Matheran

Matheran gives an impression and paints a picture of an erstwhile town. Probably this is how towns of yester years would have looked like, With paved walkways and shops and most of the activity centered towards the bazaar peth area. It is easy to imagine old Britishers before independence in their hats and dresses going to the church in hand pulled rickshaws. It might not have been much different, minus the hotels and the shops that have come up in Matheran now!!

Matheran is located almost midway between Mumbai and Pune. A deviation on the old mumbai - Pune highway leads to Matheran. The nearest main railway station is Karjat while Neral is the closest railway station from where you could take the narrow gauge train to Matheran. It will take close to two hours to cover the 20 odd kms from Neral to Matheran in the toy train. The train service is limited to weekends.

The walk up from Dasturi Naka to Bazaar peth, a 3km walk throgh thick woods in itself is a great experiance. There were a few government buildings, a hospital  and an old church ahead of the bazaar peth. The temple of the Pisaran devata, the gram devata is near the Lords point. There are sign boards giving directions and distance to over three dozen view points in intervals especially at crossroads.