Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Mahabaleshwar - living in the clouds.

Mahabaleshwar - living in the clouds.
A long weekend, and it was time for yet another trip, and this time it was Mahabaleshwar. Situated in Maharashtra, Its around 8 hours from Mumbai. Its basically a small town (Hill station) , Its really beautiful to go there around this time of the year, when it rains. Similar to Matheran, but a lot more places to see around this place. During this season, like Matheran, even Mahabaleshwar is totally into the clouds. Hence the hazy and sleepy effect on my snaps.

Some copy paste text from wikipedia :
Mahabaleshwar is a city and a municipal council in Satara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is a hill station located in the Western Ghats range. With one of the few evergreen forests of the world, it served as the summer capital of Bombay province during the British Raj.
Located about 120 km southwest of Pune and 285 km from Mumbai, Mahabaleshwar is a vast plateau measuring 150 kmĀ², bound by valleys on all sides. It reaches a height of 1438 m (4710 ft) at its highest peak above sea level, known as Wilson/Sunrise Point.
Today, Mahabaleshwar is a popular holiday resort and honeymoon spot, and an important pilgrimage site for Hindus. It is the site of Mahabaleshwar Temple. Many tourists visit nearby Panchgani. After the construction of a new highway, . Mahabaleshwar is also known for the honey and strawberries produced here.
Mahabaleshwar is the source of the Krishna River that flows across Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The legendary source of the river is a spout from the mouth of a statue of a cow in the ancient temple of Mahadev in Old Mahabaleshwar. Legend has it that Krishna is Lord Vishnu himself as a result of a curse on the trimurtis by Savitri. Also, its tributaries Venna and Koyana are said to be Siva and Brahma themselves. An interesting thing to notice is that 4 other rivers come out from the cow (bull's) mouth apart from Krishna and they all travel some distance before merging into Krishna. These rivers are the Koyana, Venna(Veni), Savitri, and Gayatri.
The Venna lake is one of the major tourist attractions of Mahabaleshwar. The lake is surrounded by trees on all sides. A late winter evening boat ride through the slight fog is well appreciated. Tourists can enjoy a boat ride over the lake or a horse ride next to the lake. A number of small eateries line the banks of the lake. The Mahabaleshwar city market and the S.T. bus stand is about 2KM from the lake and makes for a nice walk during the day. Most tour operators include the Venna lake in their tours. Most buses, private vehicles will stop at the Venna lake on their way to Mahabaleshwar on request.



PratapGadh Fort :









Kate's Point / Echo Point / Needle Point :




Panchganga Temple :



Enroute :