The lesser spoken about Maharashtrian city of Nashik. Do you disagree? Well.. Did you know Nashik had an airport of its own? Did you know Nashik is equidistant from Surat Airport and Pune airport (approx)?
Fun part is, I travelled to Nashik by road from Mumbai. Interestingly, Jet Airways was among the few that landed domestic flights at Mumbai International Airport instead of the the Domestic Airport, which by the way is approx 3.5 kms apart from each other.
The road trip from Mumbai to Nashik takes approx 3 to 4 hours. The view wasn't as scenic as I had expected it to be. Dry hills with only hues of yellow and brown is what I could see. And this was during December and it wasn't chilly at all too.
Sula Vineyards is where I headed first. Vines on either sides which opened to a resort. To be honest, I wasn't 'wow-ed' yet. Maybe because I over expected but area wise, it wasn't as huge as I had expected it to be. But one thing that I loved the most and dint regret at all was the walk through the manufacturing unit and the wine tasting which was pretty informative.
Trivia- Did you know white wine could be made from both red and white grapes? To make white wine from red grapes, it's de-skinned. The skin of red grapes gives it the red colour.
-Champagne is a sparkling wine which is made at the place 'champagne' at France. So all sparking wines aren't champagne but all champagne is sparkling wine ;)
-The label wine is given for grapes fermented with yeast and the different fruity or smokey flavour is imparted from the different wooden barrels it is stored. Any extra addition to it will make it port wine or fortified wine, which isn't pure wine.
So on and so forth. Lot of informations of wine could be known. Around 24 varieties of wine is what Sula makes,off which, 6 were given for tasting ;).
Someshwar Waterfalls and Trimbakeshwar Temple
Someshwar falls was the nearest waterfall that I could find. A good place to unwind though I felt very sad to see it being exploited. Plastic waste and litter was a major put off. The falls in itself was beautiful, only fault was of humans.
Trimbakeshwar temple is sacred for a lot of Hindus. It is one among the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. The roads and the view from Nashik city to Trimbakeshwar were really good. Once I reached near the temple, had to walk a while to go inside. People were very friendly to show the way around or communicate as such.
The temple, as expected, had impeccable architecture with impeccable sculpture detailing. After offering prayers, walked out to have something to drink and got hold of sugarcane juice. Believe me, it was the best sugarcane juice I have ever had and for Rs 20!
Sita Gufaa, Ramkund and Kalamandir
Sita Gufaa is a place which is nothing like how you would expect it to be. People with claustrophobia or who has breathing problems or are a bit on the heavy, you definitely need to reconsider visiting this place. But for all others, this place is fun ;)
Unfortunately, photography being prohibited I couldn't click any. Its like caves after caves that you need to squeeze through to reach the other side. Legend says that when demons or asuras came to fight Lord Rama, He and his brother,Lord Lakshmana, hid Goddess Sita here so the asuras or demons wouldn't be able to catch her. To mark the place, they had 5 banyan trees around the place as well.
Ramkund is the bathing ghat of River Godaveri. And this is where the famous Kumbh Mela happens. Ironically, they give flowers on a plastic layered cup to worship the river. Being a true Hindu, I prayed, paid homage, drank a little from the source, and came back.
Kalamandir was my next stop. The architecture is again something that strikes. Beyond beautiful. Though photography was prohibited, I saw lot of locals clicking away so I thought to try my luck with a few clicks from outside the temple. This temple is devoted to Lord Rama.
