A week long trip in Maharashtra
Day 1 - 24th Dec '23
We started our day a bit earlier, showered, got ready and started our trip by 5:30am. An amazing drive in our new XUV700. Kids took the back seat and cosily slept in their blanket on a early winter morning.
In about an hour the day started breaking in and filled the sky with various hues of red and orange. And after some time the sun came out beautifully shining bright. I tried clicking some pictures to capture nature's beauty. In the meanwhile the kids were awake.
We continued driving on some not too even roads and then we turned on to the Samruddhi expressway. It is beautifully done. Very wide and nicely designed. It was a long smooth drive. After driving for around 4 hours with a wrong turn in between where we lost around 20 mins, we stopped for a breakfast break.
The place was called "lakshmi kuber restaurant" after crossing the Samruddhi expressway. They had very limited options for breakfast - poha, upma, misal, vada pav and tea. The vada pav was average - hot but low on spices, poha wasn't too good and the tea quite sweet. Staff as well wasn't attentive. However, we finished our breakfast and started the remaining journey that was covered in about 45 mins and we were at out first destination - The Tringalwadi Dam. The dam was quite full despite being December. There was a mountain at the other edge of the dam which nestles the Tringalwadi fort on the other side of the mountain. It was sunny and hence quite hot during the day.
Next stop was Dhammagiri Vipassana (meditation) Center. One beautifully designed place, with an intricately done main entrance called the Myanmar Gate. It has a display hall where you can get books and CDs based on Gautam Buddha's life teachings. The hall has huge images and text (in English & Hindi) depicting important incidents from Buddha's life that are very relevant in today's world. There's a smaller meditation hall for a short 10-min guided meditation session for visitors. There's the Ashoka pillar, gardens to stroll around, and also 30-day meditation courses. The vipassana center was clean and well maintained.
There on, we went to Ghatandevi temple which is a famous devi temple amongst the locals. Camel Valley View point is another beautiful view point. You can take your vehicle to the camel valley or else it is walkable from the Ghatandevi temple.
From there, we proceeded towards our hotel (R P Studios). It was 10-min drive from Ghatandevi temple, right opposite the Igatpuri railway station.
The room was spacious with a double bed, a double sofa cum bed, a cupboard, dressing space, tv, a table and 2 chairs, balcony, a small bathroom, AC. We had some home bought snacks and rested for 2 hours before venturing out again to a nearby outlet (Dubeyjis fast food) for food.
Though the name mentions fast food, it is more like home cooked food.
We relished masala papad, paneer butter masala, dal fry, steamed rice, butter roti.
I was craving for tea after a tummy full dinner which was satisfied by a tapri style chai right opposite the main entrance of the railway station. We happily got back to our hotel room, unwinded ourselves, played a game of uno with the kids and finally went to bed to start a fresh the following day.
Day 2 - 25th Dec '23
We woke up fresh after a good sleep on the Christmas morning. Santa had left us gifts 😊
We opened our gifts and then started getting ready. Checked out by around 8am to have breakfast at South bombay cafe, located in a food plaza at a petrol pump on pune - nashik highway. Being Christmas Day, the place was decorated.
After breakfast, we went to Bhavali dam. The route wasn't great, but the view around the dam was breathtaking.
We stopped there for a while to absorb the nature's beauty, click a few pictures and then started for our next destination - Saptshrungi Gad. It is a devi temple located at an altitude. Pilgrims can either climb the stairs (approx 600) or else take the rope way. The rope way wasn't working and hence we had to take the stairs.
Took us around 3 hours to pray and come out.
We had a refreshing sugar cane juice at one of the local tapri around and then proceeded towards our next hotel. Took around 2 hours to reach Hotel Grand Ashwin in Nashik and checked in. Then we went to Shivsagar restaurant 100m away to have a heavenly north indian dinner comprising of paneer gulnar, dal makhani, lachchha parantha and masala papad. Day 2 ends!!
Day 3 - 26th Dec '23
Got ready to visit Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik. The main entrance was closed, and the car had to be parked around a kilometre away from the temple. These are places to be cautious of fraudsters. We walked 1km to the temple through the decorated markets. This is 1 good thing in India. Tourist places are crowded but happening as well , with people from all walks of life will converge here. There are separate entries for general and VIP darshan. VIP is the paid version. We started in the queue and got to the shivling after around 3 hours in the queue. The queues are well organized with seating spaces along the queue so visitors can sit and relax if the queues aren't moving. The place is well marked and has police constables on duty to assist you.
Post the darshan at Trimbakeshwar jyotirling, we stopped at one of the restaurants in the temple market to have lunch.
After having a nice lunch and masala milk, we started for sula vineyards which was around an hours drive.
They have their own huge campus and parking. The parking was quite full with lots of visitors. They have an entry fee of ₹600 per person which can be redeemed to it's full value inside.
It's a beautiful campus inside to click some amazing pictures. They have restaurants, bars, bottle shop, gift shop, wine making tour and tasting and a resort as well.
We went around the place, and then decided to take a tour of the wine making process and the tasting, and that's how we utilized the coupons from the entry gate. The tour costs 200₹ of the 600₹ and the remaining ₹400 for the tasting sessions.
The tour guide helped us understand the wine making process, the different steps involved, the different types of wines, the fermentation, aging and bottling. Post the understanding was the tasting session where we were made to apply our understanding. We tasted 6 different wines ranging from rosy to white to red , from sparkling to still and from wines aged in American barrels to the ones aged in French barrels!
That was one amazing session. And then we moved out to click more pictures and finally started our journey back. It was almost time for dinner. We stopped at Ibiza Bistro on the way back to our hotel. Had Chinese there which was good along with the vibe of the place. And then back to our hotel Grand Ashwin to have a good night's sleep.
Day 4 - 27th Dec '23
This morning started with getting ready to visit the nashik city, to see the religious heritage. We took an auto rickshaw as city roads are very congested to take our personal vehicle. The auto driver dropped us at the bank of River Godavari where we had a bath. Then took another auto to show us all the places around as a tour guide. He showed us around all the places and told is the history behind it as well. We visited places like kalaram and goraram temples, sita haran exhibition, actual point of sita haran, swami narayan temple, panchvati, ram vanvas kutiya, katyar hanuman mandir, kapila godavari sangam, etc. Also stopped at Ambica misal to have a good breakfast there. We then got back to our hotel in Nashik where our car was parked, ready to start for Aurangabad.
The maps showed 3-hours journey till the next hotel in Aurangabad. We drove for an hour, took a tea break and then started ahead on the Samruddhi expressway which again is very nicely designed. We reached Hotel Raj in Aurangabad by 5:40pm.
Checked in, rested for a while, then went out to kfc for a meal, got back to the hotel and retired for the day.
Day 5 - 28th Dec '23
We started our day quite early. We had already been through hours' long rush at the earlier 2 shrines - saptshrungi gad and Trimbakeshwar. The idea was to reach Ghrineshwar Jyotirling early in the morning. The day started at 3am , and we reached the jyotirling at 6 am. It was almost vacant with very few people. Fortunately, there was no queue at all and we had a very pleasant darshan of the jyotirling.
Next we started off to Bhadra maruti temple which is a hanuman temple in laying down position. This was 10-min drive from Ghrineshwar. Again no rush and wonderful darshan. Done with both the temples for the day, we now proceeded towards ellora caves.
Now, logically when you come from Ghrineshwar, ellora comes first followed by maruti temple. We did the other way round to save ourselves from any kind of rush we may get at the temple.
We reached ellora by 7:15 am. It opens at 6 in the morning.
Got a parking space, took the entry token and started inside. We bought a guide book and followed that to look at these caves inside. Total 34 caves - 1 to 12 dedicated to Buddhist, 13 to 29 for the Hindus and 30 to 34 for the Jains. It's a huge campus and you'll need to walk a lot along with climbing Rocky stairs. There are e-vehicles available to save you the walking though. Cave 16 is called the kailas parbat and is the biggest and most important one out of all. However all the caves are good and have sculptures depicting stories from history. The walk and the climbs were exhausting and it was still very hot even in December end!
Anyways, we went through the caves then came out to have brunch at a nearby hotel. Most of the hotels around have similar options and similar hygienic conditions.
Then we proceeded towards Daulatabad fort which was around 25-min drive from ellora caves.
There's an entry fee here and a map of the fort at the main entrance. In case you're carrying plastics of any sort, the authorities will label them and charge a security deposit of ₹20 to get the plastic back and get your money refunded. A very good practice to preserve the places with historic importance.
We started exploring the fort. Again a long wall with many heightened stairs to reach few points and very hot sunny weather. There were langurs on the way. It took us around 1.5-2 hours to explore inside before we could come out with our plastic bottle, get the security refund and then start back for the hotel.
It was another 30-min drive back. As we had started quite early in the morning, we could come back earlier. And that gave us ample time to sit back in the hotel room to relax, watch TV , have some snacks and rest for a good 2 hours. We then went out to a restaurant (North South Restaurant) just opposite our hotel to have dinner. And then back to hotel to sleep and end another day.
Day 6 - 29th Dec '23
The day was dedicated only for a visit to Ajanta caves. They are over 100kms away from Aurangabad and took over 2 hours in the morning. We started by 7.30am, took a break at 9 am and then reached the car parking area at Ajanta by 10.20 am
After parking our vehicle, we were supposed to take their bus who would drop us to the caves. Private vehicles aren't allowed inside.
Once at the foothill of the caves, there's an entry ticket. We started our journey to visit the caves. Initial part is a steep area and has options of climbing the stairs or a ramp according to one's convenience. Then the caves started in order. There are caves starting from 1 till 26. The caves are all based on the Buddha's life. They also serve as monasteries, hence it is mandatory to remove your shoes before entering each cave. It is recommended to wear an open footwear that's easy to remove for the same reason.
The paintings, carvings, sculptures were all beautiful and worth paying attention.
Some caves don't exist and some don't have anything inside, so they can be skipped.
After completing the caves, you need to make a u turn to go back. However not till the very starting point. There's a connecting bridge in front of cave #8 from where it's easier to get to the exit gate. There are vendors on the way in case you wish to eat or purchase something. At the main gate, there's a MTDC restaurant as well. We went to the bus station to get the bus back for the main car parking. The entire area of Ajanta is inside a forest area. The views are really worth absorbing. We started back for our hotel by around 2.30pm and reached by 5pm. The roads between Ajanta and Aurangabad are bumpy. It seems they've been so for a couple of years and the situation hasn't improved.
Back in the hotel room, was another snacks & movie session followed by zomato.
Day 7 - 30th Dec '23
Final day of the trip. We had slept earlier the previous day, and hence were awake fresh at 5:30am. A relaxed morning routine as everything was supposed to be opening up late. This was followed by a delicious, made-to-order breakfast of aloo parantha with healthy yogurt, poha and ginger tea prepared at the hotel's kitchen. The luggage was all packed and kept ready for check out post breakfast. We started for Bibi ka maqbara and reached there by some narrow roads by 9:20am. It opens only at 9 am. This is a trial of replicating the Taj Mahal. It looks similar but the quality is a huge differentiating factor.
Completed in 20 mins with a few pics and onto the next stop - Soneri Mahal that was 7 min drive. The Mahal is turned into a museum with sculptures, wares, paintings and other stuff accumulated and display mostly from the 18th century. Around 15 mins inside the museum and then we started off for Shirdi.
Shirdi wasn't a part of our original itinerary, but the sign boards on the way made us greedy.
Shirdi was 1hr 48 mins from Soneri Mahal. We reached Shirdi by 12:30pm. Took the paid parking for ₹50 followed by a prasad stall where we removed our shoes and kept our phones as they aren't allowed inside. A few minutes walk to gate# 6 to procure VIP entry passes for ₹200 per person above 10 years of age. Then we went to waiting hall #5 and waited there for around 30 mins. When we started from there, it was a moving queue till the darshan hall. We were done with our darshan by 2:15pm. Nothing is accepted inside for baba. When you exit, vibhuti and prasad packet is provided to everyone. We then cisted the Dwarkamai where baba used to stay. Then we stopped at one of the udupi restaurants to have another delicious meal having masala papad, cheese dosa, rava dosa, paneer pakoda. This was followed by some shopping at one of the local outlets. We finally started back for our home by 4pm.
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