Murud-Janjira Beach & Fort

Hello friends, I am back after a short vacation in Mumbai where we had to attend a close relatives wedding. While there, we took this opportunity to meet our old friends and relatives too. We also thought it would be a good idea to spend some quality time with my brother's and cousin's family away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. After a lot of discussions, we unanimously chose Murud-Janjira for our family get-together.

Murud-Janjira is the local name for the fort which is situated on the island off the coastal village of Murud, in the Raigad district of Maharashtra. It is a fishing village and is about 150 kms drive from Mumbai. Once we reach Murud town, we need to take a sail boat from Rajapuri jetty to reach the island fort. The fort is spread across 22 acres and has many cannons. One of the cannons weigh about 12 tons and the unique feature of these cannons is that they do not get heated even though they are exposed to the sunlight throughout the day. We were quite baked in the hot sun (temp around 35 degrees centigrade) but these cannons were very cold to the touch inspite of the heat !

The entrance to the fort is not visible from outside unless and until you are very close it. It also has a few secret escape routes.

We drove from Mumbai to the resort and we stayed at Golden Swan Beach Resort at Murud-Janjira. It is a nice place with cottages and is situated right on the beach itself. The sunset view is quite breathtaking. The beach is very clean and quite picturesque. At the other end of the beach, water sports are conducted. We took the horse-driven carriage along the beach and back as we had to rush back to the sunset point.

The next morning, after a sumptuous breakfast, we headed for the fort. Following are some of the pictures of the beach, fort and the resort.

This is the sight that greeted us as soon as we entered the beach from the resort

A Close-up of the sea-gulls that were there in hundreds

View of the Fort from the beach

Spectacular view of the sunset taken from the Idgah (sunset point)

View of the Fort from the road

Yet another view of the Fort from the road

View of the fort from the jetty

The Big Cannon weighing about 12 tons as was told to us by our guide

The inside of the fort

The Inside of the Fort

One of the escape routes

We were told that once upon a time this was sweet water pond. But now, it has turned green with slime and algae          

The sculpture at the entrance of the wall of the fort

Golden Swan Beach Resort - where we stayed

Couldn't help clicking these beauties where they were happily swimming and waddling around the premises     

We all had a wonderful time together and wished we had one more day to laze around and enjoy some water sports. Maybe next time....

To know more about the history of the ancient Murud-Janjira Fort, see the following links:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murud-Janjira
• http://www.maharashtratourism.gov.in/MTDC/HTML/MaharashtraTourism/TouristDelight/Forts/Forts.aspx?strpage=Murud_JanjiraForts.html