Trip to Revdanda, Alibaug

Revdanda is small village at western coast near Alibaug, Raigad district of Maharashtra. Its a serene location with beautiful beach and historic forts. 

After many days of waiting, we were planning to go out, but due to lack of car, it was very difficult to travel at present as we sold out our car. Lots of travel plans were made and canceled.

Aaravya was bored so we decided to go out on upcoming weekend to Mahad, Pali then Revdanda, immediately booked the car on ZoomCar.

We left Pune for Mahad at 6.30 am on Saturday and reached there at 8.30 am. 

Mahad Ganpati Temple, is one of the Ashtavinayak temples of the Hindu deity Lord Ganesha called as Varad Vinayak. It is in Mahad small town situated in Khalapur taluka near Karjat and Khopoli of Raigad District, Maharastra, India. We wanted to take blessings before 9.30 because at 9.30 I had to attend online parent teacher meeting. Hence as soon as we reach there we stood in the queue for darshan of lord Varad Vinayak.

The temple is simply designed with a tiled roof. This temple is said to be built by Subhedar Ramji Mahadev Biwalkar. The idol of this temple faces the east and has his trunk turned to the left. A Gomukh is seen on the north side of the temple from which flows the holy water. A holy pond is situated on the west side of the temple.  This temple also has the idol of Mushika, Navagraha Devtas and Shivalinga. There are 4 elephant idols guarding the 4 sides of the temple. As there was not much crowd, the darshan took place in 15 minutes and after sitting in front of Bappa for 10 minutes, we came out of the temple. 

Immediately after the visit we had a quick breakfast in a small hotel there, and once the school meeting is over at about 10 o'clock, we headed towards Pali. Located in the Sudhagad taluka of Raigad district, Ballaleshwar Pali is one of the ‘Ashtavinayakas,’ and remains thronged with the devotees of Lord Ganesh.

Ever since watching Fatteshikast movie we have been very curious to know about where exactly Umberkhind is and wanted to visit it once.  Umberkhind is one of the most iconic historical places in Maharashtra. Battle of Umberkhind took place on 3 February 1661 in the mountain range of Sahyadri near the city of Khopoli, Maharashtra, India. The battle was fought between the Maratha army under Shivaji Maharaj and General Kartalab Khan of the Mughal Empire. The Marathas defeated the Mughal forces. It instantly transports you back hundreds of years to the era when the famous Battle of Umberkhind was fought. Remembering the history, we reached Pali around 12pm. As its February, Sun was little bright, we parked the car and headed straight towards the temple.

Dhundi Vinayak temple is on the way to the temple. Many times, many visitors can get confused and may think that this is Ballaleshwar. The Ballaleshwar temple is  wooden temple which was renovated in 1760 and built in the shape of the letter "Shri" in Devnagiri script. The temple is constructed in such a way that the sun rays fall directly on the deity during prayers. The bell in the temple was brought by Chimaji Appa after he defeated the Portuguese in Vasai. The two lakes nearby add beauty to the temple. 

After spending an hour there, we left for Revdanda, and on the way the cricket match was going on in the field, so after watching the match for a while, we went ahead and reached the destination at 3pm. The first thing we did when we got there was lunch because we were so hungry.

After resting for an hour, we went to the beach at 5:30 pm. Revdanda beach is a silent beach, not much crowded, but water was a bit muddy. There is Revdanda fort, an old Portuguese fort situated at the beach. Korlai fort is close by too, which is a must visit. We skipped both the places as we were tired and Aaravya wants to enjoy playing in water and water sport activity. And I don’t want to miss the sunset there, as it was as beautiful as ever.

Sunset at Revdanda Beach

Korlai Fort seen from Revdanda beach

After 7 o'clock we went to cottage, we stayed at Uday Homestay which is a bit old and a budget cottage, but he is our family friend's neighbor so we preferred to stay at his place.  After freshened up and we went out to explore the surrounding area; and most importantly we wanted to find a delicious meal for the night. After inquiring, we found out that there is Fafe's restaurant in Chaul which is famous for veg food.

We wanted to visit Chaul next day as to see famous Rameshwar temple there. The Chaul region is famous for its temples. But Google Map showed 10 minutes only, so we went to Raghunandan Restaurant. On the way to the restaurant, we saw Rameshwar temple and immediately stopped there. That temple is very beautiful, a typical Konkani temple; many Marathi movies have been shot here. The temple was shown in Cycle Cinema, ever since I have wanted to visit it. We decided to come back the next day because we came to know that the hotel was crowded as it the only pure veg restaurant in the premise. 

We ordered paneer butter masala, dal tadka, garlic naan and pav bhaji for Aaravya and all the food was very tasty and not spicy at all. If you are close by the place, try this restaurant once and you will definitely like the food there. After drinking cold coffee, we reached the cottage around 10.30 pm.

Photo taken from Google

Next day, Kiran and I got up at 5:30 in the morning and went to walk on the beach. The atmosphere is very fragrant, a nice combination of a slight and gentle breeze. We sat on a wooden bench and chatted for hours. Then we walked to the market and stopped at Suruchi Snacks center for tea. We placed an order (ghavane and chutteny) for breakfast, we went to the room, freshen up, checked in. 

We went to Rameshwar Temple after having heavy breakfast with kanda bhajji, ghavane and chutney, misal at Suruchi. Chaul is about 15 Kms from Alibag, and the drive takes us through the picturesque villages of Akshi and Nagaon. There are three prominent temples in Chaul – the Rameshwar Mandir, Datta Mandir and the Hingulja Devi Mandir. Due to interest of time we visited only Rameshwar temple.

The Rameshwar temple seemed much more beautiful than the darkness of the night. It is a very ancient temple of Lord Shiva. The Rameshwar temple has existed for several centuries, but the exact time of the construction is unknown. Research shows that the temple has been renovated many times in history. The Mandir has three tanks : parjanya kund, agni kund, and wayu kund, representing three elements of nature – Rain, fire, and air. The temple is a perfect place for tourists to spend time, it is typical simple coastal temple, wonderful place to spend some relaxing time and to meditate. Apart from us, there were some other tourists. 

Rameshwar Mandir, Chaul

Rameshwar Mandir (inside)

We did not want to leave the Rameshwar temple, but since we wanted to visit Nagaon beach and Birla temple, we immediately headed towards the Nagaon beach.

Nagaon Beach

Nagaon was very crowded and somehow, we managed to reach to the parking. On the beach, it was crowded like a fair.  As it was getting hot we decided to leave the place as early as possible, after playing some water sports, we left in half an hour and reached Birla Temple via Chaul.

Birla Mandir is a Ganesh temple of very modern architecture in white marble, situated on a small hill (130 easy steps) near Salav village. The temple is built by Vikram Ispat company, which is a part of Birla group, may be hence the lord Ganesh is called as Vikram Vinayak. 

The temple has marble floors, and the hall of the temple is open from all sides. The ceiling of the temple is transparent which allows free flow of air and ample of light to come in. On entering the temple there is a square shaped nave. The nave is also made of marble and is very beautifully carved. The beautifully carved idol of ‘Ganapati’ is placed the nave. The idols of ‘Riddhi and Siddhi’ are placed on both sides of idol. Around the nave are small temples of ‘Radha-Krishna’, ‘Shiv-Parvati’, ‘Bhavanidevi’ and ‘Suryadeva’. In the garden next to the temple there is a statue of “Late Aditya Birla”. This is a place visited by tourists from all around. The entire hill is a temple complex with beautiful gardens & fountains all around. It's a nice place to spend the evening, a very peaceful point. We should have visited in the evening to feel the lighting. 

Birla Mandir, Revdanda (Photo taken from Google)

Aditya Birla statue at Birla Mandir (Photo taken from Google)

 

Please note no camera and mobiles allowed inside and there is no locker facility if you visit by public transport and you are alone, if you are with family you have to give all the mobiles to one family member who will wait outside the temple.

After visiting Birla mandir, we directly travelled back to Pune and reached at 5 pm via Tamhini Ghat. 

We :) 

Highlights - 

Trip duration - 2 days (12 February 2022 and 13 February 2022)

Distance travelled - 400Km

Budget - 15K

Wonderful trip to Ladghar, Dapoli

After 3 years we were planning a trip for 3-4 days as Aaravya being so young we had only a few day trips to the outskirt of Pune and Ahmednagar as my parents stay there. After searching a few places we agreed(as usual) to visit Konkan as it was being a season of mangoes. After a couple of discussions, it was settled to go to Dapoli and decided to take in-laws with us to celebrate their 39th anniversary which is one day ahead of our wedding anniversary. 

 

I checked on few resorts at Dapoli but unluckily could not get 2 rooms available as it was peak vacation time due to summer vacation and I started looking for accommodation just 3 days ago as was not sure about the plan until my leaves get approved and it got approved on last minute. I checked almost all good resorts at Dapoli but no luck!  And I thought to check at Pears Beach Resort, Ladghar as it is near to Dapoli and before 4 years ago our plan to visit Ladghar got cancelled due to sudden work at the office, so I called Mr Pednekar and I was happy to know that they have few rooms vacant, and I booked 2AC sea view cottages. Kiran had some work on Saturday (26th May) hence we had to leave on Sunday. So our plan was Sunday-Tuesday as I got only 2 days leaves and we were accompanied by my in-laws, they were also very excited as this was our first outdoor with Aaravya. 

Pears Beach Resort is a beachside resort with well-appointed AC –Non AC rooms and cottages.  You can enjoy the view of the Arabian Sea from most of the rooms. 

Date – 27th May 2018

Our journey started @6am towards Dapoli, the route followed is Bhor-Varandha-Mahad route. My mom in law made Dadpe Pohe and got it packed with us for breakfast as our wish was to have breakfast on the farm near Bhor as there are some beautiful farms roadside. We were all set with a mat and some dry snacks including Khakra, rajgira wadi, peanut laddoos, sonpapdi, jam, pickle etc, as the first time we were taking Aaravya(My son, 3 years)  on such long drive. After having breakfast in one of the farms near Hirdoshi village, we resumed our journey towards Ladghar. Had a pit stop at Varandha ghat for tea and some sightseeing could see lots of monkeys there. Luckily didn’t have traffic and were able to pass ghat by 10 am. We missed the road near Karanjwadi and went towards Khed. The road condition was not at all good but on our way there was a small ghat and by the roadside, there were few Jamun and Mango trees so we stopped and enjoyed eating Jamun and followed the route Khed-Furus-Nargoli-Dapoli-Ladghar and reached the resort on 1 pm. We all were exhausted so took some rest and then went to their restaurant for lunch. We ordered veg thalis, the food was good but not so great. It was very hot so went to the cottage and enjoyed tv time and playing cards as Aaravya was sleeping. All were eagerly waiting for the evening to walk to the beach. 

Pears Beach Resort, Ladghar

Our cottages were just in front of the beach, it was very clean and neat. Cottages there is a typical Konkani style kaularu room. The hotel staff was very polite and cooperative. The hotel had ample space for relaxing. Kids can enjoy playing there. There were lots of hammocks in the premise and two swings exactly at the beach. The drawback that I could observe was the food price was a little expensive compared to the other hotels nearby.  But it was an awesome stay at the hotel, recommended for every family who want to enjoy a peaceful beach resort.

Around 5.30 pm we went to the beach, surprisingly there was no crowd we were only a few (around 15) people there. Aaravya was seeing the sea first time and he was super excited, he enjoyed few water sport activities including a bike ride and camel ride at the beach. Maybe it was the wrong time of the year, the water was not so clean compared to other beaches nearby. So did not play in the water but enjoyed watching the beautiful sunset and walk at the beach. After sunset, we just sat there chatting and came back to the room by 8 pm.

Sunset at Ladghar Beach

Date – 28th May 2018

After getting up @7am, everyone was ready by 8am and headed towards restaurant as wanted to visit Tamastirth and ParashuRam bhumi before the sun gets brighter. We skipped a boat ride for dolphin watching. There are special boats with fishermen and sail into the sea to enjoy jumping and flipping dolphins in the water.  

Our order included delicious poha, thalipeeth and ghavane. Ghavane and chutney were too good, I liked it very much! 

We went to Parashuram bhumi which is approximately 10kms from Ladghar. There a Statue of 21 feet standing Lord Parshurama over earth sphere is placed at scenic hilltop from where u can get a panoramic view of Tamastirth seashore.  Inside the globe, there is a meditating area so the atmosphere is quite positive and cool.  From there you can see Red colour seawater of Tamastirth, we should have visited the place in the evening to get an orange-red shade of sunset. 

Parashuram Statue at Tamastirth 

After spending an hour we started to return to Tamas tirth and reached there within only 10-15 minutes.  Beach was extremely dirty so directly headed towards the resort, on the way we picked up a few boxes of mangoes. After reaching the resort, we took a short walk here and there. While the bullock cart was going on the road, Aaravya took a ride of it and he had a lot of fun. We went to Cottage and relaxed a bit and came back out for lunch, wanted to try another hotel. Coming from Tamastirth, on the way to Ladghar beach we saw a restaurant as ‘The Kitchen’ and decided to go there. 

After reaching to the restaurant, we ordered 4 veg thali. The thali included okra sabji garnished with grated coconut, black dry peace (kalya vatana) usal, dal rice and rice bhakri. It would take them a while to make bhakri so ordered dal rice and papad for Aaravya and finished his meal first. They took almost 20 minutes to prepare bhakri and rice and finally got our meal. The food was awesome, black dry peace usal and bhakri were amazing. We all loved the meal and decided to have the rest of the meals there. 

After enjoying such a delicious meal, you need a nap! After 2 hours of a deep sleep, we had tea at the Pears restaurant and headed to Karde Beach, which is situated between Murud and Ladghar. Karde Beach is a broad and beautiful shoreline and great for water sports, the beach is safe to swim, there was a moderate crowd that day. We played cricket and had great fun. It is a beach to spend your evenings to enjoy the gorgeous sunsets.  An amazing place to relax and detox yourself! There are few small shacks selling coconut water, sol-kadhi, misal, chat etc. after tasting Panipuri & Bhel, we headed back to the resort. Preferred kadhi-khichadi for dinner and after dinner, took a walk on the beach and had a nice chat while enjoying swings. Our day ended at 10 pm as arrived back at the resort. Next morning we had to go back to Pune so went to bed early.

Date – 29th May 2018

Kiran and I got up early in the morning and went for a morning walk on the beach, the atmosphere was very fragrant so walked for about an hour. After going back to Cottage, we packed our bags and went to the restaurant for breakfast. Kiran informed the resort manager about the wedding anniversary of in-laws and requested them to arrange a cack on which they agreed and arranged a delicious chocolate cake for us. We celebrated their anniversary by cutting the cake and everybody there wished the old couple. Surprisingly there we met Aaravya’s friend and his family. Aaravya and Shourya go to play on the same ground every day. I didn't know them but my mother-in-law knew them and they had a good chat. After checking out @9.30am, out return journey started towards Mahad, because we wanted to buy Aamsul, Mirgund, Pohe, Kadwe Wall, Kokam Agal etc. there. We reached at Mahad around 1 pm and did some shopping and had lunch at Samruddhi Veg. OUr order was Kaju masala, paneer butter masala and at the end sweet & thick lassi; the food was very good. 

We started our back journey from Mahad to Pune via Varandha. Just before the Varandha Ghat gets started, saw a board for Shivthar Ghal and were debating whether to go or not and finally, we decided to go there. Shivthar ghal is also known as ‘Sundarmath’. It is 35km from Mahad, it’s a beautiful cavern with dense green forest and delightful surroundings in Varandha Ghat. 

In monsoons, a waterfall falls in front of the cave looks splendid. The ghal can be approached directly from Varandha Ghat (by those coming from Pune-Bhor) by a not so good 7-8 km road via Parmachi village, through a good jungle.

There, Samarth Ramdas Swami dictated Dasbodh to Kalyan Swami. Inside the cave are two very beautiful statues of Samarth Ramdas Swami and Kalyan Swami. It is believed that this is where the first meeting between Shivaji Maharaj and Samarth Ramdas took place. A place of great religious, spiritual and cultural significance. It is also the location of one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Maharashtra. The best time to visit the cave is during monsoon when the waterfall and the lush green surroundings are at their glorious best. 

Beware of monkeys there as they tend to snatch snacks or anything from your hands. So do not carry anything in hand and do not feed them as they might trouble you later. After spending an hour there we headed towards Varandha and had a pit stop in a ghat for a quick tea. 

We stopped at Neckless Point in Bhor for 10 minutes for photography and left for Pune. Had some traffic near Khed-Shivapur Toll Naka and reached home safely at 8 pm. 

Contacts - 

1. Pears beach resort - 

Phone number -  8108055579

Website - http://www.pearsbeach.in/

2. The Kitchen Restaurant -

Phone number - 7066884885