Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani hill stations near Pune was a getaway during British era. It still carries the old world charm and beauty of the days gone by.
Read more about the Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani hill stations in series 1, series 3, series 4.
Right now I have so much to share and update on the blog that I feel that this trip should have come more as live tweet and Instagram feed.
But till the time I upgrade to an iPhone I will do my best here.
After last week’s post on Mall Road & Savoy Village, Mahabaleshwar, today I will post about a characteristic feature of Mahabaleshwar without which it seems incomplete – Strawberries!
I was not a lover of strawberries because I had only the yuck artificial essence filled ice-creams and jams which leave a very horrible aftertaste always.
But when we moved to Pune, I was introduced to fresh fruit for the first time and today I am a convert. V and I finished 3 kgs in 3 days!
Strawberry harvesting is a big agricultural produce for Maharashtra and it can be found in abundance during the months of December till April.
Except once all my trips have been during these months only so I have enjoyed them galore.
Another thing which I couldn’t get enough of was the abundance of such beautiful flowers.
I have travelled a lot as a child especially in the mountains and hills of northern India.
My dad took us to all the gorgeous locales of Ranikhet, Mukteshwar, Lansdowne, Kullu, Manali, and plenty more.
I have such fond memories of those trips and those locations.
Till I saw these lovely flowers again during this trip I never realized that I was missing them in my travels.
This is FTW of childhood and memories.
Whenever you visit Mahabaleshwar, you would find farmers or traders sitting on the pavement around Venna Lake, Mall Road and other places selling orange carrots, pink radishes and charcoal grilled corn hob.
There is no way you can have only one. It is a perfect non-fattening snack and healthy too if you can ignore the hygiene part of it.
And if you can’t just buy them, wash yourself later and enjoy!
In the next post on Mahabaleshwar I will cover another food destination Mapro and street food including charcoal grilled corn cobs and tandoori rotis. So stay tuned.
Have been to Mahabaleswar n Panchgani. Thanks for refreshing the memories.
Keep traveling , keep sharing.
Thanks Mahesh. Yes I need a memory refresher too every few months so an annual visit is a must.
Beautiful post! I can almost smell the freshness of these fruits and flowers. :-) All pictures are nicely clicked. Thanks so much for sharing!
You made my day Renuka. Thanks for reading. Some more magic of Mahabaleshwar is coming soon.
Lovely photos of the freshness indeed – strawberries, tiny carrots, other berries…. The best part is that next time you’ll love capturing it all over again.
Your series is tempting me to plan my next visit soon, as we haven’t gone in a few years, and my son dosent remember much of the last visit when he was 5.
By the time you show us all of it, I hope our tickets will have been booked :-)
Thats so sweet of you Anu. I would have succeeded in my mission to show a Mahabaleshwar which people don’t often see. :) If you visit by this month end, then you get strawberries at dearth cheap rates. Do share with me. :)
I forwarded the link of your first post to my WA school group,and now they all want to shift the reunion from Goa to my place.I showed the first post to Mr.Irani of Imperial Store.He told me, he shall give me an old photograph of his shop to send over to you.There are two places for you to visit, when you come over next time,MRA aka Asia Plateau aka Initiatives of Change at Panchgani and the other is Pratapgad Machi.I recommend the former only to people who appreciate the simple aesthetics in life.Alas,we were not introduced when you came over.
We always used to visit Imperial Store and pick up books, music and other things as souvenirs of our trip. Then we had kids and now we don’t visit as we are always scared they might knock down things from the shelves. :)
Thank you so much for such beautiful feedback. I would be very glad if I can influence even 1 person to visit and enjoy Mahabaleshwar despite the crowd. I would be honoured to visit Asia Plateau and Pratapgad Machi and would love to sit with you over a cup of coffee. Thanks Aseem for hosting us year after year.