Travelogue - Trip to Nashik - Day 2

Travelogue - Nashik Diaries - Day 2

The plan for today was that of sight seeing. We had planned to visit Pandav Leni Caves, Someshwar temple and Gangapur Dam. We also had planned to visit the Artillery Regiment Museum which is open to general public.

Pandav Leni Caves 📌📷🚩🚦🗿

After breakfast we travelled to Pandav Leni which is about 8 Kms from the hotel. We started from the Hotel at 11am as to have early breakfast and then come back getting ready took some time. The climate was sunny and after we reached the foot of the Pandav Leni Caves we realized that we should have come a little earlier in the day. Though it was just the start of the month of March and summers were setting in, it was a sunny climb to the top of the mountain. The kid was already cranky at the start and Wifey and me had to carry him all the way to the top.

Taken from Wikipedia site-

The Trirashmi Caves,^[1] or Nashik Caves (Trirashmi being the name of the hills in which the caves are located, Leni being a Marathi word for caves), are a group of 23 caves carved between the 1st century BCE and the 3rd century CE, though additional sculptures were added up to about the 6th century, reflecting changes in Buddhist devotional practices.^[2][3] The Buddhist sculptures are a significant group of early examples of Indian rock-cut architecture initially representing the Early Buddhist schools tradition

Most of the caves are viharas except for Cave 18 which is a chaitya of the 1st century BCE.^[2] The style of some of the elaborate pillars or columns, for example in caves 3 and 10, is an important example of the development of the form.^[4] The location of the caves is a holy Buddhist site and is located about 8 km south of the centre of Nashik (or Nasik), Maharashtra, India. The Pandavleni name sometimes given to the Trirashmi Caves has nothing to do with the Pandavas, characters in the Mahabharata epic.

Carvings of an animal by ancient Buddhist Monks

Ludo Playing Square Carved on the floor 

Some monk may have tried carving a face on the floor

The carvings of a butterfly

Carvings of fish, Peacock and Dog on the floor

The entrance fee for the Pandav Leni Caves is around 20 INR for Indians and for other nationals its a bit higher. If you are a explorer and have time at hand then you can easily spend around 2-3 hours observing with curiosity the cravings on the stones. These people in the era that they were in, did not have any modern equipment's, yet were able to create such beautiful and long lasting carvings for future generations.

We spent time about 1hr 30mins at the caves and after exploring we left for Someshwar temple.

Someshwar Temple🛕ॐ🚩📸🎥

The temple is well known for being a Lord Shiva and Lord Hanuman Temple on the banks of river Godavari.

We also enjoyed some boating and peaceful site of sitting along the river side. We had some home made snacks and also tried Nashik Bhel at a stall near Someshwar Temple

Kid Enjoying the boat ride

After the boat ride and enjoying some snack we were off to Gangapur Dam. 

Gangapur Dam🌊✨🌟⛅🌉

At Gangapur the Maharashtra Toursim Development Corp has come up with a good location and place just ahead of the Dam to entertain tourist. Its a large set-up and provides all amenities from good food and toilets to play area for kids. Its open to all and pricing for the week days is lower with per person charge being 80 INR & during weekends being 100 INR.

We reached Gangapur Backwaters and The MTDC place at around 4.30pm in the evening, we were not in the mood to do any more boating as the activity, we felt were costly. We decided to lay low and enjoy some snack after an hours time and sat around the place. The kid was busy playing his heart out in the play area with other kids. The site was beautiful and the colors of the sky changed as soon as it was time for sunset. We walk down the walkway leading us to the backwaters and enjoyed clicking some sunset pics. Kid wanted to play in water and we did carry extra clothes for him as every parent does.

With this we ended our Day 2 with a beautiful evening at the Gangapur Backwater and Dam site. We returned back to the hotel to freshen-up and post that headed to dinner at Asian Wok and Grill on the College Road at Nashik. 

 

Travelogue - Trip to Nashik - Day 3

The plan for the day was to visit 3 places - Trimbakeshwar, Anjaneri and HAL museum and then return back to Pune.

Drive to Trimbaskeshwar🚗🚦🚩

The checkout time at the hotel was 10.30am and we called in the reception that we would be late by 30 mins. After the morning breakfast at the hotel we checked out of the hotel. We first drove to Trimbakeshwar. The distance between the hotel we stayed and Trimbakeshwar is 30 kms which can travel within 45 mins. While on the way we saw the Harihar fort on the way which has been famous with trekkers as well as instagramers :) 

The fort Harihar seen at a distance

A Little better view of Harihar

Further on the way to Trimbakeshwar you also see a famous place of Anjaneri. It holds a lot of historical & religious significance. As per the Hindu mythology, Anjaneri is the birthplace of Lord Hanuman. We reached Trimbakeshwar at around 12.30pm. There is a entry fee for vehicles and opportunist people approached us saying, the current road is one-way, in case you want to go till the temple then you can pay some amount and go wrong side. We were not interested. We then reached the parking spot and it was shabby and unclean. The premises outside the temple was very unclean & shabby and that was the state of 1 of the 12 Jotirlingas. We decided to take mukh darshan and leave soon as the heat was unbearable and the crowd and the shabbiness of the place outside made us not wait for a long time there, kid too was a little cranky as well. There was rush to visit the temple and couple of days ago it was Mahashivratri.

At Trimbakeshwar

Drive to Anjaneri🚗🚦🚩

Anjaneri foothills is 10 kms from Trimbakeshwar. Its a climb and the vehicle can reach the foothills of the temple. The road though is for offroad vehicles as it is not yet complete and is dusty road.

Anjaneri Mountain

The drive to the foothill is challenging but for someone who loves driving, you will enjoy and in sometime I believe the road would be completed with tar. Anjaneri is a forest area and protected site. We reached the foothills at 1.30pm. As soon as we parked the car we were surrounded by a group of curious Macaque monkeys. How apt that you are at the foothills of Anjaneri the birth place of Lord Hanuman and you are greeted by monkeys. The monkeys were curious to know if we had any food and were also interested in the toy that the kid had in the hand.

We checked with the Forest Guard as to what would be the time taken to trek and reach the top, the guard mentioned around 2-3 hrs if we keep walking non-stop. He also mentioned that there are no water places on the way and with kid, it would take a little longer. Listening to the experienced words of the forest guard we decided not to trek to the temple atop and visit the next time we come to Nashik. We had lemon water at near by store run by young kids and then we were on our way, driving down the Anjaneri hill. 

Anjaneri Temple beyond this mountain

Trek around the hill to reach the temple

Wife mentioned to me that at the start of the road there is a Praati Hanuman temple which we can visit. So we decided to wait and visit the temple.

So it was a wrap and we then headed to the HAL museum which was on the Agra highway, but after reaching the place we realized the place was closed after 2pm. So after spending 3 days and 2 nights in Nashik, it was a wrap of the small yet fulfilling trip. Thanks for you time.