Travelogue: Bangalore Pune Shirdi Goa Bangalore

pahujaamit · Jan 22, 2012

Travelogue: Bangalore -> Pune -> Shirdi -> Pune -> Goa -> Bangalore

Alright, so it was a quick decision to head towards the holy land of Shirdi and take the blessings of Sri Sadguru SaiNath but long pending on my part. I wanted to go to Shirdi in my Scorpio ever since I bought it nearly 6months back but couldn't go. This time as it was kids holidays and I had some time off I made a quick decision to zoom to Shirdi. The trip was full of wonderful driving experience in my Scorpio, a fun filled holiday for all especially kids and a great expedition to Goa on the New Year Eve.

Highlights of the trip
- Amazing drive of about 2800 kms in a span of 1 week
- Tried nearly 5~6 cuisines !! Feeling hungry... read on!!
- Visited one Temple, 4 beaches and a friends place
- Enjoyed the holiday in GOA, the place-to-be and not-to-be on New Year eve !! Read why ??

Part 1 of 3: Bangalore -> Pune

Well, this trip was long due form my side as I had to pay a visit to Shirdi in my new MHawk, so this December I made it true. It took a great time and effort to plan this trip on what routes to take, where to halt for refuel and for refueling ourselves (where to eat), what not to miss en-route etc.

So finally it was the D-Day eve and we packed our baggage and put it in the car the night before to avoid any delays in the morning as we intended to start early morning around 4am. It took us about 20 mins to fit and secure all the baggage and tid-bits for the trip. Apart from the essentials, I had packed the following

Tyre Inflator for emergency (though I have nitrogen in the tyres now)
Jack, toolkit, spanner etc
Swiss Knife
iPOD, DVD's, CD's
GPS with present route which we wanted to take

All set for the start, my beast and my darling Scorpio

Had set the trip meter to "0"

Halted on NH4 to check the tyre pressure as I suspected that something is wrong. The culprit was the nitrogen which I got it filled just few days back and the tyres were looking bulging. But everything was ok when I checked so we moved on.

Early morning fog

NH4 towards Pune

Toll on NH4 towards Pune

NH4 towards Pune

See the guy coming into us from the wrong direction on NH4highway. I salute these guys for their bravery and risking others lives...

pahujaamit · Jan 22, 2012

Kamat where we had our breakfast on NH4 towards Pune

There are not many eating places en-route towards Pune atleast till Kohlapur. So we stopped here to be safe than sorry ..

Poori bhaji @ Kamat

Masala Dosa @ Kamat

My beast relaxing at the Kamat

After this we re-fueled for 500Rs at a petrol station next to Kamat

NH4 towards Pune

We stopped at a restaurant near Kohlapur called "GOA Ves" for Lunch. The food was excellent and we stuffed ourselves with whatever we got :)

Chicken Biryani

Dal fry and garam garam Roti

yummy .. Butter Chicken

After the sumptuous lunch we started our journey towards Pune again.

NH4 towards Pune

NH4 toll towards Pune

Tea stall on the way to Pune and near the toll plaza. Masala tea was too good here.

pahujaamit · Jan 22, 2012

I guess this was the last halt for us before we reached Pune. From here I pulled the beast to teh maximum and reached Pune around 7:30 PM where my dear friend was waiting for me. The journey was good all the way from Bangalore to Pune except few stretches where you had to slow down a bit. Else the NH4 is a good expressway/highway now for long drives. I really enjoyed the drive.

So we parked the vehicle at my friends house once we reached there and chit chatted before crashing for the day. Our plan was to relax the next day and then move to Shirdi.

Part 2 of 3: Pune -> Shirdi -> Pune

So after a good night sleep, we got ready for Shirdi and started around 5am from Pune. Since it was early morning there was not much traffic to we could zoom at a good average speed of 80~90kmph. I didn't wanted to go beyond 90~100 as you never know who comes into your way at a high speed in open roads. So we drove within 90~100 max.

On the way to Shirdi

After about 2 hrs of driving we stopped for a tea break and some light breakfast

Jai SAI Ram !!

My sweety daughter and my buddy !!

Vada Pao in making !!

Tea stall

Hot and fresh Potato Vada !!

pahujaamit · Jan 22, 2012

Hot and fresh Potato Vada !!

Fried Chilli

Fried Chilli !!

Me and my buddy !!

It was a good chilly morning so all gathered around the hot flames of the gas to stay warm. Also as we were so hungry wanted to grab the Vada Pao the moment it came out of the hot wok !!

Delicious Vada's

Steaming hot masala tea

After a great breakfast, we started again towards Shirdi

As we reached near Shirdi the traffic got very dense and even though there was no jam but the traffic movement was very very slow. We parked the vehicle at the parking spot and moved on towards the temple

Mobile and Camera keeping stand !

The crowd this time at Shirdi was too much.

Flower seller

Temple entrance

Car parking

Car parking and we did a little but pooja and put the garland we got from inside the temple

On the way back to Pune

On the way back to Pune there was a bif traffic pile up and took us around 45mins to get off from this place..

This is the entrance for the ShaniShignapur which is about 70 kms from Shirdi and takes about 1.5hrs. We skipped ShaniShignapur visit this time.

to be continued........ Pune-Goa-Bangalore

AppU · Jan 23, 2012

Once again Detailed report mate,

Continue with more pics [:)]

droy · Jan 23, 2012

Nice travelogue.I also went to Shirdi in October 11 from Hyderabad.Well after looking at the butter chicken picture i felt like yummy. [:)]

.How did the Scorpio behaved.
Waiting for more.

Akash · Jan 23, 2012

Excellent travelogue buddy. Excellent pictures too. I am feeling like having Biryani after seeing those pics[wink]. I have done the Nagpur-Shirdi stretch quite a number of times and must say i love it.

mav1234 · Jan 23, 2012

Excellent Pictures and NIce brief log. Keep them coming.

Last time I visited Shirdi and Shani temple was around 2 years ago and it was quite an eventful trip.

That Vada Pao has now created the Itch to Ride down there once again.. :)

JAI SAI BABA.. :)

sandy_fluidic · Jan 23, 2012

A very good write-up and very informative pictures. Thanks a ton for sharing. I last visited the Shirdi was 4 years back. Vada is our Maharashtrian speciality and loved that you liked it. Please do keep update on your next trip with lots of pics and safe journey.

pahujaamit · Jan 23, 2012

droy said:

Droy - Scorpio has behaved on all the trips I have done now of about 9k kms in 5mnths. You only need to be aware that you're driving a SUV and not a Sedan. I've tested Scorpio for all aspects and it's pretty good till now except for sharp "high-speed turns" and thats where you feel a little uncomfortable. Else, its v.good...

pahujaamit · Jan 23, 2012

Re: Travelogue: Bangalore Pune Shirdi Goa Bangalore : Episode 2

Travelogue: Bangalore -> Pune -> Shirdi -> Pune -> Goa -> Bangalore: Episode 2

So it was early morning when we left for Goa from Pune (my friends place) at around 5AM. After about driving for 100 odd kms I decided to pull aside and have a cup of tea as I was feeling too sleepy and started feeling drowsy.. soit was very important for me to pull aside and re-charge myself. And we stopped at this tea stall for a quick break and tea break. I had some tea and a quick omelet and then started the onward journey towards Goa.

Sun started rising by this time and was very good view of the road and the surroundings. I love to drive in the mornings as this is the best time with very very less traffic. So we zoomed towards Goa by the NH4 expressway.

NH4 expressway

I again started feeling sleepy (ooh GOD - wake me up !!) so decided to have another cup of tea. The tea what you get here in highways are high on milk and low on tea leaves/caffeine and thats one of the reasons I guess I was still feeling sleepy after having 1 cup of tea some time back :( So I took a halt here and had another one to keep me awake..

NH4 expressway

To reach GOA from Pune you have to go via NH4 expressway till you see a turn for Amboli/Ajara and take the right turn then.. ofcourse we were guided by our GPS as well.

to be continued ...

pahujaamit · Jan 23, 2012

Re: Travelogue: Bangalore Pune Shirdi Goa Bangalore : Episode 2

... continued

From NH4 to Amboli, the roads are not very good but not very bad as well. And in Scorpio we didn't feel much of discomfort but the other cars we saw were crawling at some stretches where we zooomed..

Ford Endeavor

NH4-Amboli road

Amboli was about 50kms from this point

Ajra-Amboli road

Checkpost at the Ajra-Amboli road

Some views of the ghat and the valley

So after about 2hrs of not so good road, here comes the well tarred road on the ghats. We stopped again for a tea break.

.. to be continued

pahujaamit · Jan 23, 2012

Re: Travelogue: Bangalore Pune Shirdi Goa Bangalore : Episode 2

Ghat road

There was a waterfall here or I should say there used to be a waterfall here as at this time there was very little water in it. The local vendors here told me that you have to climb for 20mins to reach the waterfall but there isn't much water here so I decided not to see it and move to Goa directly without wasting any time.

Local vendors sell refreshments here

Just before entering Goa territory

Not sure which lake was this, but just before entering Goa this is what we spotted

This is the GOA checkpost and we were stopped here for showing Car documents and license etc. All the cars had to stop here.. One guy tried to escape but was caught by the cops standing a little ahead. Mind you that you have to carry all original docs like RC, DL etc

to be continued...

pahujaamit · Jan 23, 2012

Re: Travelogue: Bangalore Pune Shirdi Goa Bangalore : Episode 2

..continued

etc

From the checkpost to another 4 kms the road was pathetic as was under construction.

And here comes the tarred road to Goa

NH17 - GOA Road

Spotted one old model car which was a good sighting

After a long drive then we reached the South Goa which is where our resort was located, we decided to have lunch and then check-in as the kids and us were very hungry. So we decided to have lunch at one of our trusted shack-restaurant near Raddisson - Mike's place.

As it was very sunny and I was tired it was time for refreshing with the cold cold beer ...

Chicken Lolipop

Xacuti Chicken (GOA Delicacy)

Jaipuri Chicken

Mike's place. Do try this if you are in South Goa. Its a very good place for Lunch/Dinner or just to chill out. Food here is excellent and Service Out of the world.

to be continued......

pahujaamit · Jan 23, 2012

.. continued

So after a sumptuous lunch we checked into our hotel and relaxed while the kids decided to go for swimming.

Pool area - Holiday Inn resort, South Goa

Generic shots of the - Holiday Inn resort, South Goa

After a while around 7pm we then decided to go to the beach side and relax and spend time over there while the kids played in the sand near beach. Holiday Inn has a private beach - Cavellossim beach and is pretty secured as well. So we occupied the beach beds and just relaxed there watching the beach waves and gazing at the stars ...

Generic shots of the - Holiday Inn resort, South Goa Beach

Fish and Grill Shack of the Holiday Inn resort, South Goa Beach

to be continued..

Travelogue: Bangalore Pune Shirdi Goa Bangalore

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