For those innocent of the Konkan coastline, the road to Murud-Janjira is tarred with temptation. As the road veers off from under the Pune Expressway, shaking off mobile connectivity somewhere around Panvel, losing FM airwaves at Nagaon, the traveller stumbles onto that ultimate truth it pays to be on the right side of the road. Every now and then, signboards pop up, bridging the distance and luring the uninitiated into the seductive charms of Goa. The trick is to hold out till that final outpost 80 km on from Mumbai, where the road branches with finality. Left, you turn for Goa, right Murud-Janjira.

Murud, when it rises 4 hrs and 160-odd km later, does so unexpectedly. Almost hesitantly, it hoists itself up from behind a curtain of betel and coconut plantations, which have shielded Murud from craving eyes for long stretches. And you almost flinch, struck by the glint of the sea, the blinding expanse of white sand and in the distance, like a raging warrior, the ruins of a fortress.