Wanderlust Tales - Impromptu road trip to Lavasa

Unplanned road trips induce a different kind of excitement in our rote life.

And we friends, decided on a road trip to Lavasa, about 65 km from Pune. The first trip of 2015. :)

As it was impromptu, we started kind of late. Since we started late, we found quite some traffic in Pune. It took us around 2.5 hours to reach Lavasa city.
Google maps always makes your life easier, and it guided us till there easily.

Lavasa situated atop the hill is a private-planned city, as well as the  newest hill station since Independence.
And as we were ascending, the view was just splendid. Wow!!
Lavasa - A beautiful city, beautifully concept-ed and a clean city. There is lot of work in progress there. But nevertheless, it was just perfect, just perfect for visiting and spending some time during chilly winter evenings.
Waah.....awesome it was!

But to make the most of the place, start early and you can enjoy the utmost beauty of this place. We got to witness the beautiful sunset and the bird view of the city!
There are various fun water activities which one can indulge in.

The last time we were here, we came for an event to X-Thrill, where they organized many sport activities. They provided us with lodging in tents, which were pretty cool.

Finding food here is no big deal, you have ample of options - there is this WaterFrontShaw street.
Overlooking the Dasve lake, this place is just the place you need to relax.
This street is conceptualized in Italian style and it has plenty full of restaurants on one side of the walk-way. They have quite number of places to sit and relax too.
The walk through the street is refreshing. Just spending an quiet evening is enough to get you kick starting for the week.
This place is bustling with people and kids, and you will really enjoy the evening without a doubt.

Not to forget, an experienced driver is always perfect to drive you up. The roads are curvy and there are not much street lights, so drive carefully and safe! :)
Try to leave before the lights start to fade out.

Here are some photos from the trip:

As we were ascending

Dam

The waterfront shaw:

Cheers to life!!

~Journey  of a thousand miles begins with a single step! :)

P.S.All the above photos have been clicked by me. :D

Art conglomeration : Paintings and sketches

Few painting done by me:



Juicy strawberries



Lord Jagannath in suna bheso



Fort in Oman

Cheers to life!!

~Believe in yourself always!!

P.S These sketches are not my original idea, it is just a humble attempt to replicate some of the beautiful pictures found in blogs/sites. 

Wanderlust Tales : Trip to Nandi hills - Bangalore

This time during my trip to Bangalore for my Durga puja vacation, our family decided on for a road trip to the famous Nandi hills.

Nandi hills, believed to be one of the beautiful getaway places near Bangalore. It is an ancient hill fortress approximately 60-65 kilometers from Kanakpura Road.
It would take approximately 2 hours to reach here -  Google maps aids in the directions on the road. If you love driving - drive through the highways would be enchanting.
You would find plentiful grape plantation across the roads.

The best time to visit would be in the wee hours of the morning, so as to get an exquisite view of the place - covered in clouds.

The roads to Nandi Hills, are quite curvy - hence make sure you are an experienced driver if you are travelling using your own vehicle. Moving up the hills gets the road steeper and steeper.

For the passengers, the drive through the curves is scenic giving you a chance to get in touch with the greenery and mother nature.

We intended to trek a little, so we parked our car around 2 km prior the entrance. Be prepared to walk and sweat a lot, to reach till the top.

Do's -

• Wear comfortable shoes
• Carry drinking water
• Carry your shades or caps waive off the sun
• Carry tissues or hanker chief

There is a ticket that we paid at the entrance.
Major problem is information not being provided in English - it gets difficult to even know what you are being charged for.

There are a couple of eatery shops right before you make your way up - you can relax and enjoy a few nibbling here - before you sweat it out to reach the top.

Reaching the top is a task in itself, climb, climb and climb.

Before you start your ascent, you would see the Amrutha Sarova - a beautiful man made water enclosure - mostly seemed to used for private bathing for the Rajas or  people of significant genre.
Then the recreation area which must been used for lazing around and spending some relaxing time.

As you climb up, you would find a beautiful park atop where you can see families with their kids having a gala time.

The Tipu's drop is another fascinating place to watch out for - it is said that the perpetrators were dropped off from this point and there was no returning for them from here.

Things to watch out here are the:

• Amrutha Sarova
• Tippu drop
• Children's playground
• Tippu's summer palace and fort
• Yoga naandeswar temple
• Horse way

We couldn't make it to all - we got exhausted way too fast making our way up. :)

While returning from the Nandi Hills - while on the highway,we spotted a beautiful temple atop the hills.
The architecture of the temple,led us to detour. Although we couldn't find a proper road to reach it, we attempted going there via the rocks and climbing up. We parked our car in the nearest empty spot we saw.
Be extra cautious while heading upwards, crooked totally.
Finally when we made our way up, we were astounded to discover that it was a Jain temple.

The view from the temple was absolutely scenic - the glance of the entire city, sent a shiver down our back. It took quite some time to sink in.

Some of the photos from the visit:

Jain Temple

View from the Jain temple

Lotus

On the way to Nandi Hills:

Curvy roads

Curvy roads

Amrutha Sarova

Recreation area

Tipu's dropping point

The view

Grape cultivation

Cheers to life!!

~Journey  of a thousand miles begins with a single step! :)

P.S.All the above photos have been clicked by me. :D