Its not even summer and its already 43` and now to pack my bags and to even go out of the room which is facing the sun, I'm having a problem. I have been 'Vela' the entire time and decided to ask our saviour google for help which is when I heard about this place called ''Velas''
Yes, there is a place called ''Velas'' in pune and what you can do there is what I am going to tell you, and why during summer its going to be your best trip ;)
Hyderabad to Pune - we took the third Ac just to heat the beat. There is only one train from Secunderabad which is the Duronto which starts at 11:00 in the night and reaches at 8:00 in the morning ( good enough to sleep don't you think ? ) We ( my friends and I) got down and while we were in Hyderabad and planning what to do we booked our Taxi to Velas. There are buses that would drop you directly to velas bus station, which are usually crowded or otherwise full, with this heat we preferred to hire a taxi. We spoke to a local taxi driver and agreed upon 500 for him per day and petrol as per the price.
There would be a lot of ups and downs in terms of the road, as its a ghat road, and it will take 6 hours from the pune railway station to reach Velas. Though its just 200 Kms it will take 6 hours to reach the place, but don't you worry it will be totally worth it. oh, on the way before you get on to the main highway, there would be a lot of thelas on the side of the road and you can have anything however most famous are the Sabudana vada, and pohe, its pretty famous and really yummy.
While reaching the place, One thing I observed while we were travelling was that, ' beach kaha hai ? idhar toh sab mountains hi hai' ( where is the beach, all we could see are mountains) we in fact had a doubt if he were taking us on the right route, however when we started descending from the hilly area, we could find a small village with around 30-40 houses, with hardly any people and the rest was white in colour, we weren't sure and were being modest and didn't assume it to be the beach, but well it was. The closer we came to the village, the clearer the place was.
The beach was amongst the cleanest beaches I've seen in a while, the water was black and white in colour. Black, yes cause it was a black sand beach :) Excited ?
By the time we reached the place it was around 16:00 ish, we checked in and by check in I mean, there were no hotels or something but among those 30-40 houses you have to book your self in to a house stay and ask them to show you, your room :) Yes, there are only house stays and no where else to stay, and all of them registered with the Government of Maharashtra so its clean and safe. Basic amenities are provided and the best part is as Velas is publicly less invaded, the food you will eat is home made, made upon your request.
We naturally wanted to explore the place and made full use of the driver and the per day amount we were paying and went by car every where, you can always walk if you are into the fitness and stuff ;)
We went to a Himmatgad fort, where its usually used to throw away bottles but we found an amazing spot and sat there for the sunset. The breeze, the water and the sunset with the songs we started listening, I don't think it would have gotten better. Later, we saw the beach, and couldn't stop taking pictures, it was indeed the cleanest and the most less invaded beach you can ever find. And the time we went, there was an extremely small pond and the beach so we started the obvious, walking in between the beach and the so called pond with our favourite songs, with no people and the only people you can see are your friends, it was the most peaceful experience.
We got tiered of the songs, the photos and realised we had to head back to our houses to eat the food. We had the most sumptuous lunch ever, we had like a buffet of options served, 2 curries, dal, salad, roti, unlimited rice, papad and sambar. I mean come on, we can't eat everything, but I am guilty ;) it was tasty couldn't help :) We then played cards, and wanted to sip some beers (Isn't it obvious ? Cold breeze from the beach, and friends ? ) please note there won't be bars / malls around, for you to buy beers, you should buy them on the way and freeze them at the place you are staying else its better you drink the lassi they give ;) I meant lassi is cold :p
We went upto a distance near the beach sat there, saw the white water ( the reflection of the moon on the water ) and windy night with a little water splashing on us, one must experience this, and you can have it only at Velas.
The next morning, after our tummy was full with the yummy sabudana khichdi, we started calculating the costs while heading to get back to our busy life's. It costed us 5000 including everything. heres the break up
Train from Hyd - Pune and back - 1400
Car and petrol - 2000
accommodation + drinks - 1400
miscellanies - 200
You are tiered of working your ass off during the season, and need a break with no leaves, please go to Velas and be Vela cause thats the place that is going to bring out the best in you :)
PS : I started writing on tripoto after I went to velas ;)