Kashid, Murud-Janjira are slowly becoming one of the favorite tourist destinations of Maharashtra. Located at a convenient distance from Mumbai and Pune. When you are planning a weekend trip from pune, Kashid and Murud-Janjira is not only an ideal getaway but it also has a lot of beautiful places nearby to expand your trip into a long holiday.
Alibag is one such place where you can plan your weekend outing or stay there for a week long holiday.
Kashid
Kashid is around 36 km away from Alibag, on the Alibag-Murud highway, also this beach is possibly one of the cleanest and most beautiful beaches in the region with almost ‘white’ sand. There are many cottages and resorts available; however all of these are located at a distance from the beach. This village does not have any wine shops. One has to go around 6 km towards Murud to buy alcohol. Kashid is the perfect place to calm down and relax for the urban people.One can find water sports facility and number of small shops for snacks.
It is popular mainly because of its white sand, blue seas, green mountains, paddy fields, and rivulets. Kashid has a 3 km stretch of beach tucked in between two rocky hillocks with Casuarina groves all along the seashore. This is by far the best beach in this part of the Konkan region and, though absolutely deserted on weekdays, the town can attract its fair share of week-end holiday makers. Take care of yourself in the water (particularly at the high tides) as there were many incidents which cost the life. There is a danger board warning the people. As well as resort owners warn you before you head out towards the beach.
Murud – Janjira
Murud is 167 km away from Mumbai, on the Konkan Coast. One can either travel by road, via Panvel and Alibaug or take a ferry from Gateway to Mandwa, near Alibaug and travel about 50 kms by road. We opted for the latter.
The trip was planned for two days. Day 1 was for exploring the Janjira fort, Murud beach and if time permits, other historical places in and around Murud. Plan for day 2 was to cover Pansad wild life sanctuary and Koralai fort.
Janjira fort is accessble from Rajpuri (the old port), 4km from Murud, by sail boats.
History
Janjira fort was originally constructed in the 12th century by Siddis, businessmen turned rulers from Abyssinia, near Africa. While that puts the age of the fort as 950 years old, most records say that the fort in its current form was built over 350 years back by Siddi Johar. This is the only fort in 700+ km coastline of Maharashtra which remained unconquored. With a height of over 90ft above sea and 20 ft strong foundation, it took 22 years to build the fort. Attacked by the Portuguese, the British, Shivaji, Knhoji Angre and Sambhaji, the fort remained unconquored. Sambhaji went ahead and constructed a fort in a nearby island (Padamdurg Fort, now known as Kasa) . Kasa fort is not accessible for public and requires special permission from Port Trust / Navy.
Murud-Janjira is the name for a fort situated on an island just off the coastal village of Murud. Like Kolaba fort, this also is a sea fort surrounded by water on all four sides. The fort is situated on an oval-shaped rock off the Arabian Sea coast near the port town of Murud, 165 km (103 mi) south of Mumbai.Janjira is considered one of the strongest marine forts in India. The fort is approached by sailboats from Rajapuri jetty. The main gate of the fort faces Rajapuri on the shore and can be seen only when one is quite close to it. It has a small gate towards the open sea for escape. The fort has 19 rounded bastions, still intact. There are many cannons of native and European make rusting on the bastions.
Now in ruins, the fort in its heyday was a full-fledged living fort with all the necessary facilities, e.g., palaces, quarters for officers, mosque, two big fresh water tank, etc. On the outer wall flanking the main gate, there is a sculpture depicting a tiger-like beast clasping elephants in its claws. There are prominent “ASHOK-CHAKRAS” on all major gates of the fort Janjira. There are images of playing elephants, lions etc.Special attraction of this fort is 3 Gigantic Cannons named Kalalbangdi, Chavri and Landa Kasam. Another gate to the west is sea- facing, called ‘Darya Darwaza’.The fort is similar to Kulaba fort, however a bit bigger in size.
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