My Fiat Linea's escapade to Goa/Mahabaleshwar/Mumbai/Pune

Even though I have been driving for more than three decades, my driving was restricted to the southern states of India, i.e., until recently.  After becoming a proud owner of Fiat Linea, I have been contemplating to drive in my Fiat Linea to break my own record.  So, after discussing with my wife and two daughters, I decided to drive in my Fiat Linea for a long trip of Bangalore-Goa-Mahabaleshwar-Mumbai-Pune-Bangalore.  I had visited Goa, Mumbai and Pune several times in the past, but not Mahabaleshwar.   

I made online reservations for our accommodation at Ginger Goa, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation [MTDC] Holiday Resorts, Mahabaleshwar, Oritel Service Apartments, Andheri [E], Mumbai and Ginger Pune, Wakad.  I decided to take NH 206/17 for the up journey and NH 4 for the return journey.  I planned and saved the routes in my MapMyIndia [MMI] Lx 130 navigator.  The exact locations of our places of stay, points of interest and restaurants were also saved.  From the Internet and websites of oil marketing companies, I collected the details of locations of company owned company operated [COCO] retail outlets in my route.  My wife had packed some snacks, biscuits, bottles containing drinking water and fruit juice.

 To be continued

DAY 1:  27 February 2010, Saturday

We started at 1:15 am from our home.  On the previous day, my Fiat Linea’s fuel tank was filled to the brim and tyre pressure was checked and kept at 36 psi in all the four wheels and spare wheel.  I took Magadi Road.  Though there was no traffic at all at this time, crossing Magadi Road was a nightmare as it was barricaded for road-widening work.  Construction materials were dumped on the road with huge humps.  Somewhere near Sunkadakatte, my Fiat Linea’s bottom was touched by one such huge hump.  Then, while going down the exit ramp of NICE Road towards Tumkur, another bottom-touching, followed by big hump at Tumkur BP.  After three cases of bottom-touching, it was smooth-sailing for my Fiat Linea.  Karnataka PWD/NHAI engineers and contractors should learn from their Goa and Maharashtra counterparts the art of building speed-breakers/humps/rumbler strips. 

NH 206 is okay.  But, in some stretches like Tiptur, Arasikere, etc. the road width reduces to intermediate lane wide [4.5 m] and the road surface was also rough, but driveable. 

To be continued

We reached Shimoga by 5:45 am and had coffee near the KSRTC bus station.  My Fiat Linea’s tank was also got topped up.  The road quality improved after Shimoga as could be seen from the photographs.  We enjoyed the scenic beauty of rising sun on the way to Sagar.  At Sagar, we had our breakfast and continued our journey. 

To be continued

At the top of the Western Ghats from the view point, we saw the glimpse of Linganamakki Dam, which is the main storage reservoir for Sharavathy Hydro-Electric Project with a total installed capacity of 1469 MW.      

We took a deviation near Jog Falls and visited Sri Chowdeshwari Temple, Kargal.

To be continued

We continued our journey and had lunch break at Kamat Upachar, between Ankola and Karwar.  After entering Goa, I got my Fiat Linea’s tank topped up.  The petrol price here is less by Rs 5 per litre compared to Bangalore.  We reached Ginger Goa, Panaji, by 4:30 pm.  We checked in, rested for a while, refreshed and started for Miramar beach for seeing the sunset.  We had an early dinner at Kamat Hotel, took some photographs of Church of Mary Immaculate Conception, which was really grand with moon shining at the top and called it a day at last.

To be continued

DAY 2:  28 February 2010, Sunday 

Here, I should tell a few words about Ginger Goa.  Ginger Hotels, a Tata Enterprise, are managed by Roots Corporation Limited.  I reserved online two weeks before this trip and got 15% discount in tariff.  I paid Rs 1619 per day per standard room for two persons.  It was located in Panaji.  Dedicated and secured car parking was available within the campus.  Trolleys were parked near the entrance to facilitate easy transportation of our luggage similar to the ones in airports.    

After breakfasting at Kamat Hotel, we again visited the Church of Mary Immaculate Conception.  Then, we proceeded to the Basilica of Bom Jesus, the shrine of St Francis Xavier and Se Cathedral.

To be continued

To be continued

After lunching at Kamat Hotel, which had become a home away from home for us, we rested and visited Fort Aguada and Calangute beach in the evening, in time for another sunset.

To be continued

DAY 3:  1 March 2010, Monday 

We breakfasted at Kamat Hotel and proceeded to Dona Paula. 

From Dona Paula, we returned to Ginger Goa, via Oasis, BP dealer, where my Fiat Linea’s fuel tank got topped up once again.  We packed, checked out, lunched at Kamat Hotel and hit NH 17 to Mahabaleshwar.  The quality of roads in Goa was excellent.  The roads may be narrow but they are free from potholes.  The speed-breakers/humps/bumps have been scientifically built.  

To be continued

We entered Maharashtra near Sawantwadi.  The cops stopped and checked all the vehicles coming from Goa side.  But, we were asked to go without stopping.  Then, it was non-stop drive to Mahabaleshwar.  The distance from Ginger Goa to MTDC, Mahabaleshwar was 409 km via NH 17 and SH 72.  The route was picturesque.  On the way, we clicked some photographs of sunset after Chiplun.  At Poladpur, we had to take right turn and go on SH 72 to reach Mahabaleshwar.  The road was not good near Poladpur, but improved later all the way to Mahabaleshwar.  At this juncture, I must mention that all the signages including milestones and warning boards on NH 17 were in Marathi only.  English signages were very few.  Those who do not know reading Marathi or Devanagari script will have tough time.  I also found many private vehicles sported Marathi registration number plates. 

We reached MTDC, Mahabaleshwar, at 8:30 pm.  We had to pay pollution tax for the car and entry ticket for occupants [four persons], totaling to Rs 90.  I kept the receipts with me and whenever somebody asked me to pay tax, I showed them and I was allowed to go without any monetary transactions.  The MTDC campus was huge.  We saw very few guests staying there.  There is nothing to praise about the place.  The special suite allotted to us was in need of painting and extensive repairing.  I will not stay there if I visit Mahabaleshwar, the next time.  The snacks, biscuits and fruit juice that we brought served as dinner and we slept in no time after a tiring day. 

To be continued