A Foodie's Delight, Mapro Garden and Venna Lake

Day 3 : 18th Mar 2013

I had heard a lot about Mapro from family and friends and have been using their products for a very long time so visiting their factory and Garden was a must for a food blogger and foodie like me.

It is a place that houses their chocolate manufacturing unit, we can view the chocolate coating process from the glass windows. There are numerous counters that sell their products. What is nice is they have a tasting counter where they give shots of all the syrups, squashes etc mixed with milk or water. You can decide on your picks and then buy what you like. I freaked out completely and here is my loot. Crushes, Syrups, Jellies, chocolates...

Besides the chocolate factory they have a large garden area with stone tables and benches and plastic chairs for plonking yourself to wolf down some tasty treats. You first take a look at the large menu.

Our pick was the Classic grilled sandwich which sounded great to me with baked potato mentioned on the board. It more that lived up to its name. It is a large sandwich with a side of potato chips that fill two people ofcourse along with a shake. Ours was a thick strawberry shake. We had already had cream and strawberries elsewhere and had to give a miss to it at Mapro, had we known earlier! We sat at a table overlooking the strawberry garden. 

In Mahabaleshwar and no strawberry and cream? How is that even possible!

 The roadside parlor with a strawberry patch.

Serious Marketing! Falero is a brand of Mapro's jelly sweets.

Post lunch we went to Venna lake and sat in the shades at the waterfront, watching honeymooners and families with kids pedaling boats on the lake. It was too hot to go trekking again. Just looking at the scenery was more satisfying.

Around Venna lake we saw Kavadwalas selling fresh carrots and shalgam with the greens on, you don't see these in Mumbai, strawberries ofcourse. I kept my strawberry shopping for the last day.

Horse riding in the hot sun, not my idea of fun!

Instead here is the cool lake, just the sight was a relief.

That's the Venna lake for you.

Day 4 : 19th Mar 2013

We spared the day for shopping in the town market, boxes and boxes of strawberries to bring back. We found a nice basket of cherry tomatoes, they were so sweet and I made them last long using in salads, curries and pasta. The aam papad was quite good which we bought from one of the small shops in Malcom peth.

Mahabaleshwar is a really good getaway for Mumbaikars especially Navi Mumbaikars as we save a few hours and bad traffic. Neeta's Volvos are very convenient for to and fro journeys. Our stay at the Citrus Chambers was so perfect and the cab we hired, everything made our time in Mahabaleshwar after this huge gap of many years very memorable. 

Check out more of Mahabaleshwar here.

Point to Point in Mahabaleshwar

Day 2 : 17th March 2013

We started the day with a wonderful Marathi breakfast at the hotel consisting of batata vada, pav bhaaji, pohe etc. Hey but these are not our typical breakfast at home except the pohe. These are evening snacks we love and don't mind them as breakfast when I am not the one making it!

Our taxi arrived exactly at 9 am and we set out for the trek and "point" scoring that's exploring the viewing points in the hills of Mahabaleshwar.

We headed to old part of the city first for the Darshan of the presiding deity of the town, the Mahabaleshwar temple and the Panchaganga temple. As the name suggests the Mahabaleshwar temple is an old Swayambhu Shiva temple. The Panchaganga temple is the origin of the five rivers Krishna, Koyna,Venna, Savitri and Gayatri. These temples are considered important base of civilization they were built somewhere in 12 century.

We then visited the following points:

1. Arthur's point : This is a place from where Sir Arthur Mallet would look down at the river Savitri as he held memories of his wife and children who were lost in accident in the waters.

2. Elphistone point : Reveals the magnificence of the Shahyadri range, layered mountains and deep ravines covered in greens of all shades and tones. There was a guy with a telescope stationed there and for 10 bucks we got a clear view of the Shivaji Maharaj's statue at Pratapgad. The fort can be viewed in the far with the naked eye in all clarity and grandeur.

3.Window point : One has to climb down 200 ft to a ledge for a panoramic view of the valley.

4. Tiger spring : This is a spring on the edge of the mountain where the Tiger visits for a drink.

5. Malcolm point :

6. Echo point : You can shout your lungs out and enjoy the thrill of listening to you own voice while you are not talking but the hills are reverberating with it.

7. Hunting point :

8. Castle Rock point : This is a rock atop which I refused to climb up at first so my Dad had a go first and tempted me to climb up with help of the driver. The views are absolutely breathtaking.

9. Savitri point : for the view of the Savitri river and valley

10. Monkey point : Leaves you wondering how Gandhiji's three monkeys found such a cozy place to perch themselves up there on the edge of the hills.

11. Marjori point : Panoramic views.

12. Kate's point : Allows one to look down at the manmade water reservoirs of Balakwadi and Dhom.

13. Needlehole point : This point from top and side appears as an elephant head and from the side a view of the hole cut out naturally in the rock.

14. Lodwick point : My favorite the view is awesome from the vantage point and almost 360 degree. There is a memorial pillar that marks this point and the trail is lovely to walk up to the end.

These points give you an awesome view of the scenic topography of Mahabaleshwar and the rugged terrain of Sahyadri.

On another day we visited the Mapro garden and feasted on yummy stuff and then sat at the waterfront of the Venna lake.

Mahabaleshwar, The Strawberry Country

16th March 2013

This year I celebrated my 10th Anniversary with my now ex-organization. As a token of appreciation among other things I received a two day Bed and Breakfast plan anywhere around India. I chose the Citrus Chambers at Mahabaleshwar.

I chose this hotel for its 100 year old bungalow and peaceful settings as shown in the pictures on their  website.

We planned almost 2 months ahead, all the time thinking we will drive to Mahabaleshwar with the driver in tow. However we dropped the idea as Mishra was behaving funny and we did not want to risk spoiling our holiday. We went without him and took the Neeta travels bus instead.

Exactly at 7.15 am we jumped onto to the bus at Nerul. We made ourselves comfortable and chatted about everything under the sun on our way to the strawberry country. This ride on the bus was my longest distance travel after the health incident in Jan 2012, it meant a big deal to me to be able to dare it and I did!

On the way the bus stopped at the Neeta Inn at Lonavala, it was midmorning and we were not exactly hungry but felt like munching on some goodies you cannot miss in Lonavala. Dad bought some chips, chikki and walnut fudge.

The next halt was at Surur after which we took a right for the road to Mahabaleshwar. The ride into the hills thru all the curves and bends was exhilarating. The sun was harsh and a gleaming green pond  below at the foothills attracted the bus riders.

It was past 1pm when we reached Mahabaleshwar. The bus journey ended at Neeta's Shanti villa Hotel. I looked around. It had some tables in an open garden like setting and was covered. It was a long gap since I had last visited Mahabaleshwar so seeing Neeta's businesses there I was quite happy. It is a local company that operates Volvo bus services and seeing how strategically they had set up hotels and Inns that enhance a travellers experience was something. The quality was budget category though. Yet it was convenient. Hope they keep improving their services and facilities.

As we got off the bus we were swarmed with Taxi drivers soliciting for business.. It being the hills Taxi is the only vehicle permitted operation here unlike other flatlands and cities in Maharashtra. We chose a taxi after some negotiation and reached our hotel a short distance thru densely shaded avenues.

I was wowed by The Citrus Chambers, and the surrounding acres of green. It is a boutique hotel and instantly you feel as if it is your own holiday home. The staff is friendly and they led us to our room on the back side of the main bungalow. The main bungalow has just 5 rooms and the annex behind has may be 20. Each one with its own Victorian - Parsi sit out with lounge sofas and coffee tables.

The decor of the room is cozy and old world. I ordered dal rice lunch and slept off the entire afternoon. We woke up and made our own coffee and sat on the little porch. It was very beautiful and at one end of the courtyard was a grand old Avdumbar tree. This tree has a religious significance and as I went near I saw that the hotel staff had done a puja under it, the fresh hibiscus flowers told that this was a daily ritual. I loved the place so much that I suggested to Dad that we'd spend the entire evening on the 5 acres of the hotel's property and just chill out. We could do all the touring in the next two days. As it happens one of the staff started a conversation with us and recommended his relative's cab for tours. We called in the taxi owner and froze on a compensation after glancing on the standard tour packages. I told him I did not want the standard packs instead I picked and chose the visit "points". My health allows me only that much. The deal was reasonable and we were happy with the vehicle and the service.

At 8pm we had a lovely dinner in the old English club style dinning room and retired to bed.

The relaxed environs and the few guest in the hotel made our stay very pleasant. 

Comeback for the treks in the hills of Mahabaleshwar and strawberry indulgences in the upcoming posts.