My native place is Thal which is in Alibag Taluka and is located about 6 kms from Alibag town. Yet I hardly visit Alibag town beyond the bus stand on regular visits to Thal. It takes the company of friends to re-explore your own much loved Capital town sometimes. One such opportunity happened last Dec when my friends decided to visit my Thal home.
The Johnson family was to stay with me for the weekend so the plan was to show them Thal and Alibag both. Since everything you need to know about Thal I write here, this post focuses on Alibag.
As soon as we reached Thal we parked the car and went straight to the beach.
I asked around in Thal about the timing of high tide as the plan was to
visit Kulaba fort. This fort is a seafort just along the Alibag shore
and to reach it one has to walk on the sand when the tide is low or wade
through water as the tide rises up. Some parts get man deep at high
tide. So it is better to ask about the tide timings. On the day we
visited we had the information that the high tide would start at 11 am.
So we planned to reach the fort before 10 am.
It was lovely walking on the wet sand, the cool of the water calming us. There were a lot of people walking towards the fort that day along with us it being the Christmas weekend. I love to trek but Shirley was finding it difficult to walk the distance but she was a sport. See here the post with the white flag that is a marking for rise in tide, signals for danger.
Horse carriages rode past us splashing water in the little pools left by low tide. Little kids digging in the wet sand to find tiny crabs and make pools reminded me of my own childplay.
As we approached the fort we saw the partially hidden main gate. On the seaward side there is another main gate exactly opposite to this one. The walls of the fort are evenly built at 25m tall. The fresh water wells on premises are a highlight of the seafort.
There is a Siddhivinayak temple which sees a lot of worshipers on Vinayaki and Chaturthi days. This temple was built by Raghoji Angre in 1759. The beautiful silver paneling is a recent addition by a philanthropist.
The water tank in front of the temple.
After darshan we explored the ruins in the fort and walked along the high walls taking in the beautiful views of the sea.
The posterior view of the Siddhivinayak temple complex and the ruins.
Wading thru the water as the high tide begins.
After the sightseeing at Kulaba fort it was time to explore Alibag's food haunts. We first went to Mayur Bakery and snacked on a few things and looted some more to take back home. We met the owner of Mayur Bakery and I have promised to interview her for AnnaParabrahma.
After this we decided to eat Kulfi to our hearts fill at Kanhaiya's and called it a day.
