Part 2: Hatgad - Trimbakeshwar - Nashik - Ozar - Pune (Return Trip).
DAY 6: June 22, 2018: Friday. Hatgad – Nashik - Trimbakeshwar.
We had tea and toast and later had a breakfast of MTR 3 minute upma, and a slice of Amul cheese. Geeta made some sandwiches of the remaining cheese slices and bread and we got ready to leave by 10 am. I paid ClubM bill and checked out of the hotel.
We stopped at Curry Leaves Restaurant again at around 11.30 am, to have a snack and a cup of coffee. I had Medu wada and Geeta had sabu dana wada.
Read my review of Curry Leaves restaurant in TripAdvisor.
Before proceeding to Trimbak we located Khimji Bhagwandas Arogyabhavan (KBA) in the centre of Nashik around 12.30 pm and booked our stay for tomorrow at the place. It seems a neat and clean place to stay, bang in the centre of the Nashik pilgrimage circuit.
We then found our way out from Nashik to Trimbakeshwar with the help of Geeta’s GPS as my phone had become too slow for G-Maps. Once we were out of Nasik city the road to Trimbak was quite broad and clear and we reached MTDC resort at Trimbak by about 1.30 pm. We checked in and off loaded our luggage before going out to find a place for lunch. After walking for almost 30 minutes we saw a small place serving lunch for ₹.60. It consisted of cabbage sabji, chapatti, pickle, a green gravy sabji, rice and dal. Geeta ate sabu dana khichdi specially prepared for her (₹50).
We walked back to our room and rested till 5 pm. Then we took the car and parked it just outside the temple parking lot and walked in to the Trimbakeshwar temple.
We reached there at 5.30 pm to see the line stretching about 200 metres outside the temple. We had to leave our mobiles at a stall outside by paying ₹.10 and getting a token. Even cameras, handbags and coconuts are not allowed inside. There was a very long Q inside the temple too, bout 200 people standing in an orderly Q between the barricades. We did not pay anything to enter but by paying a donation of ₹.200 per head one could get a quick darshan. We stood for almost 2 hours to get a darshan of the lingam for just one minute. I saw a small lingam with the the painting of a mustachioed man on it and surrounded by the usual puja flowers, and all. We were pushed in by the crowd only during the last part of the entry and I had to push the ghatis back, which made them start protesting, but I stood my ground.
The temple has One Of The Twelve Jyotirlingas Of India.
After coming out we had a cup of coffee at Vithal Kamat and bought a bottle of ‘Bailley’ water, and returned to MTDC. We had parked opposite Hotel Krushna Inn, which seemed like a decent pilgrim’s hotel.
We decided to have our dinner at the Cafeteria at MTDC. It was in a shack and the kitchen was in another nearby shack. The table covers were dirty and the floor had dog poop. There was a dog and a goose ambling around. The goose looked quite annoyed with us and kept squaking now and then. We had veg kadhai with chapattis and Geeta had a cup of hot milk. Prices were reasonable and the vegetable was quite tasty and not spicy. The set up needs a lot of improvement. While we had dinner it started raining heavily and we had to take shelter in the manager’s office. He told us that it was the first regular rain of the season and that it rains quite heavily in the monsoons in Trimbakeshwar. We returned to our room at 10 pm and went to sleep at around 11 pm.
Read my TripAdvisor review of MTDC Holiday Resort at Trimbakeshwar.
Read my review of Curry Leaves restaurant in TripAdvisor.
Before proceeding to Trimbak we located Khimji Bhagwandas Arogyabhavan (KBA) in the centre of Nashik around 12.30 pm and booked our stay for tomorrow at the place. It seems a neat and clean place to stay, bang in the centre of the Nashik pilgrimage circuit.
We then found our way out from Nashik to Trimbakeshwar with the help of Geeta’s GPS as my phone had become too slow for G-Maps. Once we were out of Nasik city the road to Trimbak was quite broad and clear and we reached MTDC resort at Trimbak by about 1.30 pm. We checked in and off loaded our luggage before going out to find a place for lunch. After walking for almost 30 minutes we saw a small place serving lunch for ₹.60. It consisted of cabbage sabji, chapatti, pickle, a green gravy sabji, rice and dal. Geeta ate sabu dana khichdi specially prepared for her (₹50).
We walked back to our room and rested till 5 pm. Then we took the car and parked it just outside the temple parking lot and walked in to the Trimbakeshwar temple.
We reached there at 5.30 pm to see the line stretching about 200 metres outside the temple. We had to leave our mobiles at a stall outside by paying ₹.10 and getting a token. Even cameras, handbags and coconuts are not allowed inside. There was a very long Q inside the temple too, bout 200 people standing in an orderly Q between the barricades. We did not pay anything to enter but by paying a donation of ₹.200 per head one could get a quick darshan. We stood for almost 2 hours to get a darshan of the lingam for just one minute. I saw a small lingam with the the painting of a mustachioed man on it and surrounded by the usual puja flowers, and all. We were pushed in by the crowd only during the last part of the entry and I had to push the ghatis back, which made them start protesting, but I stood my ground.
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| Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple. |
The temple has One Of The Twelve Jyotirlingas Of India.
After coming out we had a cup of coffee at Vithal Kamat and bought a bottle of ‘Bailley’ water, and returned to MTDC. We had parked opposite Hotel Krushna Inn, which seemed like a decent pilgrim’s hotel.
 |
| MTDC Sanskruti Resort Trimbakeshwar |
We decided to have our dinner at the Cafeteria at MTDC. It was in a shack and the kitchen was in another nearby shack. The table covers were dirty and the floor had dog poop. There was a dog and a goose ambling around. The goose looked quite annoyed with us and kept squaking now and then. We had veg kadhai with chapattis and Geeta had a cup of hot milk. Prices were reasonable and the vegetable was quite tasty and not spicy. The set up needs a lot of improvement. While we had dinner it started raining heavily and we had to take shelter in the manager’s office. He told us that it was the first regular rain of the season and that it rains quite heavily in the monsoons in Trimbakeshwar. We returned to our room at 10 pm and went to sleep at around 11 pm.
Read my TripAdvisor review of MTDC Holiday Resort at Trimbakeshwar.
DAY 7: June 23, 2018: Saturday. Nashik.
I got up at 6.30 am, after a good night’s rest. I first went for a walk up the Brahmagiri hill. The trek starts from just behind the MTDC Sanskruti Resort at Trimbakeshwar. There are steps leading up to the top of the Brahmagiri hill and the trek is about 3.6 km climb uphill. It will take at least an hour and a half to go all the way up as the slope is quite steep. There were many youngsters starting the trek up at 7 am. I climbed for about half an hour and then turned back, but I took quite a few pics on the way up.
The Brahmagiri Hill is considered to be a Huge Form Of Lord Shiva.
After getting back to the room I got a thermos full of tea, from a tea stall near the Kushwaha Teerth water tank. We had tea and toast and then we had breakfast of cheese slice s/ws which Geeta had made at ClubM yesterday. We left from MTDC at 9.30 am and took the back road from behind MTDC which bye-passes Trimbak town and emerges on the highway leading to Nashik city.
After about 3 km we turned right to go to Anjaneri hill. It was a narrow village road which ended after a km and there was an Anjaneri and Bal Hanuman temple. We stopped here to pay homage to Bal Hanuman and Anjaneri Maa at the temple and then turned around to go back to Nashik. The climb to the top of the conical shaped peak is supposed to be tough and take another 2 hours to climb and return.
Read more about the Anjaneri Hill and Temple in TripAdvisor.
While driving back to Nashik we decided to visit Sula Vineyards which is supposed to be nearby. In fact, we had to take a left turn about 7 or 8 km from Anjaneri and drive about another 7 km along countryside roads to reach Sula. There were quite a few visitors coming to have a picnic as early as 11 am when we reached. We had to park in an open field which had been converted into a car park and walk in to the gates. We passed a restaurant called ‘Soma’ run by Little Italy. Inside there was another restaurant run by Sula Wines, where you could order their wines and have it with your meals. It was quite expensive, with a plate of onion pakoras costing Rs.265. We had a glass of fresh fruit juice each (Rs.205). Geeta had water melon and I had orange. Even though it was cloudy the climate was quite hot and adding a few cubes of ice to our glasses made it quite enjoyable.
There were quite a few visitors who were registering for the wine tasting and tour of the winery for Rs.400 per person. Geeta bought 3 T shirts for us for Rs.500 each and got 1 free. We also visited their hotel which has about 20 luxurious rooms housed in an Italian style hacienda. It was a very cool getaway place set amidst the green vineyards.
Read my review of Sula Vineyards, Intoxicating Place to Visit.
We left from Sula around 12.15 pm and took the Gangapur Road to get back to Nashik. Geeta’s GPS helped us to find our way back, and we reached Khimji Bhagwandas Arogyabhavan (KBA) at 1 pm exactly, and checked into our room and went straight for lunch. We got a simple but tasty Gujarati thali with 2 vegetables, a glass of chaas, papad, dal and rice. Pickle and jaggery were available in small katoris as condiments. We enjoyed the home style khana. Mr. Bharat Thakkar came around asking how we were enjoying the Gujarati food. After lunch we went down to get the rest of our luggage.
Read more about this Pilgrim's Inn in the Heart of Holy City Nashik.
We slept soundly from 2 to 4 pm. Then we went down to have some tea and biscuits in the mess. After that we decided to take a rickshaw tour of Nashik Tapovan Panchvati area. Ankush got us a rick driver by the name of Kailash who took us around for Rs.450. He first took us to the Kalaram Mandir, which is a beautiful Ram-Sita temple; built in black stone (even the murtis are black). Then we went to the Sita gumpha where Sita mata had gone into hiding to prevent being kidnapped. Opposite to this was the Sita Apaharan museum with a gaushala which we had to pay a rupee each to enter. There are 5 banyan trees in this area and that is how it has come to be called Panchvati.
Next he took us to a Laxman temple where there was a model of Laxman cutting off the demon Surpanakha’s (Ravana’s sister) nose. This was the Tapovan area where Laxman is supposed to have performed his penance. Next we went to a kund in the river where there is a small temple from where Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh are supposed to have emerged. There were extensive forested gardens in the Tapovan area, but Kailash didn’t stop to show us these gardens; we just saw them in passing.
He then took us to the Kapileshwara temple where we had to climb a few steps to reach up to this temple which had a Shiva lingam. Then we saw another temple with a head which was half Shiva and half Parvati. This was just next to the Ganga Ghat or Ramkund where Geeta lit a lamp on some flowers and let it flow in the water. After this he dropped us back to KBA at 6.20 pm, a sight-seeing trip of less than an hour and a half, but quite enjoyable. It had been cool and cloudy and drizzled at times making the climate quite pleasant. We also had a kulfi stick outside the Laxman temple.
Read my TripAdvisor reviews of the various attractions in Nashik:
Shree Laxmanji Temple., Kapileswara Temple., Sita Gumpha., Kalaram Temple., Ramkund., Ganga Ghat.
Around 7.45 pm I went down to the market next to the riverside ghats and bought some fresh lemons. Then the waiters came to call us for dinner at 8.15 pm. We got a gravy potato dish, some curry, papad, khichdi with some ghee and methi theplas.
After dinner we went down again to buy some dried raisins as the vendor had a variety of raisins costing between Rs.150 to Rs.300 a kilo. We bought one variety for Rs.260, and he forced us to buy another 135 gms of the 300 rupee one, which has some medicinal value (black makuna with seeds) and is supposed to be good for diabetics.
Later I stood out in the small balcony of our room, enjoying the cool breeze blowing up from the Ganga ghat below. It was fascinating to stand there and just look down at the Nashik pilgrimage sites from the 3rd floor vantage point from where we can see the whole city with it's twinkling lights, and the low hanging clouds.
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| View while trekking up to Brahmagiri. |
After getting back to the room I got a thermos full of tea, from a tea stall near the Kushwaha Teerth water tank. We had tea and toast and then we had breakfast of cheese slice s/ws which Geeta had made at ClubM yesterday. We left from MTDC at 9.30 am and took the back road from behind MTDC which bye-passes Trimbak town and emerges on the highway leading to Nashik city.
After about 3 km we turned right to go to Anjaneri hill. It was a narrow village road which ended after a km and there was an Anjaneri and Bal Hanuman temple. We stopped here to pay homage to Bal Hanuman and Anjaneri Maa at the temple and then turned around to go back to Nashik. The climb to the top of the conical shaped peak is supposed to be tough and take another 2 hours to climb and return.
 |
| Anjaneri Mata and Bal Hanuman. |
While driving back to Nashik we decided to visit Sula Vineyards which is supposed to be nearby. In fact, we had to take a left turn about 7 or 8 km from Anjaneri and drive about another 7 km along countryside roads to reach Sula. There were quite a few visitors coming to have a picnic as early as 11 am when we reached. We had to park in an open field which had been converted into a car park and walk in to the gates. We passed a restaurant called ‘Soma’ run by Little Italy. Inside there was another restaurant run by Sula Wines, where you could order their wines and have it with your meals. It was quite expensive, with a plate of onion pakoras costing Rs.265. We had a glass of fresh fruit juice each (Rs.205). Geeta had water melon and I had orange. Even though it was cloudy the climate was quite hot and adding a few cubes of ice to our glasses made it quite enjoyable.
 |
| Sula Vineyards. |
There were quite a few visitors who were registering for the wine tasting and tour of the winery for Rs.400 per person. Geeta bought 3 T shirts for us for Rs.500 each and got 1 free. We also visited their hotel which has about 20 luxurious rooms housed in an Italian style hacienda. It was a very cool getaway place set amidst the green vineyards.
Read my review of Sula Vineyards, Intoxicating Place to Visit.
We left from Sula around 12.15 pm and took the Gangapur Road to get back to Nashik. Geeta’s GPS helped us to find our way back, and we reached Khimji Bhagwandas Arogyabhavan (KBA) at 1 pm exactly, and checked into our room and went straight for lunch. We got a simple but tasty Gujarati thali with 2 vegetables, a glass of chaas, papad, dal and rice. Pickle and jaggery were available in small katoris as condiments. We enjoyed the home style khana. Mr. Bharat Thakkar came around asking how we were enjoying the Gujarati food. After lunch we went down to get the rest of our luggage.
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| Our Room at Khimi Bhagwandas Arogyabhavan. |
Read more about this Pilgrim's Inn in the Heart of Holy City Nashik.
We slept soundly from 2 to 4 pm. Then we went down to have some tea and biscuits in the mess. After that we decided to take a rickshaw tour of Nashik Tapovan Panchvati area. Ankush got us a rick driver by the name of Kailash who took us around for Rs.450. He first took us to the Kalaram Mandir, which is a beautiful Ram-Sita temple; built in black stone (even the murtis are black). Then we went to the Sita gumpha where Sita mata had gone into hiding to prevent being kidnapped. Opposite to this was the Sita Apaharan museum with a gaushala which we had to pay a rupee each to enter. There are 5 banyan trees in this area and that is how it has come to be called Panchvati.
Next he took us to a Laxman temple where there was a model of Laxman cutting off the demon Surpanakha’s (Ravana’s sister) nose. This was the Tapovan area where Laxman is supposed to have performed his penance. Next we went to a kund in the river where there is a small temple from where Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh are supposed to have emerged. There were extensive forested gardens in the Tapovan area, but Kailash didn’t stop to show us these gardens; we just saw them in passing.
 |
| Ramkund on the banks of the River Godawari. |
He then took us to the Kapileshwara temple where we had to climb a few steps to reach up to this temple which had a Shiva lingam. Then we saw another temple with a head which was half Shiva and half Parvati. This was just next to the Ganga Ghat or Ramkund where Geeta lit a lamp on some flowers and let it flow in the water. After this he dropped us back to KBA at 6.20 pm, a sight-seeing trip of less than an hour and a half, but quite enjoyable. It had been cool and cloudy and drizzled at times making the climate quite pleasant. We also had a kulfi stick outside the Laxman temple.
Read my TripAdvisor reviews of the various attractions in Nashik:
Shree Laxmanji Temple., Kapileswara Temple., Sita Gumpha., Kalaram Temple., Ramkund., Ganga Ghat.
Around 7.45 pm I went down to the market next to the riverside ghats and bought some fresh lemons. Then the waiters came to call us for dinner at 8.15 pm. We got a gravy potato dish, some curry, papad, khichdi with some ghee and methi theplas.
After dinner we went down again to buy some dried raisins as the vendor had a variety of raisins costing between Rs.150 to Rs.300 a kilo. We bought one variety for Rs.260, and he forced us to buy another 135 gms of the 300 rupee one, which has some medicinal value (black makuna with seeds) and is supposed to be good for diabetics.
Later I stood out in the small balcony of our room, enjoying the cool breeze blowing up from the Ganga ghat below. It was fascinating to stand there and just look down at the Nashik pilgrimage sites from the 3rd floor vantage point from where we can see the whole city with it's twinkling lights, and the low hanging clouds.
DAY 8: June 24, 2018: Sunday. Nashik -Ozar.
I got up at 6.30 am, and went for a walk along the banks of the Godavari River. Some people were having a bath in the holy river. There is a changing room for women on the first floor of the building next to the bathing ghats. I walked up to the main road near the ‘Ganga Ghat’ and then walked across the bridge to the Sundarnarayan Temple which was under renovation, then walked back taking some pics along the way and returned to the room at 7.40 am.
We had some tea with toast in the room and then we went down to the mess for breakfast. There are only 4 tables with 4 chairs each so a limited number of people can eat at a time. That is why they probably send the waiters to call us for the meal when the tables are empty. They gave us 3 batata wadas each along with ketchup and 2 fried chillies each for breakfast, followed by a cup of coffee. We got ready to leave KBA by 10 am.
The routes shown on GPS maps seemed quite confusing, Google maps showing a route via Tapovan. I asked the watchman who told us to go straight via the cremation ground and then take a right turn till we reached Dwarka Circle. From there it was straight under the flyover and we were on NH-60 leading to Pune. There was not much traffic being a Sunday and we were soon speeding along to Sinnar.
Around 11.15 am we stopped at a wayside restaurant by the name of Krushna Garden and had onion pakoras and coffee. We reached Alephata, 124 km from KBA Nashik, at 12.55 pm and took a right turn to go to Otur. From Otur it was 9 km along a bumpy road to Ozar. We reached Ozar at 1.30 pm after covering the 149 km in 2 and half hours (excluding the stop for snacks).
We checked in to a non ac room at Hotel Aryaa Regency in Ozar. Being cloudy the climate was pleasant and we did not need ac. We met Milind Kavade, the owner of the hotel, who was a pleasant gentleman, in his 40s and quite friendly. We went down for lunch and had Mushroom Baby Corn masala with rotis and a cup of curd.
Read my TripAdvisor review on this Clean and Well Maintained Hotel in Small Town Ozar.
We slept for 2 hours in the afternoon and then had some snacks. We went down for tea/coffee and then went to the Vignahar Ganpati mandir. There was not too much of a crowd and we had a peaceful darshan and returned within half an hour. Then I went for another short walk checking out some other lodges, but they were not up to Aryaa’s standard even though their charges were only Rs.500.
Back in our cozy room, we did some channel surfing on their small TV, and then went down for dinner at 8.30 pm. We decided to have some Chinese food.
We had some tea with toast in the room and then we went down to the mess for breakfast. There are only 4 tables with 4 chairs each so a limited number of people can eat at a time. That is why they probably send the waiters to call us for the meal when the tables are empty. They gave us 3 batata wadas each along with ketchup and 2 fried chillies each for breakfast, followed by a cup of coffee. We got ready to leave KBA by 10 am.
The routes shown on GPS maps seemed quite confusing, Google maps showing a route via Tapovan. I asked the watchman who told us to go straight via the cremation ground and then take a right turn till we reached Dwarka Circle. From there it was straight under the flyover and we were on NH-60 leading to Pune. There was not much traffic being a Sunday and we were soon speeding along to Sinnar.
Around 11.15 am we stopped at a wayside restaurant by the name of Krushna Garden and had onion pakoras and coffee. We reached Alephata, 124 km from KBA Nashik, at 12.55 pm and took a right turn to go to Otur. From Otur it was 9 km along a bumpy road to Ozar. We reached Ozar at 1.30 pm after covering the 149 km in 2 and half hours (excluding the stop for snacks).
We checked in to a non ac room at Hotel Aryaa Regency in Ozar. Being cloudy the climate was pleasant and we did not need ac. We met Milind Kavade, the owner of the hotel, who was a pleasant gentleman, in his 40s and quite friendly. We went down for lunch and had Mushroom Baby Corn masala with rotis and a cup of curd.
Read my TripAdvisor review on this Clean and Well Maintained Hotel in Small Town Ozar.
We slept for 2 hours in the afternoon and then had some snacks. We went down for tea/coffee and then went to the Vignahar Ganpati mandir. There was not too much of a crowd and we had a peaceful darshan and returned within half an hour. Then I went for another short walk checking out some other lodges, but they were not up to Aryaa’s standard even though their charges were only Rs.500.
Back in our cozy room, we did some channel surfing on their small TV, and then went down for dinner at 8.30 pm. We decided to have some Chinese food.
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| Ozar Ganpati Temple. |
DAY 9: June 25, 2018: Monday. Back to Pune.
We got up at 6.40 am, and had a cup of tea and toast at 7.15 am, but I didn’t go for a walk as it was drizzling. We heard the aarti from the Ganpati temple at 7 am and it lasted for about 10 minutes.
We went down at 7.30 am for an early breakfast and I had a masala dosa and Geeta had sabu-dana khichdi, followed by a cup of tea. I liked the taste of their elaichi tea. Then we got ready to leave Ozar by 10 am, after settling the hotel bill.
The road from Ozar to Narayangaon was still in a poor state, and we did get stuck in the Narayangaon traffic for about 10 minutes. Even Rajgurunagar and Manchar were bottlenecks but the road was better up to Chakan. At Chakan again we got stuck in traffic for 20 minutes. We turned left to Alandi about 2 km after the Chakan signal (this avoided one toll naka and the traffic at the Moshi signal), and the Alandi road seemed to have been resurfaced. We reached Alandi in 10 minutes from Chakan. After Alandi there was medium traffic all the way to Yerawada.
We were back home at 1 pm. Total distance covered for the trip was 773 km to Saputara and back.
We went down at 7.30 am for an early breakfast and I had a masala dosa and Geeta had sabu-dana khichdi, followed by a cup of tea. I liked the taste of their elaichi tea. Then we got ready to leave Ozar by 10 am, after settling the hotel bill.
The road from Ozar to Narayangaon was still in a poor state, and we did get stuck in the Narayangaon traffic for about 10 minutes. Even Rajgurunagar and Manchar were bottlenecks but the road was better up to Chakan. At Chakan again we got stuck in traffic for 20 minutes. We turned left to Alandi about 2 km after the Chakan signal (this avoided one toll naka and the traffic at the Moshi signal), and the Alandi road seemed to have been resurfaced. We reached Alandi in 10 minutes from Chakan. After Alandi there was medium traffic all the way to Yerawada.
We were back home at 1 pm. Total distance covered for the trip was 773 km to Saputara and back.
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