Breathtaking trek to Rajgad

Before we start  to explore amazing views of rajgad let's have a small background check:

  Rajgad is one of the great forts built by Shivaji Maharaj and was also capital of his empire  It is 70km south-west to Pune. The road to reach at the base village from pune is simple Pune-NH- 4 take turn to Nasrapur and after a while you reach at base village-Gunjavane. This fort has witnessed a lot of things including demise of Saibai, return of Maharaj from Agra and many more. The fort's architecture is massive and somewhat looks like an eagle(as per the old tales). 

There are three machees naming Padmavati(middle), Suvela(one end) and Sanjeevani(other end). Above the all there is balekilla.

         We started to trek at early morning at 5:00 am from Gunjavne village which goes to Padmavati machee. There are other two ways one from Pali door which is easier and another takes you to suvela machee which is difficult and generally not used.The route goes through fort near the fort, after walking around an hour you get to see the fort. After 2 hours we reached at padmavati machee. It was ending of June so it was all fog around. We barely could see things at distinct. At Padmavati machee there is one lake called as same.

After resting for while we started our journey towards balekilla, the highest point of Rajgad. The route to balekilla is bit difficult but we enjoyed it. After reaching there we witnessed  paranormal view of surrounding area. I have never seen such breathtaking view.There is one route from balekilla that will end up you at Torna fort, another amazing fort by Shivaji Maharaj. From here you can spot Fort Torna, Sinhagad, Raireshwar, Raigad, Lingana and Purandar. The view I saw from here cannot be described in words.

balekilla

When we ended exploring balekilla we marched towards suvela machee. Suvela Machee is another grand machee facing east with lots of secret routes and doorways. This one is a double-stepped fortified machee with the steps separated by a beautiful bastioned doorway. At the end of the first step, a hole cuts across the rock; one can sit on this Hole (nedhe). The final (lowest) step like Sanjeevani Machee has a double curtain wall. To the south side of this machee, one can find a beautiful triangular bastion called Kaleswariburuz having an escape door near it. The home of the renowned military leader Tanaji Malusarewas in this machee.

Suvela machee

We didn't get time to explore sanjeevani machee as to explore entire Rajgad one requires at least of two days. Thats how huge it is. After exploring it we reached down at 3 :00 pm and had our lunch.Other than balekilla and machee there are following things to visit at Rajgad.

• Padmavati Temple
• Janani Mandir
• Saibai Samadhi(tomb)

Things to carry 

• Good Torch
• Extra clothes(if travelling in monsoon,it rains heavily there)
• Sleeping Bag(If you wish to stay there)
• A towel or napkin
• Do carry instant energizers like Glucon-D
• Warm jacket as it will get cold overnight.
• Some food as there are very low possibility of you getting it up.

Rajgad is truly a place to visit and remember the greatest Maratha King. One must visit the fort and enjoy the nature and the beauty of the great fort.So bookmark this as your next weekend gateway 😃