Overnight Outing @Mahabaleshwar: Part Two

Day Two: 19.11.2017

We got up around 7am, got ready and reached the market for breakfast. The meeting point for our two groups (since we weren't lucky to get rooms in same hotel) was the water fountain near Dr. Ambedkar status. We got in the taxis and sightseeing started. The first place to visit was Old Mahabaleshwar temple and Panchganga temple. There was a marketplace even here. Again all of us got into shopping . The next place was Arthur Point. It was amazing to watch the hilly terrain, its steep layers covered with grass and the natures canvas with vivid shades distinguishing the far-off hills and all of these had a blinking fog. 

The points we covered were Hunting point, Echo point, Tiger Spring point, Arthur seat, Castle point, Savitri point, 3 Monkey point. Here again while roaming there were many small stalls selling hot and masala salted maize, bhel puri, maggi, tea, lemon juice, etc. Strawberry garden was next in queue. 

We reached there at 02:30pm. At first we were explained on how strawberries were planted and grown. Then we saw the strawberry beds and had a strawberry cream treat. 

The next set of points were Elephant Point, Needle Point, Kate's Point, Lodwick Point, etc. We watched the River Krishna flowing through the outskirts of a village. Done with an exhaustive afternoon and having lunch at 4pm; we were still enthusiastic to climb Fort Pratapgad. The road journey was long and tiring. At last we reached the fort at 05:45 pm. 

Walking the steep road, we reached the fort steps. There was a big gate and a tofa. We walked through the up and down steps till the top of the fort. The sun was saying goodbye for today by scattering its lights in the sky canvas. It was time to leave the fort. At the footsteps there was a chai stall. We had tea and got into our cabs. It was dark on the way and quite scary for there were no street lights and only the cab headlights to show us the zig zag path ahead. The weather got colder and quiet. 

Tired with the day, we all got back to our room and I was in no mood to go back to market for dinner. So others left for dinner and brought a parcel of maggi for me. Then we played cards. Here again Mohini was teaching Yojana how to play Mendicoat similar to Lonavala trip and we all know that the same will repeat on the next trip. Done with playing and lifing and laughing, we slept. 

Read  next: Overnight Outing @Mahabaleshwar:Part Three