Discovering the joys of sharing travel experiences and pictures in my earlier log of my trip to Rajasthan has lead me to narrate my Dec ’08 coastal Konkan and Goa / Karwar trip on this forum. Planned this year end trip as a surprise to my wife, turned out well!! This travelogue was compiled as a dairy log when I transferred the pictures after the trip.
Day 1 : Ganapatipule!!
As always, had an early morning 4am start to beat traffic. Once you make it past Panvel, Konkan starts unraveling itself. Buildings give way to thatched clusters of villages, slums are replaced by lush green fields, roadside dhaba’s lure you for piping hot chai and batata vada’s and watching the sun rise from behind a small hill amidst a mild fog is something words cant describe…
The roads though not wide have improved quite a bit and it’s a smooth drive. It was quite foggy and just before Chiplun we saw this sea of clouds covering an entire area. It was like being in an airplane and looking down at clouds.
Reached Ganaptipule by around 11am and checked into the Konkani Huts at the MTDC resort. These are literally on the beach with good split a/c’s and even a bathtub with a window looking out to the sea. It was quite clean and neat but I hope they keep it that way. MTDC resorts have the best locations in every place in Maharashtra just that the upkeep some places leaves a lot to be desired.
We couldn’t resist the expanse of the greenish blue waters and dived straight in. Am quite a water baby and can loll around the beach all day.
Didn’t want to have a lunch before visiting the Ganapati Temple which is a short walk from the resort. It’s an ancient temple renovated recently and is right on the beach. Had a quick darshan since it was not crowded. The prasad at the temple is delicious. They have a ‘bhandara’ where khichdi and sweet boondi is distributed to all devotees.
Hunger pangs set in once we reached back at around 3pm and we ordered some fried fish and prawns with some of Dr Mallya’s barley brew from the in-house restaurant which too has tables laid out on the sands. Food in Konkan is amazing at any place be it a big restaurant or a small “khanaval” (basically tables laid out in somebody’s house where you get food cooked by the lady of that house).
After lunch, we decided to explore around a bit and drove up the cliff ( ask the way to Abhishek hotel for reference). The views from the cliff are beautiful, the enormous expanse of the ocean shimmering in the afternoon sun. We also went over the Prachin Konkan Museum, nothing great but that’s my personal opinion.They had a preserved specimen of a seahorse though; seahorses never fail to amaze me, wonder how they evolved!
The resort seen in the picture is Krishnali..over hyped and expensive.
View from near Abhishek Hotel
"Pickled" Sea-horse!!
Coming back to the resort, we settled down on the beach to watch the sunset. God is one amazing artiste!!
On beach vacations in Konkan, there is not much to do in the evening. We lazed around outside the rooms on hammocks listening to the waves. Had another round of fish, prawns and beer and dozed off.
Off to Karwar tomorrow!!