RAIGAD, the formidable capital of Shivaji Mahraj, is a famous fort(a district is named after it) in the Sahyadris. Standing away from the main crestline in the Konkan, this fort rises up to a height of 2829'. It has quite a lot to see and a two day trek would be more comfortable. Click for photos.

 

From Bombay, we caught a ST and alighted at the samadhi of Jijabai. We visited this samadhi and took rest for a while before walking ahead on the road. Ahead was the wada of Jijabai. It has good fortifictions and a huge well. We had our breakfast in Pachad village and walked to the base of the climb near raigad village. From here the takmak tok was clarly visible as well as the the whole fort. We did not take the normal route climbing upto Maha Darwaza. Instead we took the other route going through nana darwaza, a small gate on the route. The climb took us through Masjid Morcha and a group of caves before reaching the maha darwaza, an archtectural splendor. Another exhausting climb led us to the plateu of the fort. We kept our backpacks in the Zilla Parishad Rest House, filled water from the hanuman taki, had our lunch and then set out to explore the fort. We saw an elephant stable and then went to see the wadas there. We went to the Wagh darwaza after that by descendingsome height. The wagh darwaza is the door to a superb rapel, as the door immediately gives way to a huge cliff. Then we saw the market place and the shive temple. The samadhi of Shivaji Mahraj lay just ahead. Then, the Bhavani kada on which a temple of bahvani is situated.It provides a great view of lingana and Torna. Evening came and darkened the skies around us. We couldnt experiance the sunset from takmak. We decided to go there next morning. A superb meal of khichadi brought sleep to my eyes.Next morning  we first went to the hirkani bastion providing a great view of the valley below. We then went to the balekilla and saw the

court, sinhasan etc there. then the takmak tok. It used to be a point for the kadelot. The maha darwaza was looking beautiful from here. We had luch and then set downwards and descended.......