Alibaug

Alibaug is about 170 kms from Pune. It takes about 4 hours by road and is a nice drive, if you don't mind certain invisible and head banging bumps. We took the exit from the Khalapur toll plaza on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway to reach Alibaug. The Big Splash hotel housed us for 3 days.

The first day was spent lazing around and stuffing our faces (lunch and dinner) The cost of food in Alibaug helps you get into vacation mood. It's cheap and good :) The Chinese food at the Lilak restaurant in the Pushpak Lodge was good.

The next day, we went to the Kolaba Fort. Since it was low tide, we walked to the fort through the sea. Brave, we are. Tongas are also available for the lazy ones. The Kolaba fort was fortified by Shivaji in 1662 (Wikipedia) It has 2 entrances, with one facing the sea and is a protected monument. It has a Ganapati temple and a Devi temple and is inhabited by a few people. The huge cannons provide excellent lets-do-something-goofy-cause-we're-on-vacation-photo oppurtunities. After being brought back to land in tongas and eating golas just cause they were for 10 bucks, we were led to Hotel Sanman for some excellent seafood, konkan ishtyle. It was back to the beach in the evening. Varsoli beach is about a 30-45 minute drive from Alibaug ( unless you get lost, which we did on our way back) Jumping over waves kept is occupied for about an hour or so and then the rest was spent tending to the wounded watching some of the wounded play a football match, with ever disappearing goal lines.

A red dragonfly in the hotel lawn

Kolaba Fort

Mode of Transport No.1

Mode of Transport No.2

A gate

Fort Wall

The Ganapati Temple

The other side of the fort

A water tank in the fort. No we didn't swim there.

After another lazy morning and breakfast at the pool, we headed to Mandwa Port. Mumbai is about 10-20 minutes away from the port and boats constantly ferry people to and fro.

Clothing:

 The dress is a hand me down, the pants are from Big Bazaar, The short top from FC Road, The bag from a place called Parasmani on Lakshmi road and the chappals are from good ol' Bata. The necklace is from Pondicherry. Photo courtesy- Shalmali Joshi

 


 The pants are my grandad's, the floral top was stitched and the neon bracelet is from Pipa+Bella
These were taken at Mandwa Port. Photo Courtesy- Nikita Nair

All in all, it was relaxing. If you don't have time for Goa, Alibaug is a good option