Day 3 : Bhaja – The Hidden Jewel

The day could be divided into two clear parts. The first was our astounding visit to the Bhaja caves. We had to choose between Bhaja and Karla, and Diya reminded us that Dalrymple had described the beauty of Bhaja as rivalling that of the caves at Petra. Since the caves opened at 9.00am and our room came with complementary breakfast, we asked for an early breakfast and went off to see भजे लोणी as it is called in Marathis. Both Bhaja and Karla caves are roughly 10 kilometers from Lonavla and on either side of one of the several Mumbai – Pune highways. At a place called Karla (not the caves) we turned off the road towards Bhaja caves,

We reached the Bhaja village around 9.30 am. There were several cars travelling with us and we thought they too carried tourists visiting Bhaja, but that was not so. There was a temple in the Bhaja village which drew more visitors than the caves. We knew we would have to climb some distance from the road, but we were not sure where the path began because the signage was both inadequate and only in very small Marathi letters. We drove quite some distance ahead before we realised that the terrain had changed and probably the caves were already behind us. We went back to Bhaja village, checked with a woman running a small general store and learnt that the path going up was right ahead of us. Human given directions in some cases is still better than those from the internet.

The path up to the caves is paved with stairs. As we climbed up the view of the valley around was  very pleasant. The Archeological Survey of India office was quite some distance up the stairs. We were the first visitors of the day. There were two young men in the ticket office, and when we asked whether a guide would be available, one of them said he would show us around. Our guide Bhaja - Akash Pardi explained the monument to us. He said that tourist footfall increased in August when there was a gushing waterfall next to the caves. He was also interested in referring us to 2 nearby forts from Shivaji's time. Lohagad and Visalur. The 2000 year old Buddhist caves were spectacular.  We took a lot of pictures. Enjoythe slide show. This is for those who are interested in a more detailed historical-archeological account of Bhaja caves.

Bhaja Caves : A Treat for the Eyes

A little past 11.30 we started towards our next destination Talasri. There were a few alternative routes, but we chose the one which took the Highways and skirted Mumbai and went north towards Ahmedabad. Little were we to know that the drive today would be the most challenging in the 3 days we had been on the road. The first 2 hours on towards Mumbai were by the Bengaluru Highway once again. The next stretch was a 1.45 mins crawl through Navi Mumbai and past Mumbai and then through Thane. To make things worse there was Metro construction going on, so the road was partly dug up and also half of it was cordoned off. We thought it would get better when hit the Mumbai Ahmedabad Highway, but that was not to be. Our expectations for smoother drive were short lived. The highway was packed with trucks of various sizes and axle configurations driving at various speeds. One had to weave between trucks at 60 kph. The left lane was most often the overtaking lane but here one had to avoid motorcycles and three wheelers.

We had lunch at food court because we wanted to avoid the oily and spicy 'local cuisine' but to no avail. The palak paneer was garnished with red chilli oil even though we had expressly mentioned ' no red chilli powder' to the waiter.

Finally, 30 km from our destination we went off this highway and onto SH 73 at Birsa Munda chowk. The landscape was similar coastal ghats we had left behind. The one difference was coconut palms were now replaced by date palms. At one point we passed a long line of Adivasi girls with blue dresses and hairs plaited and tied with red ribbons returning from school.

At 5.45 we reached our destination Hill Zill Winery Resort. I was looking forward to the fruit wine that was made here.

The resort was multi-tiered and included several broad field-like terraces which were appropriate for ‘destination weddings’. The rooms were adequate. There was a big swimming pool, but it was closed. Since it was not the holiday season there were very few guests. There was a very pleasant open-air restaurant, but unfortunately one variety of fruit wine – Pineapple wine was available. It was sweet-sour and bubbly. I quite liked it. Their menu card also included Chiki wine and Starfruit wine, and on asking I was told that the wine-making operations had been shifted to Himachal Pradesh because of some difficulties with the authorities. 

After an early dinner we turned in for the night. It had been a long day. I decided that from now on I would have to start the day with pantoprazole.

Hill Zill Winery resort

Total distance – 253

Total time - 6.02 hours

Ave - 15 kpl