these forts as the boat service had been booked for the entire day. So we decided to visit Kulaba Fort and Sagargad Fort instead.

Kulaba Fort

Kulaba Fort is a sea fort close to the town of Alibag. It is 3 km away from the shore and can be visited only when the tide is low, that too either on foot or on a horse cart. I had been here before around 6 years ago when I didn’t even know what blogs were. Sagargad, on the other hand, is a Hill Fort from where one can see all of Alibag. This was the first time I was visiting a hill fort in Alibag.

I had put up my plans on FB, hoping that some more people would join me on my water trips. Nine agreed to come, but only three actually made it. Hithakshi and Urvashi, who had accompanied me to Chinchoti Waterfalls, also joined me on this trip. 

Group Photo - Allhad, Urvashi, Hithakshi and Me, on the ferry to Mandwa Jetty

We met at 6.45 am at the Gateway of India. Alhad had arrived much earlier. He was very excited to visit these forts and was equipped with his camera. Alhad is a very good photographer. I had checked out some of his close shots and I was amazed at the quality of his work. 

There was a generation gap between us and Alhad, who we called Uncle. I wondering how we would get along as our mindsets would differ. 

We on the Boat to Kulaba Fort, with the Fort in the background

Hithakshi had a calf injury on her right leg, but she had made up her mind to visit this place. Her love for trekking caused her to ignore the pain from her injury.

Urvashi had joined us because she wanted an outing. But she was not dressed for the occasion at all. She carried a jhola on her shoulder and wore chappals. I wondered if she would be able to climb the hills at Sagargad Fort. 

Extension to Kulaba Fort

Nevertheless, we carried on with our plans and boarded the 7 am ferry to Alibag. We made it just in time. The ferry took off as soon as we stepped in.

 There are three ferry service providers whose services one can avail of to reach Alibag. These are Ajanta, Maldar and PNP. Ajanta is the cheapest whereas PNP, with its AC coaches, is the most expensive. We boarded the Ajanta ferry that departed from Gateway at 7 am. The cost of the ticket was Rs 75 each. The ferry was a double decker boat with seating arrangement on both levels. We rushed to the upper deck to get an open air view of the place around. 

Fortification

At around 8.45 am, we were in Alibag. We spent our time in the ferry clicking photos of ships, boats, trawlers. The lovely sunrise offered us amazing pictures. We asked the locals on board which fort we should go to first. We had no idea how much time Sagargad Fort would take.

We got mixed answers from the people around, so we decided to have breakfast at an eatery at Alibag first and then check the tides at Kulaba Fort which was at a distance of around 20 minutes on foot.

Two Men with Two Fishing Rods

On the way, we picked up some oranges and some Indian berries. (I am not sure if berries is the right word. They are called bor in Hindi.) Urvashi picked up a pair or fluorescent yellow chappals with blue straps at Rs 40 a pair. She immediately changed to her yellow chappals and headed off to see the fort.

 Around 10 am, we were at the beach. I noted that the locals had started a boat service to take visitors to the fort, irrespective of the tides. The cost of the ride is Rs 100 for a return journey, but if you have a big group you can bargain on the rates too.

The Bone

During my last trip here, I had walked through waist-deep water, that too during the low tide, to reach the fort. It had taken us around 1½ hours to reach the fort. The ferry service took us there in 20 minutes. Since we had planned to see two forts in a day, we had to save time. The boatman told us that he would return in an hour to receive us. We readily agreed.

 Without wasting any time, we got busy with our photo session on the fort. The water levels were going down in the meantime. The low tide was setting in. 

One More Group Photo

A visit to the fort calls for an entry fee of Rs 5. I misheard the ticket vendor and assumed that the fee was Rs 500. I was taken aback. When he corrected me, I heaved a sigh of relief. 

We got our tickets and walked away. Just a few steps away, there is a skeleton of a huge fish kept on display. No information is provided. 

Fort from the inside

On the fort, there are stone tablets recounting the history of the fort in English, Hindi and Marathi. There are many temples on the fort. There is a sweet water well too. I wondered how sweet the water might be. After all, we were surrounded by salty water.

 There are many bastions on this fort but only three are in good condition. There are two entrances to the fort, one via Alibag beach and the other via the sea.

Two Cannons

The entire fort can be viewed by walking over the walls of the fort. There are two cannons on wheels on the fort and many without wheels too. We tried to pick one up. They were really heavy. I could shake it in its position but could not move it.

The locals stay in the fort. The fort houses a shop that sells refreshments, for the benefit of those who forget to carry any. We had carried out quota of food and water, but we were so busy in exploring the fort that we forgot to eat and drink. Strange, but true.

Ruins on the Fort

There is a big temple on the fort, beautifully carved on the outside, with a small pond. The day being very sunny, some guys were enjoying a nice swim in it. After spending three hours to see the fort in its entirety, we decided to depart for Sagargad.

From Kulaba Fort, Sagargad can be seen on a hillock in a distance.

Temple

We called the boatman to come and pick us up. After making us wait for around 40 minutes, he arrived to take us back to Alibag city.

In order to board the ferry, we needed to walk through knee-deep water. I saw a guy roll up his pants but he didn’t seem to think too highly of his shoes because he didn’t take them off. How silly is that!

A Boat in the Sea

Finally after 20 minutes we were onshore again. Since Urvashi had worn chappals, she had sand all over her pants, and she immediately got to work, cleaning up her pants.

We decided to have lunch at one of the Pure Veg joints near the beach. Alhad and I feasted on the Punjabi thalis that we had ordered, Hithakshi ate some tomato uttappa and Urvashi had some Jain Vegetable biryani. 

Temple premises

After filling our tummies, we decided to go to Sagargad Fort. We hired a rickshaw at the Rickshaw stand near the ST bus depot. The rickshaw driver told us that it would take around 30 minutes to reach there and 3 hours to climb it. Since it was already 3 pm, it didn’t make sense to go ahead with our plan. But we didn’t want to return to Mumbai so early either.

We made enquiries about the last Alibag to Mumbai ferry. We didn’t want to miss it. Anyone who has been caught in a traffic jam while travelling by road will surely understand our anxiety in this regard.  

The Sun Effect

We then got our tickets via Ajanta ferry and decided to take the bus to Mandwa beach from Alibag City and spend some time on the beach there.

We had golas on the beach. Urvashi and Hithakshi had the lemon flavored ones, Alhad and I had the Kala Kutta (Cola) ones, which made our tongues red in color. This encouraged us to shoot pictures of ourselves. We looked like Draculas there. After enjoying our golas, we headed straight to the beach.

That's Me

On Mandwa beach, there are banana boat rides and other water activities, but the fee quoted was Rs 350 per head, non- negotiable. So instead of wasting our money on it we decided to do something new, something I had never done on any of my trips.

We wrote our names on the sand and stood next to it for photo sessions. After that we headed to the water to wet our feet a little bit, then went to the jetty to board the 5.15 pm ferry to Mumbai. 

Feet in the Sand

Onboard the ferry, we were met by seagulls. They flocked all over the place. Urvashi and Hithakshi started feeding them. After about 30 minutes, the seagulls stopped following us. Maybe they had had their full or maybe their territory ended there.

We then sat on the open air deck, enjoying the sunset and the rise of the yellow coloured full moon. It was the day of the eclipse, and the effects had started to show by the time we reached the Gateway of India.



Our names Engraved in the Sand



Another Group Photo




Sea Gulls

After alighting there, we headed off to the Mafco store near Gateway to celebrate our enjoyable trip by having a round of rose milkshake.

Eclipse

After that, we headed back home. We had all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, even though we had not been able to see Sagargad Fort. Anyway, there’s always another time.

I had clicked 350 photos and one video on this trip. Despite the age difference, we had all got along very well. We had fun and that is all that matters.

Other sea forts I have visited are Murud Janjira, Arnala Fort and Sindhudurg in Malvan.