Today's destination was Pavagadh, the famous hill near Vadodara. The best time to visit Pavagadh is in the rainy season as the hill is completely surrounded by clouds during rain). You can reach the foot of this hill from Vadodara in about 30 to 45 minutes (We took our bike and left early in the morning at about 6). Once you reach the historic city of Champaner,there is this beautiful road full of twists and turns going up the hill upto Machi, where you have to park your vehicles. From here, there are two options, either you can go atop the hill using the ropeway which costs about 100 rupees or you can take the stairs (about 1000 steps) to the top (we went for the stairs). Taking the stairs is a beautiful journey with some interesting points in between and the view is beautiful. The air around is very moist as you are surrounded by clouds through out. After climbing those 1000 steps and reaching the top, you will find a whole market in which due to the clouds you can barely see the shops and the lights of the shops seem to be floating. This hill is also an important place as it has a Temple of Goddess Kali on top of it which you have to reach after climbing around a hundred additional steps. There are also two beautiful lakes on this hill which give a divine feeling of its own. There are spots from where you can witness the whole valley in front of you and during the rainy season, you will find some little waterfalls too. In all its a great place where you can feel how amazingly huge not just this mountain is but also the whole world is and there is so much to explore. One the way down, you can also visit the place called "Saat Kaman". Once you come back down, you should also visit the historic city of Champaner where there are beautiful forts and the famous Jami mazid.
