Sunday 18 April, 2010

Visiting the ruins

My cousin is leaving for France for a 40-day study trip. We are both nocturnal creatures and have in the past, stayed awake the whole night and taken walks in the morning. So this time the destination was the Sion Fort. I had heard a lot about it, passed by it many times. Mom kept saying its not safe and it is ruined by vandals. But I guess, my curiosity got the better of me.

The Sion Hillock Fort is a fort in Mumbai (Bombay), India. It was built by the British Governor of Bombay Gerard Aungier atop a conical hillock. The hillock is situated a few metres from the Sion railway station. Sion was the boundary between British-held Parel island and Portuguese held Salsette Island and the castle marked the northeast boundary of their possession. The fort was built between 1669 and 1677.



While climbing up


Almost there...


Front view of the Fort. This all that is left to it now. There is some restoration going on. I am hoping for a miracle. 

While going up...its so dreamy! 


I love the green foliage!


And sun beats down on us!


Suddenly there is a rush of pink!


View from the top


Overlooking at the factories beyond.

8 comments:

sujata sengupta said...

I didnt even know there was fort in sion!! loved the bougenvillas!!

Aman said...

amazing! loved the pics..didnt know about this fort at all.

Ire said...

@ Sujata & @ Aman

Yes it took me four years to actually go and see the place! Wish there was more awareness about these things.

Julia Phillips Smith said...

Love that fourth picture from the top, heading up the stairs. And the flowers! Thanks for taking us for a tour of the fort. We have some harbour defenses here in Halifax that used to be accessible to the public when I was growing up, but now they're closed because they're crumbling. No money to save it at the time, I suppose.

Ire said...

@ Julia

You know I did not know there was so much to it until yesterday morning! I am going to visit some other older forts here in Mumbai that are long forgotten!

Deepak Acharya said...

Fine :)

R. Ramesh said...

woww..i passed that side so many times..but never got to go in..thanks buddy...keep up the gr8 work..and hi to H:)

Sneha said...

Well, Nikita, I am close to Sion, is the fort really safe to go? I've my inhibitions... Lemme know.