A Bike trip to Revdanda beach and Alibaug

Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary. Being on a weekday, we decided to celebrate on the weekend by going on a bike trip for old times sake. We used to go on regular bike trips when we were in Bangalore during the initial years of our marriage.

Revdanda beach, Alibaug

We decided on Revdanda beach which is around 120 kms from Thane. We planned to start early on Sunday morning. The grandparents came to pick up the daughter on Saturday night. She stayed at their place for 24 hours until they dropped her off again on Sunday night. We are lucky to have such helpful grandparents who live close by.

bike parked at revdanda beach

We left home around 6:30 am. After we crossed Panvel and were out on the highway, it got so cold. We were freezing on the bike due to the bike induced wind chill factor. We stopped around 8:30 am for breakfast at Amantran hotel about 15 kms after Karnala bird sanctuary. 'Roti Shoti Chai Nashta' just before Karnala bird sanctuary is also a good place for breakfast if you want to stop earlier.

upma and misal pav at amantran restaurant

We were very cold and in desperate need of hot food and tea when we reached Amantran restaurant. And it certainly did not disappoint. Piping hot upma and tea was just the comfort food we needed. We also tried the misal and sheera but upma was the clear winner. After the leisurely breakfast, we left at 9:15 am and continued towards Revdanda beach.
We reached the beach a little after 10:45 am. The beach is clean and long with the Revdanda fort at one end.
We spent around 2 hours on the beach, walking in the water, taking picutres, sitting on the sand. We also collected a lot of sea shells on the beach. Revdanda beach is a shell collector's paradise. I do not remember finding such big and beautiful shells on any beach before. While leaving, we drank some nariyal paani to hydrate ourselves. I love that in India, we always get fresh coconut water on the beaches.

sea shell collection from Revdanda beach

We decided to go to Bohemyan Blue restaurant in Alibaug for a special lunch experience. I had read some good reviews about it on Zomato. While the food missed the mark on flavour, the ambience was excellent and made up for it. I would not say it was worth the money, not to mention the extra hour it took us to drive up from Revdanda beach. We enjoyed the ride up though so I won't hold that aganist the lunch.

hummus platter

baked potato with vegetables

apple crumble with icecream

While the food is quite photogenic, it really missed out on flavour. The hummus platter consisted of hummus, baba ghanoush, both of which lacked flavour mainly from salt. The pita was fresh and made in house like a roti. I liked it. The other two accompaniments, yogurt sauce and tomato sauce were good too. The baked potato with vegetables was not a well thought out dish. It was seriously missing some kind of a sauce or dressing. A tangy lemon cream or mustard based dressing on the side would have been good. The apple crumble with icecream did not have a single piece of apple. It was just icecream topped with some kind of cookie crumble which tasted slightly stale. The ginger ale did not taste of ginger much, mostly like nimbu sherbet. If small improvements in food flavour are made, it can be a good restaurant.

We left from the restaurant around 4:30 pm. Around 6 pm, we stopped for tea and biscuits at a random road side restaurant opposite amantran restaurant where we had breakfast. There was a small stall where a local couple was selling some local vegetables. We had seen white onions being sold all over the place. So I bought some and also bought chawli (black eyed beans) in the pod.
After that we went nonstop till we reached home around 8:15 pm. My body let me know later in the evening that it is not what it used to be 13 years ago when I didn't get aches after riding the whole day. :)