Thinking of you, I lose my way in the deep blue sea;
your teasing eyes, laughter.....
Soon I'll come and take you back'
(when a newly married woman goes to her parents first time leaving her husband behind)
We were crossing the creek where the river Savitri meets the Arabian sea at Harihareshwar, sending the car to the other side via Mahad, a longer route. Our destination-
Bankot Fort and Bagmandala beach:
Reaching the other side in about 30 minutes(4km), we walked to the village of Velas, a typical Konkani rural setting and then trekked to a 400 years old Bankot fort which was named as 'Victoria' by British but failed to be popular. The fort had a history- was an administrative centre for British for the entire Konkan region, apart from being in possession by Muslim rulers, Dutch and Portuguese. The magnificent fort was in ruins. We wondered how many stories were buried behind those ruins!
Then we saw it!
From the other end was the most spectacular view of Harihareshwar and the mighty Arabian sea kissing the land! Wow! We kept on looking at the amazing view.(top photo)
Climbing down we then walked leisurely on the Bagmandala beach, a serene stretch of sand and surrounding palm trees. Tommy Singh reminded me and reluctantly we left the beach on our onward exotic and hidden destinations.
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Anjarle |
Anjarle: An hour of winding coastal road brought us to a wonderland called Anjarle beach and the village. The beach had a mystic aura! The beauty and the quietness of the beach struck us like a bolt!(2nd photo) We were amazed at the number of these picturesque beaches so close to Mumbai (this one 200km by road and 100 km or less if you come by launch from Mumbai)! We started imaging things. Yes, why not dream when you have such a beautiful beach all by yourself? By now Tommy Singh had removed his shirt. It was like an island owned by you. Your private beach. A Bond movie scene! Tommy Singh with goggles on was already looking like a 'Mafia Don'.
I smiled, opened vodka, mixed Limca (a lime soda), bowed and served it to my master. The master gulped it. He raised his left hand and moving his head slightly to the left, asked to nobody,
'Mona darling, fix another one'. Then looking at me said,
'I'm thinking to buy few hotels in Vegas'. ' What do you think?'
'Yes boss but why not start with buying the Atlantic city and then the whole of Vegas?'
'Hmmmmmm!'
There was a silence for sometime.... then an uncontrolled laughter... bringing tears!
We headed to the village. There were no hotels as such but few snacks joints, open at 2pm in the afternoon, so we had vada and misal (Indian fluffy bread loaf and the fried gram flour sticks, corn, ground nuts topped with a spicy curry).
Wow!
That was great! After chatting a while with locals, we proceeded to pay our respects at the nearby beautiful temple and then continued on our mission to visit another wonder, a 4 km away, Murud- Harnai village with it's twin beaches (not to be confused with Murud-Janjira near Alibag).
Stay:
There are no hotels in Anjarle with good amenities and it is suggested to stay at Murud-Harnai or at Dhapoli 17 km away from Harnai.
However, there is a lodge with the basic amenities in Anjarle:
Madhav Sathe's Lodge, Anjarle; ph: 91-2358-234229
Also contact MTDC web site for rural homes