Bankot Fort / Himmatgad Fort/ Fort Victoria, known by many such names is a fort located 47 km from Dapoli, in Ratnagiri district, of Maharashtra.
The Fort is located on a prominent and commanding point for guarding the trade route along the Savitri River, which runs till, Mahad which was a busy route in medieval times
Speaking of history, did you know that Bankot Fort was captured by the Portuguese from Adil Shah in 1545? And then the Marathas took it over later on. But later, when the British army got their hands on it, they renamed it Victoria.
It’s square-shaped and surrounded by moats dug up in the red laterite, which is a fancy way of saying it’s built out of really cool-looking red stone. The main entrance faces north and is decorated with stone carvings, and there’s even a secret entrance near one of the bastions. Sneaky, sneaky!
One of the coolest things about Bankot Fort is the Gajanan Temple located just at its entrance, called Mahadarwaja. It’s adorned with an ornamented balcony displaying arches.
And if you’re feeling a little morbid, you can also check out the graveyard lying in the outer regions of the fort. The graves are vertical pillars with marble inscriptions.
The adventurous, can take a ferry to get to Bankot Fort through Bankot creek. And if you have a four-wheeler, they’ll take that across too! But no matter how you get there, make sure you take in the beautiful view of the enormous backwaters and the Harihareshwar Mountain from the fort. It’s truly breathtaking.
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