[hummer]

I was fed up of traveling through silk board and outer ring road traffic at Bengaluru. Badly wanted a break to travel far away from Bengaluru. Plan materialized during this Dasara holidays.

We were getting invites from my sister to visit them ever since they came to Pune from USA for a few years of stay in India. We were also contemplating to visit World Heritage Sites Ajanta and Ellora caves from quite some time. I studied about Ajanta and Ellora caves decades ago and was naturally curious to witness these historical masterpieces which are just 1000 kms away from Bengaluru.

We made a good travel plan for 8 days to cover Pune, Shirdi, Aurangabad, Ellora, Daulatabad Fort, Ajanta and other nearby places. Mumbai visit was also on cards ��

Mode of transport and passengers: My trusted Nissan Terrano with wifey & boys.

Day – 1: Since Pune is ~850 kms away and google was showing 14 hrs of travel, we planned to stay at Hubli & travel to Pune next morning.

Started from Bengaluru at 5.30am, sun was already out and as usual caught in dirty crawling traffic almost till Nelamangala.







Road was bit freed up after Tumkur and was able to drive enthusiastically from there. Tolls however slowed us but FASTag helped us to pass thru any lane without the hassle of change etc.

Many of you might have driven on this stretch, it’s a pleasure as almost all towns and villages have flyovers, so you can have some adrenaline rush. Ofcourse this is NOT autobahn, so we should be careful and prepared for the unexpected.

We reached the land of great “Onake Obavva” Chitradurga for breakfast at 8am. Went to the Hotel “Durgada Siri” which looked great from outside, but food quality and service were pathetic, this is the best hotel in Chitradurga itseems.





Wifey wanted to give me rest and took up the driving (to be honest my tension started from there even though she is a safe and sedate driver), kids became alert on her driving and started giving advices about road conditions, vehicles in front and back.

Change of hands:


She drove for about 150kms till Shiggaon, she had to stop as an idiot stopped the car in front in the middle of the highway to change the driver. I jumped to driver seat and continued towards Hubballi.

It was almost 12 and very hot, we took a break near Hubballi for cane juice.




We canceled our decision to stay at Hubballi as it was only 12 and all were ready to travel further.

We bought Dharward Pedha and Belagavi Kunda in Mishra Pedha on the way.


As we reached near Belagavi, we saw beautiful Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on a small hill which is the new legislature building of the State of Karnataka in Belagavi.


I filled the Diesel in a bunk after Belagavi, within minutes we entered the Maharastra state border.


Traffic increased as we entered Maharastra and reached peak as we entered Kolhapur city. It was 2.30pm, we stopped at a Kolhapuri veg restaurant “Manthan”. I took authentic Kolhapuri thaali, the curries were so hot, I had teary eyes and burning mouth. I relished it I must say.






After couple of hours of travel from hot Kolhapur, Karad and Satara, we entered into beautiful green land, we were passing through the famous Mahabaleshwar. Took a coffee break at Vithal Kamaths, there was no one inside the hotel at 6.00pm. It should have indicated me the state of the hotel, but I was in bad need of coffee, so moved on. Coffee was very bad and staff was rude, I realized the reason why the hotel was empty.



After that we passed through a tunnel and could see Pune lights. It took almost 14 hours (with breaks) to cover ~850 kms. Problem started after reaching Pune, traffic situation was no better than Bengaluru, it reminded me of Silkboard and Outer Ring Road. It was dark, GPS was showing some wrong route, traffic on top of that, I got frustrated – but nothing could be done, I kept my calm and continued. I have to say a big thanks to a policeman who after seeing out-of-state registration & the struggling, stopped the oncoming traffic & allowed me to take a U turn in a busy junction. It surely saved some time and frustration.

Later I spoke to my brother-in-law followed his directions and finally met them at 9.30pm. I recalled our similar trip in US to meet them, we drove from St. louis MO to Chicago IL, it was not such a long drive though.

In the 16 hours, we struggled in the last 2 hours within Pune city due to heavy traffic. We were not very tired even after such a long journey. Credit to beautiful NH48 and excellent Terrano ride quality for providing tireless journey experience. Ofcourse thanks to wifey for giving me that 1.5 hours of rest ��. We had a good dinner, spend some time chatting and hit the bed as we had to start our II innings in the morning.

Day – 2: We were not a hurry in the morning, hot breakfast was ready, we started at 9.30am to Ranjangaon. Ranjangaon Ganpati is one among the Ashtavinayak in MH. It was a short 1.5 hours journey from Pune. It was not crowded, we took quick darshan and headed towards Shirdi.









It was 3-4 hours from there to Shirdi via Ahmednagar. Some stretches in bypass near Ahmednagar were bad, we had to pass thru Ahmednagar industrial area following huge trucks.


We reached Shirdi around 2.30pm, stood in the queue for an hours or so, took darshan, had lunch at a Udupi restaurant near to Sai Baba temple.




I had Paav Bhaji, food quality was very very poor. Later I realized Udupi restaurants are not owned by people from Udupi but Udupi means South Indian food.

I had booked a hotel at Aurangabad for the stay. We should have come down to highway 47/44 to Aurangabad but we took highway 30, it was the most horrible road in this trip, no surprise there were only trucks and no cars on this road. All were hungry and I needed a coffee break, we found a small village junction, the food in a roadside shop was awesome. The guy was very customer oriented and served hot Vada Paav and coffee. All had enough and took some items parcel also, it was so good.









GPS took straight to “Hotel The Leaf”, it was close to Jalgaon road. It’s a decent hotel with AC rooms, restaurant attached, car parking, near to city center and other restaurants.


Aurangabad welcomed us with patriotic posters:


We were planning to visit Ajanta next morning, luckily we spoke to receptionist who told Ajanta is closed on all Mondays, so we changed our plan to visit Ellora and other places near Aurangabad.

[hummer]

Day – 3: Next morning we finished the breakfast at hotel and headed towards Ellora which is just 30kms away. We first visited Ghrishneshwar temple which is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines in India, located less than a km from Ellora caves.


Ellora, located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India, is one of the largest rock-cut monastery-temple cave complexes in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, featuring Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments, and artwork, dating from the 600-1000 CE period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellora_Caves

Ellora is crowded unlike Ajanta as it is accessible easily and attracts more tourists due to its proximity to Aurangabad. We don’t understand much without guide, so we took a guide and entered inside. He guided us to important caves explaining the importance of each.


It is amazing how these marvels were built as back as 500-800 AD. There are 34 important caves featuring Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments. It takes 3-4 hours even to see the key attractions.

The Buddhist monuments: Caves 1-12
The Hindu monuments: Caves 13-29
The Jain monuments: Caves 30-34





















Cave # 16 is celebrated as Kailasha, by far the best of all Ellora and it is one of India’s most famous monuments. It is believed to be built by Rashtrakuta dynasty in 8th century. It is regarded as greatest monolithic structure in the world. Imagine the technical skill of cutting a single rock into such a wonderful monument. Kailash combines immensity with grace, energy and super genius. Hundreds of architects and sculptors created this grandeur out of living rock in an inspired period of the country’s art history. It has carvings of Ramayana and Mahabharatha also.

Guide told it was built by generations itseems. I was wondering how the transition must have happened from one generation to another to deliver what was envisaged by designers initially. Just superb !!!




Said good bye to guide and walked down to a nice restaurant “Hotel Kailash” for lunch.

Next stop was Daulatabad fort. It on the way back to Aurangabad, it’s about 15 kms from Ellora.

Stopped buy fresh fruits on the way to fort:


Daulatabad, also known as Devagiri, is a 14th-century fort city in Maharashtra state of India, about 16 kilometres northwest of Aurangabad. The place was originally named Devagiri when it was an important uplands city along caravan routes, but the intervening centuries have reduced it to a village. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daulatabad,_Maharashtra

It is visible from a long distance as it dominates the landscape. It was built by King Bhillama of Yadava Dynasty in 12th century, also known as Devagiri. Later it was taken over by Allauddin Khilji and later by Mohammed-bin-Tughlak.


















It takes a lot to reach all the way till top and we made it.




It was already 5pm, we wanted to visit the Bibi Ka Maqbara before closing the day.

The Bibi Ka Maqbara is a tomb located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's son Azam Shah in the memory of his mother. It bears a striking resemblance to the famous Taj Mahal, the mausoleum of wife of Shah Jahan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibi_Ka_Maqbara

We reached at the right time, just before getting dark, it’s poor imitation of Taj Mahal. We could see it with lights as well.






We were tired due to a lot of walking that day, wanted to try something authentic outside out hotel. We found one Kakaji’s Veg at a walkable distance. Place was decent and food was also good, but sweet was more in all chat items. Sabudana vada was great.

[hummer]

Day – 4: Next morning, we started at 7am to Ajanta.


It’s around 110kms away, reached Ajanta by 9.30am. Unlike Ellora, Ajanta is maintained very well, quite secluded and clean. We took a 10 minutes bus ride to reach Ajanta and had breakfast in MTDC Ajanta Restaurant. This is the only restaurant near Ajanta caves.

I filled the Diesel only once in Maharastra state. It was close to Rs.80/ltr


The Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state of India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajanta_Caves

The first Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta date from the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. During the Gupta period (5th and 6th centuries A.D.), many more richly decorated caves were added to the original group. The paintings and sculptures of Ajanta, considered masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, have had a considerable artistic influence.
Reference: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/242/

Ajanta caves were discovered by an Army officer in the Madras Regiment of British Army in the year 1819. Ajanta caves are a cluster of 30 rock-cut caves that are a true representation of earlier Buddhist architecture, sculptures and cave paintings. The main theme of the carvings here are the illustrations and events related to the life of Buddha. They also portray Buddhist philosophies and teachings of Buddha. A strong influence of artistic styles from Tibet and Srilanka are seen in the paintings at Ajanta caves. The binding material used for most of the paintings is glue. The caves of Ajanta were excavated from a horse-shoe shaped cliff along river Waghora. A strong influence of artistic styles from Tibet and Srilanka are seen in the paintings at Ajanta caves. The binding material used for most of the paintings is glue. The Ajanta caves were used as a refuge by monks during monsoon seasons. Ajanta caves are popular across the world for its stunning murals and other paintings that contribute to the world art and are considered to be treasures of ancient Indian art.
Reference: https://www.nativeplanet.com/travel-...ra-002487.html





























Ajanta & Ellora caves are open from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm. The Ajanta Caves remain closed on all Monday's. The Ellora caves are closed on Tuesdays. Both, Ajanta and Ellora caves are open on national holidays.

Came back to Aurangabad hotel around 4.00pm, checked out, had lunch there and headed to Shani Signapur on the way back to Pune.


It was 1.5 hours drive, by the time we entered Shani Signapur, it was almost sunset. The trust of people in the lord Shani is so strong that none of the houses in the village has doors and locks. Villagers believe that god Shani punishes anyone attempting theft. I heard it is changing now. Women were not allowed until 2016, now it is open for all.

It is a simple temple without any architectural wonders, there was no crowd also. A unique aspect of this place is, that no temple structure houses the Lord Shani Deva. There is only a simple platform on which stands the Swayambhu idol, in black stone. The deity here is "Swayambhu" (Sanskrit: self-evolved deity) that is self emerged from earth in form of black, imposing stone.

A visit to the Shani Shignaour Temple believed to give hope that your remaining life will be smooth and that Lord Shani will bestow only happiness upon you.


We had a coffee break at a dhabha and reached Pune at 9.30pm.


Day – 5, 6 & 7: We spent next 3 days with sister’s family at home celebrating Ayudha Pooja, Dasara Festival, eating festival food, watching movies, chatting and visiting to nearby mall.





Dasara Pooja:


It was a great relaxation before starting the long journey back to Bengaluru on Saturday.

We wanted to visit Mumbai on Friday but we changed the plan to see Pune local site seeing. We visited Aga Khan palace, Kasturba Samadhi, Museum full of Mahatma Gandhi’s stuff.








Also visited Shaniwarwada, which is around 280 years old, Shaniwar Wada continues to be a reflection of the proud Maratha empire.

Shaniwarwada is a historical fortification in the city of Pune in Maharashtra, India. Built in 1732, it was the seat of the Peshwas of the Maratha Empire until 1818, when the Peshwas lost control to the British East India Company after the Third Anglo-Maratha War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaniwar_Wada









Returned home by lunch and packed our stuff for Saturday early morning departure.

[hummer]

Day – 8: Wished bye to sister’s family and started around 6.00am. After exiting Pune city, we passed through a small hilly ghat section, didn’t get tunnel while return journey.

We stopped at a nice Banana Leaf Restaurant for breakfast.


We had a lot to choose for breakfast and taste was also good.


I filled the Diesel in a bunk after entering Karmataka state border. It was a nice Saturday relaxed drive, wifey gave me a break again for 1.5 hours, we reached our beloved Bengaluru at around 8pm, I felt happy thinking next day also rest day before hitting the nightmarish Silkboard and Outer Ring Road on Monday morning.

One note about FASTag: In Karnataka, we can go to any toll counter & use FASTag, but in Maharastra FASTag can be used only in FASTTag lane. Most of the times these dedicated FASTag lanes were long (trucks) and we had to go to other toll counter & pay cash, which defeated the purpose of FASTag !!

It was around 3000 kilometers return drive. It was not the tourist places alone for me, the sheer pleasure of driving the Terrano on nice highways, pit stops, eat/coffee breaks, adrenaline rushes at times and ofcourse the company of family, noting beats this.

On top of all these, Ajanta and Ellora are amazing places, worth visiting in one’s life time, the more you dig, the more curious you become but you need a whole lot of time to answer all your curiosity.

We had a great time together at my sister’s house, have to visit once again for Mumbai trip.

Big thanks to our Chariot which drove us ~3000 kms safely and back home:


Wear seat belts and have a safe driving.

[coriollis]

Originally Posted by hummer

Correction: We were passing through Mahabaleshwar

You were right the first time..
Though not as famous as the 'other' Khandala, the place is still called Khandala. Pargaon-Khandala to be precise.

Enjoyed your travelogue very much, brought back the memories of my visit to Aurangabad area couple of years back.

Cheers,
AB

[King_pin09]

Nice travelogue. Enjoyed thoroughly.

Originally Posted by hummer

We canceled our decision to stay at Hubballi as it was only 12 and all were ready to travel further.

Originally Posted by hummer

Traffic increased as we entered Maharastra and reached peak as we entered Kolhapur city. It was 2.30pm, we stopped at

Sir, if the timings mentioned are correct (I assume they are), it would mean that you had covered approximately 205 Kms in just 150 minutes. That is too high a speed from both Legal and Safety, points of view. Good roads and good a car make a deceiving combination that force people into dangerous driving.

Drive safely and enjoy your ride.

[hummer]

Originally Posted by coriollis

You were right the first time..
Though not as famous as the 'other' Khandala, the place is still called Khandala. Pargaon-Khandala to be precise.
Cheers,
AB

Thank you coriollis, I saw Khandala in 2-3 locations in MAHA map!!

Originally Posted by King_pin09

Nice travelogue. Enjoyed thoroughly.

Sir, if the timings mentioned are correct (I assume they are), it would mean that you had covered approximately 205 Kms in just 150 minutes. That is too high a speed from both Legal and Safety, points of view. Good roads and good a car make a deceiving combination that force people into dangerous driving.

Drive safely and enjoy your ride.

Thank you King_pin09.

Thanks for raising the concern on speed.

First of all I was not really accurate in timings, however, I was going in decent & legal speed of 80kms/hr. Please calculate once again

This is what I got from TOI about legal speed on NH.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/62828085.cms

[mpksuhas]

Was this more of an impromptu drive? Asking due to mention of few points in your travelogue (weekly closure of Ajanta & Ellora etc)

Ajanta & Ellora are still not in travel plans of an average tourist, sad since both the places are truly beautiful.

I had done almost similar trip (including Lonar and onward via NH7) in March this year, the place was very much dry then. From your pics Ajanta looks beautiful in green.

[Latheesh]

@hummer - Your travelogue reminded the road trip we did 16 years ago. We visited Ajanta, Ellora, Daulatabad fort, temple, and Bibi ka maqbara sometime in 2002, and was awestruck by the beauty and magnitude of Ajanta and Ellora caves. Your observation about difference in maintenance between caves was true even back then. Thanks!

[suku_patel_22]

Me and my cousins returned from a trip to Ajanta and Ellora today. It was a great experience.

The road from Aurangabad to Ajanta is being converted to 4 lane, and is in shambles now.

Ajanta is much more organized than Ellora.

[nerd1200]

Lovely travelogue, @Hummer. I visited Aurangabad last weekend. Since I was a bit short on time, I just visited Ellora, Daulatabad Fort and Bibi ka Maqbara. Next weekend we're planning another trip to Lonar, probably will cover Ajanta then.

Originally Posted by hummer

Since Pune is ~850 kms away and google was showing 14 hrs of travel, we planned to stay at Hubli & travel to Pune next morning.

Originally Posted by hummer

We canceled our decision to stay at Hubballi as it was only 12 and all were ready to travel further.

You can easily drive to Pune from Bangalore in one day if you leave early morning from Bangalore. I have driven from Bangalore to Pune/Mumbai a dozen times atleast and the best time to drive in that stretch IMHO is to start from Bangalore around 6PM and reach Mumbai by ~8AM the next morning. That way, the only place you'll encounter traffic slowdowns is while exiting Neelamangala and probably the Lonavala ghats.

[Cool_leo_guy]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Ajanta & Ellora are still not in travel plans of an average tourist, sad since both the places are truly beautiful.

I had done almost similar trip (including Lonar and onward via NH7) in March this year, the place was very much dry then. From your pics Ajanta looks beautiful in green.

Thank God they are not on average traveller's itinerary Suhas Bhai,
Look at what is happening to Manali-Leh highway, traffic jams at 14000 feet for God's sake.
If such a mad dash begins for these places, how long will they last? It's good that only the discerning and the inquisitive go there.
I am a great fan of your travelogues.
Keep traveling and enjoy.
Regards.

[hummer]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Was this more of an impromptu drive? Asking due to mention of few points in your travelogue (weekly closure of Ajanta & Ellora etc)

Ajanta & Ellora are still not in travel plans of an average tourist, sad since both the places are truly beautiful.

I had done almost similar trip (including Lonar and onward via NH7) in March this year, the place was very much dry then. From your pics Ajanta looks beautiful in green.

It was a kind of impromptu drive as we didn't study much about the places of visit. Primary intention was the Pune visit, so the surrounding placed got added up for an extended travel.

Ajanta and Ellora are beyond normal tourist places, astonishes and renders one speechless by their history, era and magnificence. I found ocean of difference seeing them in pictures versus seeing in reality.

Yes, it was pleasantly green all along the bus ride to Ajanta caves and around the caves, even the river Waghora had some water.

Originally Posted by nerd1200

Lovely travelogue, @Hummer.

You can easily drive to Pune from Bangalore in one day if you leave early morning from Bangalore. I have driven from Bangalore to Pune/Mumbai a dozen times atleast and the best time to drive in that stretch IMHO is to start from Bangalore around 6PM and reach Mumbai by ~8AM the next morning. That way, the only place you'll encounter traffic slowdowns is while exiting Neelamangala and probably the Lonavala ghats.

Thank you nerd1200, it surely would be fun driving at nights (saves time too), but I stopped driving after midnight due to safety reasons.

[Shivam]

Planning a similar trip to Ajanta/Ellora from Bangalore. Thinking of stop overs at Pune/Aurangabad and Mumbai with additional plans to cover Khandala/Lonavala, Dandeli, etc.
Still double minded whether to drive or it makes sense to fly to Pune and take local transportation.
Suggestions welcome.

Thanks!