Day 1 of my Weekend Trip- Alibaug, Raigad District (south of Mumbai), State of Maharashtra
February 2020.
Mid Feb 2020 I visited my homeland India. Together with my parents we travelled 2.5 hours by car to reach the coastal town of Alibaug. (In India better hire a car with a driver- if you are not used to driving here. Its also quite affordable). Right from our arrival it turned out to be refreshing, stunningly beautiful and utmost memorable. Here's why:
Our Hotel: Hiralaxmi Residency
The hotel was very clean and the staff pleasant and helpful. The building was surrounded by a beautiful garden. Made for a lovely stay. The rooms were big and spacy. It was in general very quiet. I would very much like to go back for a stay there.
Views from the hotel
Did you notice in the picture above the blossoms of the mango tree on the right? ;))
Speaking of Mangoes, we were famished.. so we headed to the closest tiny restaurant.
Prawn-Rice Plate and Pomfret (Fish Fry) Lunch
Our weekend abode was a walking minute away from the beach. That 4 pm in February is time for low tide at Alibaug beach is something we got to witness on arrival. A kilometer's walk into the sea is the Kolaba Fort. Or you can sit into a horse cart and they will take you there.
To me it was utmost fascinating!! It was weekend and the beach was not really crowded. Kilometers to walk in both directions, the water sports section was on our left.
We followed the sun, walking towards it at snails pace, breathing in the sea-air and occasionally making way for a horse cart carrying euphoric families to the fort. Our aim for the day was to watch the sunset.
If I just stood still and turned around myelf.. every corner lit up in different light and brought forth the most charming of sights.
This Sunset in Alibaug will stay to be one of my most memorable ones. The atmosphere and the colors of which were too magical for my cell phone camera to capture :)
What do you do when the sun goes down? In my family everyone is a foodie. So we headed back to the shore. Right behind which is a street full of food-stalls.
This is Sev puri : belonging to the 'chaat' variety of street food. Puris are hollow cripsy fried dough balls. In this dish they are filled with finely chopped onions, boiled potatoes and savoury and tangy chutneys. Then topped with Sev (tiny crunchy noodles, made by frying chikpea flour-dough)
This is Bhel Puri: one of most classic chaat items. It is a crunchy mixture of rice puffs, chopped onion, tomato, at times even chopped green mango, peanuts, corriander, sev, with tangy tamarind and spicy chili sauce. yum yum yum!
Ask for Oli (wet) Bhel. It comes with tamarind sauce. Preferably medium spicy if you can eat some chili. Else 'Goad/ Goadi' (sweet) if you are european ;)
The tiny streets behind our hotel led us to the market of Alibaug. The temperatures were mild at 18 degrees and dry. It made for a pleasant walk before calling it a day.
Did you realize, all this beauty and relish since our arrival was available within a radius of 1.5 kilometers? We were just getting started.. for next day, we would step foot on Kolaba Fort and beach hop :) (Click here for day 2)