Ganpatipule

The Blue Oceans beckon,
Their serenity profound,
If I ever wish to see a place in a life.
This is the one with beauty abound!.

Ganpatipule - The land of white sands and blue seas was often a place everyone in my family would talk about. The only problem being that I had never been there.
A 7 hour driving distance by car did not exactly appeal to me considering I had to drive by myself and that too on the road less traveled; the road to the alluring but much less explored Konkans.

After a lot of brainstorming and research on the internet we finally came up with our plan!
The long new year's weekend was planned for the trip and the MTDC resort was booked 3 months in advance for a confirmed booking.


Day 1: January 1, 2010.
Starting at about 7 AM in the morning we sped along from Thane, took the Panvel bypass and landed at Vadgaon phata around 8:30 am. Turning towards the Mumbai Goa road, we stopped first at Mahad for a short break. After a fantastic drive on the NH17 The Riverview - Chiplun loomed up around Noon. We stopped there for a lunch break and generally loitered in the gardens for a bit.







The resort is an excellent choice for lunch and offered gorgeous views of the River Vashishthi from the hilltop. (see above)

A quick detour to the Parshuram temple nearby was worth it. It is about a kilometer away from the resort.

It was about 1 pm and we decided to make a detour towards Velaneshwar a little temple hamlet by the sea and not too far away. So we bid goodbye to NH17 and swerved right towards the Guhagar highway. After tanking up the Wagon-R, we turned towards Velaneshwar. The road was narrow with its ups and downs but in sober condition. Few cars passed us, the road signs became unreadable was we headed further inside the country.
The best solution is to ask! We asked around for directions to whoever we could find (there were very few) and finally reached Velaneshwar temple by the sea.



A quick darshan and we crossed Hedvi to head further south towards Ganpatipule again after asking directions to several people on the way.
The drive can be unnerving. Single lane roads, not a single car or soul to be seen except when crossing small villages on the way.
Ask around for 'Naravan' from Velaneshwar and from Naravan, head towards the Bhatgaon bridge. There is not a single soul seen on these roads and you have to trust your instincts as far as directions are concerned.
We saw stunning vistas on the way. Long lonely beaches ripe with mountains and forests in close proximity offered amazing vistas.



We finally hit the Bhatgaon bridge and turned towards Ganpatipule just in time to catch some fascinating views of the new year sunset.
If God ever lived on Earth and by the beach, then this would be the place. Stunning view of the setting sun over the calm sea from the mountain top was a sight I can never forget.

Day 2: January 2, 2010.
Our day 2 morning began with a short drive towards Ratnagiri. The road from Ganpatipule towards Ratnagiri is a treat.Winding hilly roads overlooking the blue seas is a treat. Wonderful sea vistas greet you on every twist and turn.



You are tempted to stop after every few minutes to admire the lonely beaches and breathtaking views. We drove about 15 kms towards Ratnagiri and then drove back towards Ganpatipule.




The sea view cottages in the MTDC resort are just awesome! The one we had was on the 2nd floor with a large balcony overlooking the sea.
After visiting the temple for Darshan, we had a quick lunch at the MTDC resort. The lunch was okay, although getting a table took sometime due to the rush.
We then went to the Prachin Konkan museum who's advertisements are found practically at every location in the little town. Prachin Konkan is a little garden museum having a guided tours giving a brief history of the Konkans. The museum has been set up well but is not worth the time spent. I would have rather gone towards Jaigad which I skipped.


Evening was spent lazing on the beach and admiring the beautiful hues that the sunset would conjure up in the skies.






Dinner was in the beachside restaurant near the Konkan huts. The location was fantastic but the food quality wasn't exactly appealing.

Thus we ended our short but enjoyable trip to Ganpatipule. We drove the next day morning towards our home in Thane.

Following is the route we took -