Chapora Fort

After visiting Aguada Fort, one tends to be slightly disappointed by the vast expanse of literally nothing inside the fortress.  The crumbling boundary walls of the fortress serves as a great panaromic view point for photography particularly of the vagator beach front.  This can be visited for those who admire sunset scenary.  The fort became famous after the Amir Khan film Dil Chahta hai was shot on this locale in 2001 directed by Farhan Akthar after extensive research and his diary jottings of the life style prevailing at that time in Goa.

Location :  Chapora Fort is situated on the coastal route towards Vagator beach from Calangute.  It is approximately 25 kms away from Panjim.   One can approach it from Mapusa too, it is just 12 kms from the main market.  One needs to trek a small hillock which is steep and filled with slippery pebbles of laterite stones.  Even though it is not dangerous one can have a nasty fall if one has a tendency to loose balance.  One needs to park their vehicle in the basement of the fortress and begin the ascent.

The original fortress belonged to the Maharaja of Sawantwadi who was a feudatory of the Vijaynagar empire till 1565.  The Moghul prince Akbar ( Aurangazeb’s son ) seems to have taken shelter in this fortress with the help of Marathas ( Sambaji ) in 1683.  From here he fled to Persia never to return.

In 1717, Chapora fortress was rebuilt in keeping with their architecture.  The fortress contained a Chapel dedicated to St Anthony which has collapsed due to extreme humidity and windy conditions prevailing on the hillock.  The fortress again fell into the hands of Marathas in 1739, for two years once again Portuguese regained it after defeating the them.  Currently only the enterance and side boundary walls remain in shape and few barracks are remnants of once magnificent fortress.  There is a graveyard located by the side of the fortress, which has served as burial ground for soldiers who lost their lives in the battle.  The fort seems to have lost importance, primarily due to lack of water source unlike fort Aguada and Reis Magos.

The fort is ideally suited for married couples to spend a few private moments and youngsters and college students who are interested in trekking and group photography.  If one has visited Goa multiple times, this is one destination one can explore leisurely otherwise it can be ticked off the itinerary.