Sunday 29 May 2011

Marathon - Day 4

We went to visit Pune’s very own caves called the Pataleshwar Cave Temple. It is a rock cut excavation that was made in 8-9th century AD. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu God, Lord Shiva. The caves and carvings are nowhere near as impressive as the Karla Caves but I still find it all quite amazing considering that when they were made the tools they would’ve used were very limited.


Stone carved cow

  

Inside the cave temple
Shrine inside the cave temple




It only took us a short while to walk around the caves so we decided to visit Shaniwar wada Fort which is just a short walk away over the river. Shaniwar wada was built in 1732 and was a seven storey palace surrounded by large walls with five entrances, however a lot has been destroyed and only the walls and foundations of the palace exist now.

You can walk on top of the surrounding walls and you get a great view of the city outside as well as the ruins inside the fort. 



Main Gate - Dilli Darwaza (Delhi Gate)



On top of the wall that surrounds the fort


Ruins of the Palace and its grounds


On top of the wall

There is absolutely no shade on the walls and it was so hot walking around it that day that I thought my mum was going to melt! Fortunately, above the largest entrance/gate is a room surrounded by ornate wooden carved windows and pillars where we all sat for a while to cool off.

Inside the fort looking at the main gate, with room upstairs


Inside the room above the main gate


I first visited this Fort with Tom when we first got to Pune and whilst we were walking around on the fort wall, an eagle dive bombed Tom’s head and actually drew blood! (Luckily he was ok though). We’re not sure why it happened but we think that maybe we were too near to its nest that was in the nearby trees.

About a minute’s walk from the fort is Laxmi Road which is the busiest and most crowded shopping area in Pune. You can get practically anything you want there from traditional Indian wear to Western wear, from jewellery to bicycles, to books and electronics. Just being there can be extremely overwhelming as there are just so many people everywhere, you can hardly move to get down the street!



Woman with a huge bundle!


Laxmi Road


Laxmi Road
After fighting our way through the bustling streets for over an hour, we decided that we were just way too hot and bothered to stick around anymore so we went back to Kalyani Nagar (area where I live) and got something to eat at Kalyani Veg. They have a small AC room in the restaurant and we luckily got a seat in it, which was great for about 5 minutes until I started to feel really cold! There never seems to be a happy medium here at the moment, you’re always too hot or too cold!

Later on that night, we met up with Tom in town near MG Road and had a Thali meal at Mayur restaurant (he’d been at work all day). A Thali is a North Indian selection of different dishes, usually served in small steel bowls on a steel round tray and this particular one was an all you can eat. The dishes that were served were two types of snack (eg. samosas and pakoras), 4 vegetable dishes, roti, rice, dahl and some kind of sweet. It was delicious but once again, we all ate way too much as the waiters kept coming round and serving us more and more!


Mayur Menu
Dad
  
Tom

Mum
Me

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