Sights in Konkan Coast
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Janjira
Murud is home to the commanding island fortress of Janjira, built on an island 500m offshore, which might just revoke your childhood memories of Long John Silver and Captain Flint. The citadel was built in 1140 by the Siddis, descendants of sailor-traders from the Horn of Africa, who settled here and allegedly made their living through piracy. Their exploits soon prompted many local kings to wage wars against them, including Shivaji and his son Sambhaji, who even attempted to tunnel to it. However, no outsider ever made it past the fort’s 12m-high walls which, when seen during high tide, seem to rise straight from the sea. Unconquered through history, the fort finally fel…
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Ganesha Temple
Can’t make it to Goa? Well, at least you can visit Ganpatipule, on the coast 375km south of Mumbai – and you won’t be crying sour grapes. A sleepy but picturesque seaside village, it boasts several kilometres of almost perfect beaches and clean waters. Life generally plods along very slowly here, but heaven help anyone coming for a bit of peace and quiet during holidays such as Diwali or Ganesh Chaturthi. These are times when hordes of raucous ‘tourists’ turn up to visit the seaside Ganesha Temple housing a monolithic Ganesha (painted a lurid orange), supposedly discovered 1600 years ago.
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Thibaw Palace
Around 50km south of Ganpatipule, Ratnagiri is the largest town on the southern Maharashtra coast and the main transport hub (it’s on the Konkan Railway). There’s little to see and do apart from viewing the remnants of the Thibaw Palace, where the last Burmese king, Thibaw, was interned under the British from 1886 until his death in 1916.
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Museum
Around 50km south of Ganpatipule, Ratnagiri is the largest town on the southern Maharashtra coast and the main transport hub (it’s on the Konkan Railway). There’s little to see and do apart from visiting the former home of freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak, now a small museum.
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