Road Trip

   The hectic exams were just finished and I was heading toward the career-making year of 12^th std. But the 12^th academic year was not started and what I needed was a good road trip to refresh my mind and fill up the energy for such an important year of life. So requested my friends to plan a trip. When I spoke to friends you would have imagined the classmates or college mates, then I would like to tell you that these are not of my age they are all 8 to 10 years older than me but while being with them the age barrier is not realized which is the best part of it.   

  So the day was decided and we all four friends sat in the car and got ready to visit the beauty of nature. So we departed from the city of dreams Mumbai towards one of the oldest and the world heritage temples of Shiva, the Gondeshwar temple, Sinnar near Nashik. 

Gondeshwar Temple

  This temple is a perfect example of Bhumija-style architecture in form of a panchayat complex. I had never seen such type of architecture before it. I was totally amazed and was left speechless. As my favorite subject is history it was like a big opportunity to explore it and gather as much as information I can. We were just experiencing the silence and beauty of that of that place. This marvelous temple has been always encouraging and inspiring me to move forward in my life. After enjoying it we moved towards another similar type of place which is Aishwaryeshwar Temple. It is also a magnificent and beautiful example of Indian architecture.

Aishwaryeshwar Temple

This temple is not as famous as Gondeshwar Temple but it also has its own specifications, a major part of the temple has been demolished over time. 

    After visiting such an amazing place we decided to have lunch. So we found a good place and sat there with our tiffin's. The dry fruit bhaji made our day, actually, it was bitter-guard but it was cooked in such a unique style that the bitterness was removed totally, and a delicious dish was prepared. After such a beautiful lunch we arrived at the Wada of Bajirao Peshwa, the great Maratha Warrior. Even though we didn't get a chance to see it from the inside we were satisfied by observing it from the outside, it gives intense pleasure to the soul. Further, we decide to have a simple trek on the hill of Debera. As soon as we climbed to the top of the hill light rain started. The scenery was so amazing that it couldn't be expressed in words because sunshine and rain happened simultaneously. Visualizing and enjoying it was like being in heaven. We all enjoyed it a lot. 

View from the top of Dubera hill.

  
     After enjoying Dubera Hill we headed towards the Vishramgad fort, we decided to do a night trek so we started our trek by 8 to 9 pm. We had only information that there were caves in the fort where we could stay so in the dark night we started climbing. After climbing for 2 to 3 hours we didn't find any cave or anything related to that so we observed the map and we got confirmation that we were on the wrong route, at this position finding the right route was the first task and the second task was searching the cave. So after lots of thinking and searching finally entered the cave at midnight 2:00 am. We made two teams, one will cook dinner and prepare a tent, and the second will bring water from nearby water tanks on the fort. The dinner prepared was very delicious and it consisted of Kanda bhaji and khichdi and then everyone fell asleep. The next morning we decided to explore the fort but the weather was so foggy that we were unable to see 2 meters away. We were having information that there are many windmills on the way to the Avandia Fort so we decided to visit Aundha Fort. So to see windmills and climb Avandha Fort we were walking in that direction but we didn't get anything to see due to the fog. So we sat at one place and were just relaxing and suddenly a large windmill appeared as soon as the fog was cleared and it was just 1 to 2 meters away from us, for a while we all were amazed. There was a tough rock patch to climb the top of Avandha so the two of us climbed it and my one friend and waited for them at its base, after they climbed down we started going back to the Vishramgad Fort. As the day passed the weather got clear and we got a clear image of the fort. So we observed the whole fort and took the blessing of Shivaji Maharaj and started the return journey home. 

Vishramgad Fort

Cave 

      This time the thrill was different as well we got the opportunity to study different architectures and explore many unseen things. This road trip filled me with full of sweet memories and positivity. I insist we all must plan such a road trip at least once a year.