Days 4-6 Matheran
Our next stop was Matheran, a hill station on a plateau near Bombay. It was discovered and developed by the British to be a place of retreat during the very hot summer months and still serves this purpose mainly for the citizens of nearby Bombay.
After 4 hours drive we reached the car park from where we had to continue on foot. No cars are allowed to enter the plateau, as well as no Motorbikes or even bicycles (thanks to the horse lobby).
Only a train is going up to the village, but most goods are transported by horses.
After a good 1 hour walk we reached our hotel just to hear that it is fully booked, even though it looked quite empty to us. Well we also couldn't call upfront because nobody picked up the phone during the last few days. That lead to a "friendly" discussion and finally the guy went away to double-check. Suddenly there were two free rooms from which we could choose.
Maybe they didn't want to give away the room we choose because they first had to change two light bulbs inside which is obviously quite an effort for the staff.
The hotel was actually a old restored house:
We spent 3 nights in Matheran with hiking through the jungle, exploring some old ruinous and not so ruinous houses and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of a very remote place.
