Sion Hillock Fort

Of all the small forts scattered across Greater Mumbai, Sion Hillock Fort is the easiest to walk past and among the most rewarding to find.

• It sits on a low, rocky knoll in the middle of one of the city's busiest junctions, screened by rain trees and reached by a stepped path that climbs out of an ordinary-looking municipal garden.
• Five minutes of effort is enough: the traffic noise thins, and what remains is weathered basalt masonry, the stub of a watchtower, and a wide, unglamorous view of a city at work.
• The fort was raised in the 1670s, during the governorship of Gerald Aungier, when the English East India Company was still stitching Bombay's seven islands into something defensible. This hillock marked the frontier.
• Everything south of it belonged to English Bombay, while the land across the creek — Salsette, and the villages that have since become Kurla, Chembur and Ghatkopar — was Portuguese territory.
• A small garrison posted here could watch the crossing and the salt flats beyond it.
• Today only fragments survive: a low curtain wall following the contour of the rock, an arched gateway, empty gun positions, and a circular tower platform at the summit, all carrying heritage protection.
• Come at first light or in the last hour before sunset.
• Mornings belong to walkers doing loops of the garden below and to parakeets in the rain trees; evenings bring families and students up the steps for the view.
• From the top you look out over the low roofscape of central Mumbai, the rail corridor threading north, and on clear winter days the eastern suburbs and the hills beyond the harbour.
• The climb is short, but the steps are uneven and the rock turns slick in the monsoon, so wear proper shoes, carry water, and treat the ruins gently — this is masonry more than 350 years old, not a climbing frame.
• The garden shuts at dusk, and the hill is not a place to linger after dark.
• For food, the great reward of visiting Sion is how close you are to Matunga, one of the finest vegetarian eating districts in India.
• A short ride south, around King's Circle and Bhandarkar Road, sit veteran South Indian tiffin houses where the day is measured out in idli, ghee-soaked podi dosa, upma and filter coffee; several are long-standing pure-vegetarian kitchens, though it is always worth confirming the pure-veg board before you order.
• Nearer the fort, Sion Circle and the lanes by the station have Udupi-style counters and Gujarati thali kitchens — and Mumbai being a major seafood and non-vegetarian city, menus here are mixed as often as not, so ask rather than assume.
• If you only want something quick after the climb, farsan shops within walking distance sell dhokla, khakhra and fresh sugarcane juice; check at the counter that the kitchen is fully vegetarian.