Unexplored Beaches of Kokan - Ratnagiri District 1

   In My first article I had written about some beaches of Kokan which are in Raigad district. This time I am taking you further south. Ratnagiri district has many beautiful beaches. Most famous being Ganpatipule, Velneshwar, Ratnagiri etc. but I am taking you to some lesser known beaches.

Anjarle:   

This village is famous for Kadyavarcha ganpati temple and also has a small but beautiful beach. You can reach Anjarle via Goregaon -> Mandangad -> Kelshi or Dapoli -> harnai.

You can also, enjoy very nice homely lunch / dinner here in small houses of locals.

If you are visiting konkan from Mumbai, I will suggest travelling from Mandangad -> Kelshi -> Anjarle and move southwards after enjoying anjarle beach.


Harne - Murud - Karde

    These three beaches are almost adjacent to each other. From Anjarle you have to head towards Dapoli and these beaches are on the way. On this road, dont miss one spot atop the hill where small gallery is constructed to observe beauty of this entire area. You can see beautiful view of Suvarnadurg & other forts near Harne.

  Suvarnadurg is sea fort which can be reached from Harne in a ferry. You will have to negotiate with local fisherman to reach this fort. But if you are fort architecture enthusiast then you should not miss this fort.

Harne offers another very very important thing for Fish lovers. The grand fish market near Harne port. If you are travelling in own car I will highly recommend purchasing fish here and then ask the cook at your destination to prepare it for you. Here is a small video of auction at harne beach which takes place every evening except heavily raining days.

After visiting harne, you can proceed to Murud and Karde beach and then head to Dapoli. Murud & Karde beaches has some good accommodation options if you want to call it a day alternately, you can proceed to Dapoli and stay in Aryavart.

Ladghar - Burondi - Kolthare

If you want to explore more, you can take a right turn for Ladghar just before entering Dapoli. This right turn will take you to two more less explored but scenic beaches, first is between Ladghar & Burondi. & another one is Kolthare. There are few more small beaches but I personally liked these two mentioned above. If you are planning to stay here, you have option of sai sawali at Ladghar.

In Kolthare you can check for homestay, or travel till Dabhol jetty for accommodation.

After visiting these two beaches, you can head straight to Dabhol & cross the Dabhol creek in a ferry to explore Ratnagiri further. This Dabhol Ferry carries your car / mini bus as well so take this ferry, else you will have to travel back all the way to Khed -> chiplun to reach our next destination.

So this was the first part of unexplored beaches in Ratnagiri, soon I shall put the second part where I will cover beaches near Guhagar to Ganpatipule and more.

What to Eat - Rajasthan - Jaisalmer

This is not a desert... at least for food lover.. For me being in Jaisalmer was like being in Oasis & not in dessert.

When you are in Jaisalmer, along with beautiful Sand dunes & Haveli's & Fort , the most enjoyable thing is variety food served here.

Dont give miss to any of these as you wont find them in other part of country and more importantly they are very different.

Ker Sangri:
Ker sangri in its raw form looks like this. Its mostly found in desert and requires very less water to survive.

After preparation, the final dish looks something like this:

Apart from Ker sangri, you should also try Gatte ki sabzi, papad soup.

Ghotma Ladoo is another such delicacy from Jaisalmer, it is different type of Bundi laddu. You can enjoy this laddu  in a Bhatia Shop inside Jaisalmer fort. You can pack them with you as well as they will remain good for around 15 days even without refrigerator.

Rajasthani Kadhi is another interesting thing you can enjoy it across Rajasthan. and even in Jaisalmer most of restaurants serve Rajasthani Kadhi.

What to Eat - Rajasthan - Jaipur

Travel and Food cannot be separated.
If you travel without trying local food and talking to local and taking a stroll in local market.. you better travel on google maps or google streetview. This is my belief please dont feel offended & at least dont stop reading.

I am starting this new segment in blog from Rajasthan as thats the place where I found dishes from different segments all together. So here I bring you step by step guide to eating in Rajasthan while you are travelling to Rajasthan.

Jaipur:
     Its a capital of Rajasthan and all famous cuisines here are really very very reach in all aspects. So if You are very cautious about calories, burn some extra fat before going on rajasthan trip.

    I will recommend Chokhi Dhani if you dont have much time to explore various places in Jaipur.
    Daal bati Churma is the must have when you are in jaipur .

  Bati is made in shuddh desi ghee and if that not enough, they pore some additional ghee when it is served. The real fun is, when you break the bati, then pour Daal & lots of ghee on it and enjoy.. Its amazing...

   Churma is sweet crushed form. You can enjoy it as a dessert after finishing your daal baati.
   If you have sufficient time, you can explore this dish in Dhabas near Sindhi Camp.

   and for those friends who think rajasthan is all veg... Laal Maans is must try. In Jaipur, On MI road, you can try Handi restaurant for amazing spicy laal maans.

You can enjoy this dish with Missi Roti. Missi roti is made of mixture of various flours and with added some ajwain.

If you are not visiting entire Rajasthan then you can try some Pyaaz kachori, Mirchi Pakoda, mawa kachori, ghevar, gajak, gatte ki sabji as well. but if you are visiting entire Rajasthan visit my individual city wise posts to know what to try wherever you go.
   

Aurangabad - Maharashtra

     Maharashtra has great history. Although Shivaji maharaj is the highest point of History of maharashtra there were many important events and places which belong to historical periods other than period of Shivaji maharaj. Aurangabad belongs to the historical period of Yadav's.
     Today's Daulatabad was capital of Yadav kingdom till 11th century. Yadav's ruled this part of India for many centuries and formed very stable rule in this region. As a result, this part became very rich culturally.
     This part was so well developed that Mohammed Bin Tughlaq shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad.

     Today this place hosts many beautiful and historically important places, which makes aurangabad must visit. Here I am listing down some of the important places within or very close to Aurangabad city in details.

1> Deogiri (Daulatabad Fort): This is amazing fort and in very good condition still. Built by Yadav Kings back in 11th century. This fort is architectural marvel and those who are interested in Fort architecture cant afford to ignore visiting this Fort.

  The fort has very unique arrangement at entrance to fool the enemy attacking the fort, it has multiple levels for defence, it has maze to fool the attackers, it has pit dug from all the sides to protect the fort from enemy troops climbing the wall and it also had multi layer protection wall. Architecture of this fort is separate topic of discussion. but if you are planning Autrangabad keep at least 3-4 hours for this fort and see it with guide. It is very close to Aurangabad city, and you can visit by taxi or local public transport.

2> Ghrushneshwar:
      Maharashtra hosts 5 of the 12 jyotirlings of lord Shiva. Ghrushneshvar is one of those Jyotirlings. This temple is very close to Ellora caves. Its 30 Kms from Aurangabad city.

3> Ellora: Ajanta & ellora are one of the most famous caves in India. Ellora has 34 caves in total showcasing carving art of various beliefs. It has set of Hindu caves among which Kailas temple is most important as it is carved out of Single rock. It has buddhist caves as well as Jain caves.

4> Biwi Ka Makbara:
   This amazing place has a great resemblance with Taj Mahal in Agra. Constructed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 17th Century. This place though not as beautiful as Tajmahal, is a worth visiting when you are in Aurangabad.

Apart from the above mentioned things there are many interesting things around Aurangabad, which includes,
1> Ajanta Caves
2> Lonar crater
3> Paithan
4> Nathsagar lake
5> Panchakki
6> Sindkhedraja (Birthplace of Jijamata)

If you are planning a trip to Aurangabad from Mumbai or Pune, I will suggest 4 days trip. This place has really great attractions which are worth spending time. You can travel from Mumbai to Aurangabad by train or State transport run buses. Most of which run overnight. You start journey in the night and by morning 7 you reach Aurangabad.

It will take
1 day for local sightseeing including Ellora
1 day for Ajanta
1 day for paithan
1 day for Lonar

There are many hotels in Aurangabad including MTDC. You can also spend one night at Paithan.
Paithani saree is another attraction of Paithan and you can visit Paithani making factory and purchase a saree for yourself.

So visit Aurangabad, enjoy the places and write your experiences. Feel free to contact me if you need any help in planning this trip. you can reach me at 9820031162 or kaustubhkhare@gmail.com