A trip to fog covered Pratap Gad Fort.

Introduction of the Fort; 

Pratapgad fort is located 15 kilometres from Poladpur and 22 kilometres from Mahabaleshwar, a popular hill station in the area. This fort stands 1,080 metres above sea level.

The Maratha king Shivaji Maharaj commissioned Moropant Trimbak Pingle, his prime minister, to undertake the construction of this fort in order to defend the banks of the Nira and the Koyna rivers, and to defend the Par pass. It was completed in 1656.

Source; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratapgad 

Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Started early in the morning from Pune, a long drive. But a beautiful landscapes through out the drive helps you in not tiring.

This trip in risky rainy season paid off beautifully.. awesome landscapes, most of the time fully covered with fog and no sight, but once you get a sneek peek through the covers, its heaven.

From Pune to Mahabaleshwar, its easy to drive, but the 22 KM patch from Mahabaleshwar to the fort, you need some driving skills.

Tips to drive in Fog; Keep it slow with sounding regular horn. Keep the girls in the back seat with their mouth tightly shut.

Main entrance watch towers

First thing on entering the fort you notice is, narrow twisting paths, cannot get a vision of large part of the fort standing at one place.

One of the ponds inside the fort.

We coudnt get a lot of vision of many parts of the fort due to fog, but one needs to be a bit poetic to spot the beauty in what ever one sees.

Tall, steep and slippery walls of the fort. Still standing with high head facing sun, rain and very high number of tourists.

One of the gardens of the fort.

For once upon a time, here resided a Brave Patriot.

These long standing trees reminds of what great men have faced to become great.

And the BRAVE PATRIOT himself . . . JAI BHAWANI JAI SHIVAJI . . . a 17 feet high bronze statute of CHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ