Once naval bases, Vijaydurg and Sindhudurg bear testimony to Maharashtra's marital supremacy during Shivaji's regin.

Vijaydurg or Fort Victor was strengthened around the seventeenth century by Shivaji, to whom it owes its finest features - the triple line of walls, the numerous towers and the massive interior buildings.

Once seized by the British and renamed Fort Augustus, Sindhidurg or the Ocean Fort at Malvan port has history etched all over.

Within its precincts are temples holding shrines of Maruti, Bhavani, Mahadeo, Jarimai and Mahapurush, and of Shivaji - the only such shrine in the country.

As for Vijaydurg and Sindhudurg beaches, they offer the visitor one of the most serene and beautiful coastal views in India.

Getting there: Rajapur and Kudal respectively are the nearest railheads on Konkan Railway. Sindhudurg by road is 510 kms. and Vijaydurg 425 kms. from Mumbai vis the Goa highway.