Parsi Bungalows, Strawberry Fields, Pandavas Vanavaas Haunts, Driving to PratapGarh - Well almost...that is not to mention ParaGliding!!

We had a day off on Friday, 19th February due to Shivaji Jayanti. Slightly lesser known event but what the hell, that made it 3 days off and we decided to embark on our much awaited and anticipated road trip to Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar, Wai and Pratapgarh.

We had planned a 2 nights - 3 day trip but the unfortunate demise of my cousin Soumik caused us to shorten the trip by a night. However as it is the rule of the blog to focus on life's positives we will not dwell on that. Thank you Soumikda for all the good times that we have shared and may your soul rest in peace!

Day 1: Arriving at Panchgani, Visiting the Mapro farm, Driving through the Ghats almost to Pratapagarh Fort, Strawberry Fields, Falling in love with Il Palazzo

We left Mumbai at 8.30 AM after the usual late-to-rise syndrome. We picked up Dripto (who was to go to Pune) and set off all geared up for the longish drive (approx 375 km one way). The route we had planned was the express way to Pune and then on to NH4 to Shirval (on the way to Satara). We were then to take the exit to Wai and drive on to Panchgani. We dropped Dripto off at Pune and continued on NH4 towards Satara. After asking a few people as to whether we were going the right way we proceeded on to Shirwal for the exit to Wai. The exit is pretty easily identifiable and is basically under a flyover towards the right, there is a clear indication of Wai, Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar. After taking the right one needs to drive a further one and a half hours uphill towards Panchgani. The Ghats are pretty easily negotiable, one only needs to take care to overtake only when safe and absolutely necessary. We reached our hotel, Il Palazzo at around 12.45 PM. After checking in and being pleasantly surprised at the quality of the room we were on our way again to our first stop - the Mapro farm.

Mapro farm is located on the Mahabaleshwar Panchgani road. It is easily the most easily locatable place in the area which Mapro has inundated with sign boards. The farm basically constitutes

1. A chocolate factory - where you can see chocolate coated cashews and almonds being made
2. A flower nursery

3. Some plots of land where strawberrys are being grown

4. A food court

5. A mini market when one can taste Mapro product for free and buy Mapro products at a 10% discount

We spent around an hour and a half at the farm looking around and had lunch at the food court. They serve decent vegetarian sandwiches, though i was slightly put off by a group beside us finding an insect inside their sandwich. Guess that makes it Non Veg but i am not chinese!!! The highlight of the meal was the strawberry juice which they make right in front of you. Very nice and very strawberry. We the left the farm after stopping at the market for tasting and buying some goodies.

The plan was to proceed to Pratapgarh which I had read was a steep drive of close to 35 km. What i did not know was that the drive was through a very curvy and winding ghat. Ghat driving always has an element of danger to it and one needs to be completely concentrating on the road and maintaining lane discipline. One also needs a prayer as there really is very little one can do if there is a rogue driver coming from the other side.

The drive to Pratapgarh fort took us about an hour and a half and we were met with disappointment as we could not actually go up to the fort due to a bus that was not working and was clogging up the entire traffic around a kilometer from the fort. The mess we found would take atleast half an hour to clear, that information and the unwillingness to negotiate the road in front of us after sunset made us decide, i believe wisely, to turn back. The drive back for some reason seemed to be much quicker and on reaching Mahabaleshwar we drove towards Arthurs Seat - which is supposedly Mahabaleshwars premiere sight seeing highlight. Half way to Arthurs Seat we aborted the drive on finding out that it was still a 15 Km drive on a road that was pretty curvy.

We were proceeding back to Panchgani a bit underwhelmed before the day was saved and how! by the visit to Vrundavan Vaug which is a strawberry farm on the Mahabaleshwar - Panchgani road. We just entered the farm and had a ball there after picking ripe strawberrys by hand and then buying them. It was the first time we had seen strawberry thickets let alone ripe strawberrys and we had a blast plucking the best ripe ones ourselves. Thrilled by the visit to the strawberry farm we reached Il Palazzo tired and drained at around 6.45PM.

Il Palazzo is a heritage boutique hotel and is easily one of the best at Panchgani. It is very clean has spacious rooms augmented by the high ceilings, the service is prompt, polite and the entire set up gives on a feeling of it being a home away from home. The hotel is maintained by a Parsee family who actually stay there, they are actually the third generation of residents who take care and let out the hotel. We were staying in one of the rooms in the main wing, which has around 9 rooms. There are also cottages which are let out to larger groups of people. We were liking the place already but fell in love when dinner was served. They have small dining tables right outside you room where you are served. The have veg and non veg options of a set home cooked menu which is what is decided by the owners. I do not think one can ask for helpings but we really could not ask for anything more. We were served carrot soup, bread rolls, rice, baked chicken in cheese, chicken cutlets, roti, aloo - gobi subzi and mutton curry. This was capped by chocolate souffle. The food was actually home made and very tasty - the parsee family have the same meal, and it cost us only Rs 400 per head. Il Palazzo also has a buffet option for guests but I think you have to pre book. We then retired to our bed, tired after a long drive and totally satisfied by the excellent meal that we just had.

Day 2: Parsi Breakfast, Sight seeing at Mahabaleshwar, Paragliding, Quaint Wai, Driving at 140 kmph

We had quite a few things to do when we woke up the next day. We had to do our Mahabalehswar sight seeing, paragliding and visit Wai on our way back to Mumbai. Our relatively full plate (of things to do) was however nothing in comparison to the breakfast that we were served. It was easily the largest breakfast outside of a 5 star that i have ever had. We had (and believe you me, this was one meal only) mutton kheema, pao, a very large omelette (at least 3 eggs), poha, bread and home made strawberry jam. We were so full that we almost felt like going nowhere. We just about managed to get up and check out (after ensuring that we bring some of the home made strawberry jam with us to Mumbai).

We drove straight to Arthurs Seat retracing the route that we had driven the day before and further on. A lot of sight seeing points are on the way to Arthurs seat. Basically each and every valley view with the Krishna has undergone some branding - you find Parsee Point, Kates Point, Echo Point etc all through. The view at Arthurs seat was indeed special but I would recommend the view at Marjorie point.

The view that we were privy to, of the western ghats half submerged in cloud and mist was truly breathtaking.

We then proceeded back to Mahabaleshwar and were almost driving out of Panchgani, when we saw the paragliding point and stopped in the nick of time. Ritwikas feet are still recovering from the nail operation and she was not ready for paragliding healthwise but I went ahead and enjoyed the experience of feeling like a bird for ten minutes that they allow you. To be honest, I did not enjoy the experience as much as I had parasailing in Pattaya for two reasons. One, I was slightly worried about the landing, landing in sea is much safer. Secondly, I was pretty scared, one comment that the handlers had made about my weight had made me almost back out. It was not very windy and right before take off they tell me not to sit down too fast while take off, as otherwise there was a chance that me, the main paraglider (I was obviously taken as a co pilot) and the two helpers might all fall down off the cliff!! Add to that there was one aborted take off attempt because the wind was not strong enough. Anyway after one scare off an aborted landing, we finally managed to land safely without any broken bones. I consider myself richer for the experience, and poorer walletwise given that those ten minutes cost me Rs 1500/-.

After taking a break, we then proceeded downwards to Wai which is quaint town, and apparently hosted the Pandavas during their Vanvaas. We visited the two main temples in Wai, the Ganesh temple and the Shiv temple. The Shiv temple in particular was very nice. Made of black stone, the inner sanctum was cool and gave that feeling of peace which makes one wish one can stay longer. The architecture was also quite noteworthy.

The breakfast ensured that we did not need lunch, in fact we did not need much of a dinner either...We proceeded to drive straight to Mumbai with one stop for a toilet break at the food mall after the final toll naka. The road from Shirwal to Panvel is phenomenal - a four lane highway all through. The highlight here was hitting the 140 Kmph mark for the first time in my life. My highest previous mark was 100 on the Eastern Express higway. This however came with the learning at how easily the car reaches 120 kmph when machine and man are used to those speeds. It required a slightly wobbly turn on the Pune expressway for sanity to pull momentum back to 80 - 100 kmph.

We managed to reach Mumbai well before dark and were back in Powai by 7 PM.

Overall the trip was extremely memorable, though will always be remembered and tempered by the news of Soumikdas death. I would rate Panchgani, provided you get the stay option at Il Palazzo as the ultimate one night getaway from Mumbai. Go there for a complete weekend of rest and relaxation. Go there for picking strawberrys from the farms and having the fruit in all forms the juice, the jam, the crush and just plain and simple. The only side effect is that you will not feel like buying strawberrys off the shelf at the malls ever again.