Saurashtra Drive!!

[GrandRk]

Every traveler keeps on looking for opportunity to travel. Yearend days are mostly good to travel because the pleasant climate and school holidays. I wanted to avoid famous tourist spot for this travel because there is always rush for new year celebrations. After listing down all these possibilities and striking off few other locations we finally decided to explore Gujarat (Saurashtra) region.

We were having total eight days in hand. The plan was chalked down on what to do and what not to. Gujarat has lot of temples which remains closed in afternoon. This has added a challenge to fit our visit based on itinerary. On other hand most of the hotels were as usual overpriced and almost full as it was tourist season for them. This was the first time where I need to keep altering itinerary till last moment. Alas we have finalized our stopovers based on itinerary and packed our bags

Day 1: Pune to Ahmedabad

Finally, the drive day has arrived. As usual started journey along with small prayer early in the morning. Pune to Ghodbunder (Fountain Hotel) was smooth drive as there are no issues on this stretch. Early starts always help to bypass city traffic which starts building in later hours.

One needs to keep plenty of patience between Ghodbunder to Ahmedabad as this section is truckers’ paradise. Need to utilize all lanes to overtake trucks and proceed ahead. Till Bhoisar it was very tight way between slow moving trucks. Though the road keeps opening ahead but there is same story on every flyover. The best part of this highway is that it is lined by ample amount of fuel outlets, food outlets and transit stay options. You will find many restaurants of famous chains like “Sugar N Spice”, “Honest”, “Giriraj Kathiyawadi” throughout the highway. We spotted few “Undhiyo” sellers beside road somewhere near to Surat.

Our attention was grabbed by these smoky earthen pots buried in ground. This is traditional way of preparing Undhiyo

Undhyo was a bit on spicier side. I liked chutney which they served along with it.

We resumed back to our journey. After making way through some hundreds of trucks we somehow arrived at expressway between Vadodra and Ahmedabad. The expressway was charm to drive as there were no two wheelers, autos, and tractors on it. At the end of expressway towards Ahmedabad exit there was a check post where I could spot few cops standing midway. The cops after looking my MH registered car stopped me while other GJ cars passed by. I could see one MP registered car was also stopped ahead of me.

Set of checks done by cop,
1st check: Rigorously checked my car and entire luggage in and out for any traces of liquor.
2nd check: Car documents, Insurance, License and PUC.
3rd check: Mask usage for all passengers (This they mostly spot while stopping your car itself)
4th check: Miscellaneous questionnaire like, “Why there is no yellow strip on right side of headlight?”, “Why don’t you have HSRP number plate?”

I was knowing that yellow strip rule got discarded many years back and HSRP number plates are issued to new registered cars while mine was 2013 registered. Secondly, MH is yet to issue HSRP for old cars. I explained all these to that cop. Once you pass out with flying colors in all these four checks then cop ask you to move with sad face else be ready to shell out few bucks.

It was almost evening when we entered hustling bustling city of Ahmedabad. We decided to visit Sabarmati Riverfront hence added location in Gmaps and started to drive. Ahmedabad city sees too much of traffic in evenings where most of the autos and two wheelers are driven like F1 cars. After following the instructions of Google lady and calmly passing through city traffic we arrived at Riverfront. It was good designed and well-maintained area with almost 11kms of walkway on both side of riverbanks. The river front is mostly used by locals for evening walks and jogging.

First view of Sabarmati riverfront

River itself is very clean

Lightings on the bridge crossing river

We walked a little bit on the banks. The authorities have kept few benches where you can sit and enjoy river view.

We sat for some time and then left for our hotel. At night we decided to visit famous “Manek Chowk” which is said to be foodies’ paradise. As this area is situated inside old market of Ahmedabad which has narrow roads and parking issue hence it is better to visit there by auto. We hired auto and got experience of sitting inside F1 racer car.

Just before entering main food market, we visited nearby “Jama Masjid” which is iconic yellow sandstone mosque. One cannot gauge its beauty till you enter inside. There is a big courtyard and small waterbody created for washing hands before prayer

Jama Masjid is architectural beauty. It is said that there were tall minarets which are now cut short as they got collapsed in earthquake. It would be a beautiful experience to see this masjid in daytime.

We walked ahead to Manek Chowk. The area is jewelry market which gets converted into food market at night (Just like Sarafaa Bazaar of Indore). The vendors place chairs beside roads for foodies. There are many locals visiting this bazaar for food along with family.

We tried some veg biryani, pav bhaji followed by yummy and unique pineapple ice-cream sandwich (I tasted something like this for first time)

We had some chat items as well

Rabadi Kulfi Falooda

The lanes at the end of market have presence of vendors preparing fresh Fafda, Gatiya, Shev and Jalebis. The smell was so tempting that we had each one of them. Also, while returning we parceled some fafda and gatiya to our hotel room.

Continued..

 

[GrandRk]

Day 2: Ahmedabad – Jamnagar

The plan for today was to reach Jamnagar before evening after taking small detour at Chotila and Rajkot. After exiting Ahmedabad city, we joined Ahmedabad – Rajkot highway. Everything was going fine till we reached Sayla village. The things started worsening later as there were numerous ongoing flyover constructions for which diversions are placed after every kilometer. The diversion itself were of more than 200m. To add to diversions there was heavy car traffic and trucks on this section. This all got continued till Rajkot which ate more of our time.

We reached Chotila where we have planned to visit Jalaram Temple and Chamunda Mata Temple. Jalaram temple has timing restrictions (closes by 12:30pm) hence we quickly headed towards it. There is ample amount of parking space at this temple.

Jalaram Temple

Shri.Jalaram Bappa

The temple has many carved pillars inside

Amazing carvings on the inside of temple roof.

After enquiring I came to know that the temple complex has accommodations as well. The basic non ac rooms cost Rs.600 while AC room costs for Rs.800. They don’t accept any online or telephonic bookings hence one needs to walk down directly. They do have their prasadalya where we had basic food as our lunch for that day.

Temple as seen from Prasadalaya

We headed towards Chamunda Mata Temple. Within some 5 mins from main road, we reached vast parking area of temple. The temple is situated on hill.

There are some 650 steps to reach the temple. The authorities have done good job by making shade above steps which saves devotees from harsh sun. There is drinking water arrangement made after every few steps. It took us some 15-20 mins to climb all those 650 steps along with 2-3 small breaks. We entered temple and had peaceful darshan of Maa Chamunda Mata.

The “Maa” sign at the top of hill

Lion – vehicle of chamunda mata

A quirky site of hairs been tied to trees. Some methodology of worship it seems.

Chotila town as seen from above

We descended back towards parking spot. Had lemon juice and icecream and were back on highway. The negotiation with diversions and traffic was continued till Rajkot. The plan was to give a quick visit to Shri. Ramkrishna Ashram which is a part of Ramkrishna Mission Spiritual Organization which is associated with Swami Vivekanand.

The temple timing is from 5am till 12pm and 4pm to 6:30pm. There is no dedicated parking for this temple hence we have parked our car beside temple. The temple gates were closed when we arrived. There were some couple of minutes for 4pm hence we consumed that time by having a tea break at nearby stall.

Ramkrishna Ashram Temple

Surroundings of this temple are maintained very well. There is small garden inside temple having numerous flowers. There is huge statue of Swami Vivekanand inside temple campus. The complex depicts library which has books related to Swami Vivekanand.

The inner sanctum of temple has statue of Shri. Ramkrishna Paramhans. The place is very calm and silent which is good for one who wants to meditate.

We moved ahead for our destination of the day which was “Jamnagar”. We had peaceful drive on roads ahead of Rajkot due to less traffic. As we neared Jamnagar, the city traffic started increasing which kept on till we reached other side of bypass. It was almost evening when we entered Jamnagar.

We decided to visit Lakhota lake hence added it as a destination in Google maps. The google lady has directed us properly towards it. There is good amount of parking place near lake. There is entrance ticket of Rs.10 for lake. The entries are allowed for double vaccinated peoples only. Lakahota palace and museum got closed till the time we reached.

Lakhota Palace

The lake area is very well maintained with huge trees, small gardens, and proper walking paths. They have made a separate jogging track which has spongy feel to it. There are many sitting areas created where you can sit and relax. The area is having some speakers where the management keeps on playing Hindi golden era songs which feels soothing.

Panoramic view of lake

The huge trees in campus are home to these birds. Evenings are filled with different chirping sound of birds.

Lakhota Palace in late evenings.

One more pic

Near to this lake is located a famous “Bala Hanuman Temple”. This temple is famous as it is listed in Guinness World Record for nonstop chanting of Ram dhun “Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram” from 1st August 1964. The Ram dhun can be heard from entrance gate itself.

Bala Hanuman along with Shri Ram in main sanctum

We spent some time in temple and then went to our hotel. We rested for time and after getting freshened up went to have Gujarati Thali as Bhramaniya Dinning Hall. The dining hall serves some authentic and unlimited Gujarati Thali at Rs.170. We tried their Shrikhand which was awesome in taste. I have tasted such Shrikhand after years.

The temperature started to drop in late evenings. Due to lack of time, we were not able to visit famous “Jain Vijay Farsan” and “Shrikhand Samrat” hence we came back to our hotel.

Continued..

 

[GrandRk]

Day 3: Jamnagar – Bet Dwarka - Dwarka

We were knowing that this day will be very tiresome for us as there were many spots identified which were planned to visit before sunset. Our list of point of interest always has a hidden priority. Hence in today’s list our priority was to at least visit Nageshwar Jyotilinga, Shri Krishna temple on Bet Dwarka and Dwarkadish temple in Dwarka. The challenge was about darshan timings as all these temples get closed at 12:30pm and reopens directly at 5pm. Due to this I decided to start early from Jamnagar and cover at least two temples in first half (before 12:30pm)

As per our plan we have started early from Jamnagar around 6:30am. The exit through Jamnagar was smooth with good, tarred roads and marked lanes. The road condition started deteriorating after Essar Power Plant. The road construction work was in progress which has left uneven and gravel patches for both side traffic. The stretches became more worse around Khambaliya and continued till Charkala. The road from Charkala till Nageshwar was smooth.

Nageshwar Jyotirlinga is among 12 jyotirlingas. There is a big statue of lord shiva at the entrance of temple which can be seen from approach road itself. Ample amount of car parking space available near temple.

Huge statue of Shiva

The temple has proper arrangement inside so everyone can get peaceful darshan. There is tall trishul inside temple

Nageshwar Jyotirlinga

It took us hardly 10-20 minutes for having peaceful darshan. We purchased some prasad ladoos from counter inside temple. This temple is situated in small village where there are no hotels nearby hence one need to stay at Dwarka itself.

Our next spot in line was Bet Dwarka. I have chosen to visit Bet Dwarka in first half because of dependency of boat ride which we don’t want to do post evening. We started driving towards Okha from where we will get ferry to Bet Dwarka. Most of the road section passes through village. The roads are good barring few unseen speed humps. Okha is fishermen area hence there are lot of pickup trucks and vans. We parked our car in large parking area which is located at some 500 meters away from Okha ferry terminal.

One can walk from parking lot to ferry terminal which take some 10-15min else there are few autos at the parking gate which will take you to ferry terminal at Rs.10 per person. We wanted to reach quickly to Bet Dwarka hence took auto from parking lot to ferry terminal. The terminal was too much crowdy and so was the ferry. There is no proper management and control on crowd. They fill up as much as passengers as they can into the ferry. The ticket is Rs.40 per head.

Ferry which carries almost hundreds of passengers

We also ended up into one crowdy ferry. There are lot of seagulls which flies along with ferry as passenger keeps feeding them some special food which is sold at ferry terminal. The entire journey of 7-8 minutes gets completed just watching these flying seagulls.

A bridge construction is in progress from Okha to Bet Dwarka. Once it gets completed then cars can come to Bet Dwarka

After getting deboarded from ferry we need to walk for some 500 meters to reach temple. As per temple rule you are not permitted to carry your luggage and cell phones inside temple. There is cloak room where you can deposit your belonging.

Bet Dwarka is said to be the residence of lord Krishna. The architecture is very old where one can get idea on how the houses were designed in that era. Somehow the surroundings of temple are not that clean. Thousands of devotees visit this temple every day hence there is always a rush. It took some 45 min for us to take darshan. It was almost 12:15pm by the time we came out. The announcements were started for temple closure at 12:30pm. We were lucky to have peaceful darshan well in time.

We had visited temple bhojnayala and had some food as a prasad. There are many small shops near temple selling toys, photos of Lord Krishna and conch shell. A bit ahead of market area lies Golden Dwarka which is temple cum museum depicting life events of Lord Krishna

The entrance is Rs.40 per person. It takes around 45min to 1 hour to explore this place. They do allow photography and videography. There are many beautiful idols made inside this museum.

The pillars inside museum are golden colored which gives you feel of Golden Dwarka which submerged under water.

Few events from Lord Krishna’s life

Krishna and Sudama

The main role of Krishna for which he came to earth

The ceiling of museum was made up of glass

A jumbo size conch

Lord Krishna went to heavenly abode after getting hit by arrow in his feet

There are many spots on Bet Dwarka which one can visit if have time. Autos are available near Bet Dwraka temple which can take you to different spots. We shared auto with one more family to take us to Dandi Hanuman Temple which is famous temple of Hanuman on Bet Dwarka.

The auto ride was fun as the road was having zero traffic and due to a smaller number of vehicles the air was clean. I spotted a Jackal in nearby trees on the way. We reached temple in some 10 minutes. This is the only temple of Hanuman where he can be seen along with his son “Makardhwaj”.

We took our auto a little ahead of Dandi hanuman towards “Shri Chaurasi Dhuna Siddhapet”. The temple has 84 havan kunds inside it. The temple is dedicated to “Shree Ashapura Mataji”

After exploring these temples, we headed back. We walked back to ferry terminal and boarded ferry back towards Okha. The journey time went watching flying seagulls near ferry.

We walked down from ferry terminal towards parking lot. There is Indian Navy office located near ferry terminal. We reached parking lot and started our drive towards Dwarka. The road from Okha to Dwarka is good to drive.

On the way we took detour towards blue flagged Shivrajpur beach. The beach has dedicated parking space for Rs.50 per car. We walked ahead towards beach from parking lot. The shoreline was long and pristine. There are few water sport activity available at this beach. The authorities have maintained the beach very well with basic facilities like Washrooms, Shower and Changing rooms, drinking water and children’s park.

Sea as seen from Shivrajpur beach

The entrance to children’s park with dotted with these trees

After spending some time on beach, we headed towards Rukmini Temple in Dwarka. This temple is created in 12th century which has some amazing stone carvings. The main idol of Rukmini is housed in sanctum where photography is not allowed. They offer water as a prasad to all devotees.

It was almost 4:45pm when we came out of Rukmini temple. At last, the time has come to head towards Dwarkadish Temple which will open at 5pm. With help of Gmaps i started driving towards temple. The google lady has taken me through some internal congested route but somehow, we finally made to reach near temple parking lot. We parked our car and headed towards temple which was open by now.

The temple does not allow mobile phones, luggage’s, and electronics car keys inside. All these belongings can be kept in cloak room. There are different queues for gents and ladies for security check as well as inside temple. Dwarkadish Temple is said to be administrative place of Lord Krishna hence the lord is worshipped here like a king. We had a very good and close to sanctum darshan of Lord Krishna.

Near to temple flows Gomti river. We were disappointed with sheer uncleanliness of Gomti ghat. The walkway was almost slippery.

There was a bridge nearby which is named as “Sudama Setu”. There is a ticket to walk over the bridge. The other end of bridge descends to a sandy ground where there are few camels and ATV rides available for tourist. The ticket counter was heavily crowded hence we just took a photo of setu and moved.

Our minds were relaxed as we have completed priority spots of the day. We still were having some time in hand hence moved ahead to explore other destinations in Dwarka. We first arrived at Shri Gayatri peeth which is one of the Shakipeeth. The temple was silent with sea on the other side. It seems like no one comes here as we were the only one in this temple.

One can see lighthouse from this temple. When we came out the sun was already setting

We proceeded ahead towards the Badkeshwar Mahadev temple. There is ample amount of parking space near this temple as most of the tourist and locals come here for enjoying evening. One needs to walk a bit to reach the temple as it is located at the peninsula probing into sea. It is said that sunset looks amazing from here, but we were somewhat late and missed the fun.

Shri Bahdkeshwar Mahadev

Rock formations near Bhadkeshwar Mahadev temple

There are numerous food stalls and vendors near this temple. We had tea while enjoying the evening views of sea. Few tourists were enjoying camel ride and ATV ride in nearby area.

There is a Geeta Temple located near to parking which we decided to visit. The temple is having calm surrounding and feels away from crowd and noise. Apart from priest there was no one inside this temple. The inner wall of temple has 18 chapters of Gita written all over them. The inner sanctum has idol of Lord Krishna sermonizing Gita knowledge to Arjun.

It was dark when we reached back to our car hence, we straight away went to our hotel. It was long and tiresome day for us but on other hand we were happy because we have covered most of the planned spots and had peaceful darshan of Lord Krishna.

Continued...

 

[GrandRk]

Day 4: Dwarka – Porbandar – Somnath

The morning was densely fogged. We bid goodbye to Dwarka and started towards Somnath taking coastal road. This stretch has one of the fantastic roads I came across in this trip. The traffic is near to zero and car just glides without any tire noise. The only downside of this stretch is that there is no decent eatery till Porbandar.

The traffic started piling as soon as we entered Porbandar. Our plan was just to visit Sudama temple. We arrived at parking lot near temple after navigating through some congested road. Entire parking lot was surrounded by local autos. I need to make two rounds around parking lot just to check for gap to take my car inside. Some tourist negotiated with one auto, and it moved which made a gap for me. There were many private cars and yellow board tourist vehicles parked in crisscross way inside parking. I somehow managed to park my car.

Sudama Temple

It was fun walking inside Parikrama Marg.

When we came out of temple one auto driver came to us and told that he can take us to Kirti Mandir (Gandhiji’s birthplace) and drop us back to our car parking at Rs.100. Visit to Kirti Mandir was not in our plan but after listening to offer we decided to visit it. The auto took us through some very narrow lanes and at last brought near Kirti Mandir. Looking at journey I would suggest coming here in auto only.

Entrance of Kirti Mandir

Small courtyard

Mahatma Gandhiji’s house

Entrance into house

The house is standing as it is till date

Room at upper floor where bit of steep climb on old wooden stairs is required

Birthplace location in house

The “Charkhas”

Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi

I have noticed few “Agarbatti” shops inside approach lane to Kirti Mandir. They sell wide variety of agarbattis which are handmade and have some amazing fragrance. We ended up purchasing few packs for us.

The auto has brought us back to our car parking area. The same auto guy helped me to take out my car. I thanked him and started back towards highway. After some careful navigation inside Porbandar we reached highway from where we proceeded towards our next destination which was Madhavpur Beach. The road quality ahead of Porbandar was still fantastic. Within couple of minutes, we reached Madhavpur beach which can be seen from road itself. We parked our car beside road and walked towards beach

The waves were bit high on this beach as compared to Shivrajpur beach. The water is clear and so is the surrounding. We could spot few tourists enjoying the waves on that hot afternoon. Along the beach there were few tender coconut sellers and ice cream vendors. We spent some time on beach and while coming back had tender coconut and falooda.

The journey was resumed back towards Somnath. Our first detour inside Somnath was to visit Bhalka Teerth temple. This is the place where Lord Krishna was hit by arrow on his feet after which he left to heavenly abodes which was end of Dwaparyug.

The temple has no dedicated parking hence we parked our car at available space beside road. There was a bit of rush in temple which shows that most of the pilgrims and tourist visit here

Lord Krishna as main deity inside sanctum

After Bhalka Teerth we straight away headed to Somnath temple which was 3-4 kms away. Somnath temple has one of the best maintained parking lots. There is ample and separate space for 2 wheelers, cars, and buses. There is a bit of walking involved from parking lot towards temple entrance. The temple is secured hence they do not allow luggage (including hand purses), wallets, car keys, leather belts and mobile phones inside temple. There is cloak room near entrance where you can deposit all your belonging and take a key of locker along with you.

The first security check post has separate queues for gents and ladies. The security checks you for any belongings. Once you clear that then you need to walk for few meters in shaded walkway to reach the main gate of temple. There is one more security check post where they again check you for any belongings. If you clear the checks then only you can enter main temple.

Somnath trust has made proper arrangement inside temple hence one can get a good darshan of Somnath Jyotirlinga. As there are different queues and exits for gents and ladies hence, I found many families searching each other. It’s better to ask ladies in family to keep standing at their exit so gents can approach them and later they all can continue in same direction for Pradakshina. Awesome churma ladoos can be purchased at prasad counter inside temple complex. (Do keep some cash in pocket as wallets are not allowed)

Somnath temple. You can see that shaded walkway towards temple

We returned to parking lot after collecting our belongings. We proceeded towards Shri Ram mandir which is located next to parking (but there is no approach road directly)

Bow and arrow made at entrance gate

Shri Ram, Laxman and Sita inside main sanctum

Shree Chandrabhaga Shaktipeeth is located behind Ram Mandir. It seems no one visit here as we were the only one in the temple. Shri Ram mandir looks beautiful from behind as well.

From here we proceeded towards Triveni Sangam. There is no dedicated parking hence we parked our car on small ground of Sharda Math.

Triveni Sangam ghat (Properly maintained when compared to Gomti Ghat at Dwarka)

There are boats available which takes you towards exact sangam point for a ticket of Rs.30 per person. There are lot of seagulls flying near boat as tourist keep throwing some food towards them. (This is mini version of ferry experience of Bet Dwarka)

Triveni ghat as seen from boat

At sangam point they stop the boat and shows us two rivers named Hiran and Kapila coming from either side. The third river Saraswati flows under water hence invisible. We were back on Triveni ghat after boat ride.

We walked towards Sharada Math. The math also has Kamnath Mahadev temple inside. There is a cave inside temple where idol of Guru Shankaracharya can be seen meditating. We sat in temple for couple of minutes to experience the silence and calmness.

We have covered our planned spots in Somnath hence proceeded to our hotel in late evening and ended our day.

Continued...

 

[GrandRk]

Day 5: Somnath – Junagad - Zainabad

Started a bit early from Somnath. The section between Somnath to Junagad was very good where I could maintain consistent speed. We spotted many such trucks. Don’t know what they were carrying.

Junagad city was having very low traffic and there was less congestion on road. There was only one spot planned in Junagad which was Mahabat Maqbara. I knew about ongoing restoration work of this monument but kept it in our spot just for few clicks.

Mahabat Maqabara is located a few meters away from main road outside Junagad station. I was surprised to see that I could take my car near to monument. The top of monument can be seen from road which was looking amazing. As expected, the restoration work was in progress hence I requested security to let me in to click some pics of monument. After some hesitation he allowed only me to quickly click and come out.

Mahabat Maqbara

The white pearl color was looking nice. Hope after restoration one can get a nice view here.

We proceeded ahead towards Girnar. The road to Girnar is very well maintained. There is a ropeway facility through which you can reach top of hill near Ambaji Mata temple. The parking near ropeway was full hence local cops were redirecting the traffic into other lanes. We have got a good parking spot inside one lane. One needs to walk some 300 meters to reach the base ropeway station.

Girnar hills as seen from parking spot

The ropeway is maintained very well with proper crowd management. The round-trip cost of one adult person is Rs.700. It is better to book tickets online which will save your time in long queues. After checking our online tickets, the security redirected us towards waiting lobby. There was good sitting arrangement made in waiting lobby. We need to keep changing our seats as the queue proceeded. They allow maximum 8 persons in one trolley.

The ropeway trolley takes some 7-8 mins to reach top. It was fun filled and adventurous journey.

Ropeway lines till topmost part of hill

That red and blue colored structure is ropeway base

Jain Teerth on Girnar hills

For visiting the Jain Teerth, one needs to descend few steps from ropeway station at top

Our trolleys reached at top ropeway station from where we still need to climb few steps to reach Amba Mata Temple. There was a bit of rush in temple. To reach main sanctum we again need to climb some steps Inside temple. Photography and videography are strictly prohibited inside temple.

Guru Goraknath Temple located on peak of another hill

Each peak in Girnar hill has temple. You can see Dattatreya Temple on last peak in below photo. There are almost thousand steps to reach that peak.

The view from top was amazing. It is said that Junagad city is seen from here but somehow the valley was filled with fog.

We caught return ropeway and came back to base point. At the exit we found some shops which were selling snacks and ice creams. We had tea to refresh ourselves before proceeding ahead for journey.

The roads till Rajkot bypass were good. We have found a 3-4 kilometers of truck queue beside road which were loaded with some sacks. After enquiring came to know that they all were carrying groundnuts inside those sacks.

We reached Rajkot bypass which was having few unseen speedhumps and miscellaneous city traffic. Google maps have played blunder game which made us to get lost for some time inside city. After asking locals I arrived back to bypass road. Post Rajkot we came across heavy truck traffic. We navigated our way and reached Morbi which is lined up with many ceramic industries hence there was lot of dust in climate added to which there is lot of truck movement to pick up and drop the goods. Lot of patience is required to cover stretch till Malvan. Most of our time was getting consumed behind trucks to find clearance. There are no decent eateries in this section, though Morbi has some stay options on highway.

Post Malvan we came across worst and terrible roads which are single laned till Zainabad. There are many broken sections and deep potholes throughout. Apart from small villages there is almost nothing in this section.

We somehow underestimated the traffic and road condition in this part of state hence it got dark till we reached Zainabad. Due to this we need to cancel our plan of opting safari to Little Rann of Kutch. We were so tired that we had dinner and straight away went to bed.

Continued...

 

[GrandRk]

Day 6 : Zainabad – Patan – Ahmedabad

We woke up a little late due to previous days tiredness. After having a good breakfast, we started our journey towards Patan. The road section from Zainabad till a bit ahead of Becharaji is torture for low ground clearance cars. We have taken a small detour inside Becharaji to visit Maa Bahuchara Mata Shaktipeeth. There is good parking facility near temple. There was no rush inside temple which led us to take peaceful darshan within couple of minutes.

Maa Bahuchara Mata Shaktipeeth

We proceeded ahead with our journey. The road section was slowly improving and at last we were driving on some good roads. Acres of mustard fields are lined beside road which reminded me few shots from “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge”.

On the way we detoured inside Modhera for visiting famous Sun Temple. There is ample parking place near ticket counter. ASI has done some great work by creating landscapes around temple. The area is maintained very well. We could see lot of squirrels inside campus.

Sun Temple

“Surya Kund” in front of temple is photographer’s delight

Design on ceilings of Sun Temple

One more view of Surya Kund from temple

Beautiful carvings on outer walls of temple

The carvings at entrance door reminded me about Khajuraho Temples which we visited recently.

Temple entrance gate pillars, the rest of the temple is fallen in earthquake

Sun temple along with Surya Kund

ASI museum is located inside campus which displays few structures found at this site

We resumed our journey back towards Patan. There is no bypass for Patan hence we need to face entire town traffic with numerous autos and bikes throughout. The situation became more worse as flyover construction was in progress in market area which added few more jams.

Patan is famous for Rani Ki Vav which is UNESCO heritage site. We parked our car near the entrance gate. Entire area is surrounded by few huge trees and landscaped gardens. The stepwell cannot be seen until you come near it.

We descended few steps below to see the step well.

Rani Ki Vav has been printed on back of new Rs.100 note.

A sleeping posture of Lord Vishnu can be seen through middle window (zoom)

Amazing carvings on the walls of step well

A bit close look at carvings

Few more clicks of Rani Ki Vav

There is no decent hotel around this location. We could see some vendors opposite parking lot selling Samosas, Dabelis and Maggie on cart. We had each of them along with fresh prepared sugarcane juice.

We resumed our journey towards Ahmedabad. The section from Patan to Mehsana is good to drive once you come out from dusty Patan town. Car traffic started to increase as soon as we approached near to Gandhinagar. There were some heart in mouth overtakes done by few cars and tipper trucks. Honking is to glory in this section.

We detoured to visit famous Adalaj stepwell.

Temperature was bit cool in this section

The stepwell is Octagonal in shape

Stepwell was crowded with locals and tourist.

Vertigo inside well.

Carved window

The rush kept on increasing in evening hence we moved out to proceed our next destination Ambaji Temple in Ambapur. After navigating inside Ambapur village roads we reached Ambaji Mata temple. Apart from us there was no one there. We first took darshan of Ambaji Mata and then visited stepwell which is beside main sanctum.

The stepwell is very similar to Adalaj, but it is not maintained well. Cleanliness was not at all good. The locals have thrown garbage on the steps of well.

Locals call this step well as “Ambapur Ni Vav”

It was almost evening when we started from Ambapur towards Ahmedabad. The stretch of Gandhinagar- Ahmedabad has some heavy traffic in evening. I need to get into defensive driving mode. Need to be more vigil especially at roundabouts as bikes and autos have a habit to turn anywhere suddenly without indicator. Have seen some minor dashing happening among themselves and few bikes inside city. (They smile at each other and proceed). We safely reached our hotel.

Continued...

 

[GrandRk]

Day 7: Ahmedabad – Champaner – Pavagad – Surat

At last, the day has arrived to begin our return journey to home. Our last spot of journey was to visit Champaner-Pavagad. It has already rained last night due to which the climate was cool and bit cloudy. We had our breakfast and started towards Champaner by taking expressway towards Vadodra. The entry point of expressway towards Ahmedabad can be easily missed as there are long trails of vehicles parked beside the road which covers signboards.

The rains started to pour when we were near to Vadodra. The stretch between Vadodra and Halol has lot of car traffic. The area has few industries lined up beside road. Google maps have shown us wrong location for Champaner Archaeologist site. The area where Gmaps ended was a market. After asking few locals we reached Jama Masjid in Champaner. By now the intensity of rains became low.

We took tickets and entered inside Masjid. There are many architectural masjids in this area where same ticket can be showed.

Jama Masjid

We were the only one inside this monument

Pillars inside Masjid

It again started to rain when we were about to come outside the monument. There was Kevada Masjid located in Champaner but we could not found the route to reach there. The road work inside village was in progress hence locals were telling us to reach it through main road. The Gmaps on other side were also confusing. After making few tight U turns, we dropped the plan.

We came back to main road from where we proceeded to Kamani Masjid which was locate on other side. There was no signboards nor proper way. We drove on off-road path through small jungle for few meters and arrived at this masjid.

Due to arches this masjid is known as “Kaamani Masjid”

The rains were bit minimized hence we planned to visit Pavagad which we were thinking to drop. The roads in ghat section towards Pavagad are good to drive. We found this “Saat Kaman” structure near road hence stopped there to take few pics

There are total seven arches due to which its name is “Saat Kaman”. It looks like small version of “Kamani Masjid”

We proceeded ahead towards Pavagad. The entire area was covered with fog.

There is dedicated parking at top which was already full and messed up with local people movers. I parked our car on the road itself (which is much better option)

Pavagad is famous because it is having Maa Kalika Mata Shaktipeeth. Lot of pilgrims and locals do visit here. There is a ropeway facility to reach top, but this ropeway is not managed properly like Girnar. The ticket for round trip is Rs.170. There is no waiting lobby hence you need to stand in queue till your turn comes. They allow only 6 people in one trolley.

The hills were almost covered by fog when our trolley was moving up

Few views which we captured through ropeway trolley

There is long walkway lined up with small shops once you come out of trolley. There are few steps to be climbed out at the end of walkway. It takes quite some effort to climb last set of steps and reach temple.

The outer part of temple was getting constructed. I could see that construction of ropeway extension was in progress so in future the devotees can directly reach temple. There is separate queue for gents and ladies. Photography is not allowed inside temple. We have taken darshan of Kalika Mata and came down. The rains were stopped but there was some chill in the air.

The views around were very good.

We had some food at the stalls on walkway. We descended back through ropeway at the base. As soon as we reached base the rains started pouring. We quickly reached our car and started descending Pavagad ghat. It was almost 3pm when we reached Champaner. We headed towards Surat after navigating through the fast-moving car traffic till Vadodara.

As usual the highway was filled with trucks. Rains have added a challenge to keep overtaking these trucks. We faced standstill traffic for 20min on flyover due to failed truck. It was quite a hectic drive later.

We have planned to visit Neelkanth Dham in Poicha which due to rains we dropped out. It was consuming lot of time to drive on highway due to truckers hence we dropped visiting Surat as well and at last took transit stay on highway. The rains at last stopped somewhere around 7:30pm. We were completely exhausted hence had some food in hotels restaurant and went to bed.

Continued...

 

[GrandRk]

Day 8: Surat – Pune

Today was just drive day for us. We lazily started around 9am from our hotel. The entire highway till Thane was having truck traffic. Got into some standstill patches of 15min ahead of Navsari due to some ongoing road layering work in one lane. The second jam was about 20min somewhere ahead of Vapi as some truck has given up while making U turn (there was also a kilometer long jam on other side)

Later got stuck into crawling traffic from Navghar onwards till Thane (West). The exit from Thane towards Airoli was smooth. Later it was usual traffic flow till Kalamboli. The Mumbai Pune expressway was good to drive especially with moving traffic in ghat section. We safely reached home in evening.

With this we concluded our Saurashtra trip.

 

[GrandRk]

Few takeaways from trip:

• Consider temples timings in Gujarat while planning as most of it remains close from 12:30pm to 5:00pm
• Few attractions in Gujarat remains close on Mondays hence take a note of it.
• Estimate some extra time when there is boat ride, ropeway ride and temple visit included in your itinerary as all these things takes its own sweet time.
• Hotels at year end time are always in high demand hence they are overpriced and mostly full.
• Mumbai Gujarat highway has super heavy truck traffic hence estimate more time for reaching destination.
• Somnath – Porbandar – Dwarka road is the only fantastic stretch when compared all other roads in our trip
• Many stretches in Gujarat have no decent eateries and washrooms hence plan accordingly.
• Ahmedabad, Rajkot, and Jamnagar cities have high and bit rash traffic.

Thanks for reading!!