Ladakh Road Trip - Srinagar : mesmeric scenic beauty and delicious wazan

15.06.2023 : From Noida to Katra (Driving distance covered 662 km in around 11 hours with breaks for breakfast and lunch of 45 minutes each)

16.06.2023 : Trek to Vaishno Devi shrine (13 km trekking to shrine, helicopter ride to Katra on way back)

On the morning of 17.06.2023 we left our hotel in Katra at around 7 am for Srinagar. Coming back to Jammu we again started on NH 44 towards Srinagar. After almost two hours we stopped at a roadside restaurant at a place called Kud. Unfortunately we neither liked the food there nor it agree with our stomach. We kept feeling uncomfortable for the rest of the day and skipped lunch. The Jammu Srinagar highway was under construction making it narrow almost throughout. Being peak tourist season there was huge flow of traffic. Due to Amarnath Yatra scheduled shortly there was massive movement of army and we were made to wait many times for long duration for passing of army convoys. It was quite a tortuous journey and took us 9 hours to cover the distance of 230 kms. As we entered Srinagar at around 4 pm the sight of Jhelum flowing calmly through the beautiful valley started washing away the tiredness. Driving on the boulevard road around the Dal lake we started looking for accommodation and checked into a home stay named Garden View Homestay. An old house converted recently into homestay, it had a pretty garden at the back. The owner, Irfan, himself takes care of the homestay single handedly and keeps it very neat and clean. He can not provide home cooked food as he does not have any helping hand. However he offered to prepare some tea himself for us and made us feel welcome by giving us access to kitchen, dining room and living room.

After refreshing ourselves with the much needed cup of tea, we went to Dal lake for a Shikara ride. The lake looked serene in the twilight. The slow ride in the cool evening wind was very relaxing and we enjoyed every moment of it. There were vendors selling tea, edibles, jewelry, trinkets from their boats. Sipping a cup of Kahwah, the Kashmiri tea, we passed by the attractive house boats, floating Meena Bazaar, moving islands and a village adjacent to the lake. It seems the British started commissioning lavish houseboats to be built on the Dal lake to circumvent the rule laid by the Dogra Maharaja of Kashmir restricting building of houses in the valley. We stayed in houseboat long back during our Kerala trip and hence this time did not opt for it. As it got darker, the lake started glittering and the sight was really breathtaking.

After an hour and a half of the pleasant ride, we came up to boulevard road to find ourselves amongst heavy traffic. Parking our car in a municipal parking lot we walked to the Shamyana restaurant as recommended by our host. It was crowded and we had to wait quite a bit for our dinner of soup and momo. Crawling our way through the peak tourist season traffic on boulevard road we reached our homestay at around 11 pm and crashed into bed.

18.06.2023 was slated for local sightseeing. Srinagar is full of beautiful lakes and gardens, historical monuments, religious places, markets and we can not cover even half of it in one day. So we just picked a few and decided to start with Shankaracharya temple. It involves climbing up stairs and we thought it's best to do first thing in the morning. However, after the tiring previous day, I did not feel like hurrying up and lazed around a bit talking to Irfan. We started at around 9 am for the temple after taking a breakfast of bread omlette Irfan prepared for us. While going there we again saw the picturesque Dal lake in the morning light. In fact the whole of Srinagar feels like a picture post card and driving through it's tree lined streets itself is a sightseeing spree.

Shankaracharya Temple or Jyeshteshwara Temple considered the oldest temple in Kashmir is situated on top of the Shankaracharya Hill at a height of 1,000 feet (300 m) above the valley floor and overlooks the city of Srinagar. Kalhana wrote about this temple in Rajatarangini. He referred to the mountain as 'Gopadri' or 'Gopa Hill'. According to him King Gopaditya granted the land at the foot of the hill to the Brahmins that had come from the "Aryadesa" and this area at the base is now called Gupkar. Kalhana mentions that King Gopaditya built the original temple on the top of the hill at around 371 BCE. It is believed Adi Shankaracharya visited the temple and composed his famous literary work Soundarya Lahari here. This is how the temple and hill as well as the forest got the name Shankaracharya.

There is a motorable road constructed by BRO passing through Shankaracharya reserve forest up to the base of the temple with space for parking. Then there is a staircase with 243 steps constructed by Dogra king Gulab Singh. The view of Srinagar from the temple with Jhelum river on one side and dal lake on the other side is worth climbing every step. Pirpanjal mountain range is also clearly visible. The temple has a 20 ft (6.1 m) tall octagonal base with a square building on top. Though there was quite a long queue, the wait was pleasant due to the view of Srinagar city from the terrace of the temple. After darshan we had meal served by CRPF personnel at the base of the temple. The meal consisting Kadi Chawal tasted so delicious!

Then we headed to Lal chowk, the iconic city square where Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the Indian national flag in 1948. The square was given its name by left-wing activists who were inspired by the Russian Revolution as they fought the princely state's Maharaja, Hari Singh. It is now Srinagar's main business district. A clock tower at Lal Chowk was built in 1980 by Bajaj Electricals. Many locals there told us about a wholesale market complex which operates as retail market on Sunday and we visited it.

Later we went to a Pharmacy to pick up some medicines for high altitude sickness. We were interested to have Kashmiri wazwan and asked the pharmacist for recommendation. He told us that a hotel called Grand Hotel serves a platter containing seven main dishes of Kashmiri wazwan. That sounded very convenient for us as it would give us a chance of tasting several components of wazwan. The ultimate name in Kashmiri cuisine, wazwan (waz or waza means cook) is a formal meal prepared on special occasions. It is a multicourse meal and almost all the dishes are meat-based using mostly lamb meat. Wazwan dishes are traditionally prepared in copper utensils named degs over simmering fires of wood. The dishes are served in large copper plates called tramies with rice. Four persons take food in each tramie. A total of 36 dishes are prepared in wazwan . Our platter contained kabab (roasted minced meat), kokur (fried chicken leg piece), tabak maaz (deep fried ribs of lamb), methi maaz (mutton intestines flavored with a spice mixture containing dried fenugreek leaves), rogan josh (tender lamb cooked with Kashmiri spices under intense heat), rista (soft meat balls in red gravy), and gushtaba (soft meatballs in white yogurt based gravy). Kokur, kabab, tabak maaz and methi maaz were garnished on the rice. Besides, one chutney was also part of the meal. The gentleman waiting on us was very hospitable and we enjoyed the hearty lunch.

Our next destination was Chasme Shahi. Chashme Shahi or Chashma Shahi Shahi is one of the Mughal gardens built in 1632 AD around a spring by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a gift for his eldest son Prince Dara Shikoh. The spring was discovered by the great female saint of Kashmir, Rupa Bhawani, who was from the Sahib clan of Kashmiri Pandits and the spring was originally called 'Chashme Sahibi'. Over the years the name got corrupted and today the place is known as Chashme Shahi (the Royal Spring). The water of the spring is believed to have some medicinal properties and people were crowding around it to drink the water. We managed to taste the water among all the hustle and bustle.

Botanical Garden, set up in 1969 in memory of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, is a well designed modern landscaped garden. Spread over an area of approximately 80 hectares, it is divided into several sections housing more than 1.5 lakh ornamental plants and a rare collection of Kashmiri tropical plants. There is a stunning lake here that spreads over 17 hectares. The Tulip garden is near Botanical Garden, but we didn't visit as the season for tulip was already over.

Next we headed to Nishat Baag (Garden of Joy) built in 1633 by Asif Khan, elder brother of Nur Jahan. Located on the bank of the Dal Lake, Nishat Bagh has twelve terraces lined with avenues of chinar and cypress trees, which starts from the lakeshore and reaches up to an artificial façade at the hill end. From Nishat Baag we got a view of pristine white Hazratbal shrine sparkling at a distance.

Coming out of Nishat Baag we went to the bank of Dal lake and sat down to watch the sunset. It was a mesmerizing play of colour on the tranquil lake and the sky making it one of the most gorgeous sunset I have ever watched.

It was a sunny day and it felt quite hot at times while sightseeing under the open sky the whole day. By the end of the day we were tired and stomach was still full from the heavy lunch and numerous other treats we had during the day. So we decided to skip dinner and went back to our homestay. Irfan had some relatives visiting him and introduced us to them. It felt nice to get to know a local family and we had a pleasant chat with them. Irfan also served us some very delicious papaya from his garden. After finishing those we went to bed at the end of another hectic day resolving to come back to see Srinagar in another season when tulips are blooming.

Tit bits from Google map

17.06.2023: Katra to Srinagar - Driving distance covered 230 km in around 9 hours with breaks for breakfast for 30 minutes (many halts for passing of army convoy) and 20 km in Srinagar

18.06.2023: Around 30 km for local sight seeing