We started at 9 am from Palava. We filled petrol near Kalyan;
I set navigation on google maps for Nasik then caught NH 160. Right after
Kalyan I started looking for a breakfast daba. After a while I saw Shivsagar
restaurant and stopped for breakfast. We ordered dosa, idli vada, uttapam and coffee. We all liked the
food.
 |
| Shivsagar Restaurant on Mumbai Nasik Highway |
We then restarted towards Nasik, road was smooth to drive on a high speed and we
reached Igatpuri very fast. We enjoyed good landscape of small hills near Igatpuri.
After Igatpuri I was looking for a left turn from where we can take a detour to
Trimbakeshwar. I saw a board for
Trimbakeshwar, which I confirmed with google maps and then took the turn
In between the small hills, we were on a narrow road. Road
gave us a closer look at village life of region. After a while we saw a picturesque
lake, we could not resist stopping and taking photos.
 |
| Between Igatpuri and Trimbakeshwar |
 |
| Lake near xyz |
We reached Trimbakeshwar sometime in the afternoon and it
didn’t take much time to do puja and Darshan in temple.
We then started towards Nasik on NH 848. After a while, I stopped
the car and then searched for Sula Vineyards. Vineyards were nearby within 6
kms. So I set navigation on google maps and followed it to Sula Vineyards. Sula Vineyards where a small building in
middle of grape fields.
 |
| Sula Vineyards: Indian wine |
We clicked photos with a human sized wine bottle near
restaurant garden and wine tasting facility. We then visited sovereign shop on
ground floor. On first floor there was a wine tasting facility which we didn’t
visit.
From Sula Vineyards we directly went to Nasik where I
searched a hotel and checked in. after getting refreshed in hotel, we went to
Panchavati on foot which was about 1.5 kms from Hotel.
In Panchavati, we visited Kaleram
temple and Kapileshar temple. We then asked for a vegetarian restaurant.
Pancharatna was suggested by 3 people so we went there and ordered meal. Food
was good and mild in taste. We then came back to hotel on foot and slept.
Next day morning we started for Saptashrungi
devi. We filled petrol at Bharat petroleum in Nasik. Petrol pump didn’t have a
swipe machine so I got my 2k note exchanged. We then kept going on Saputara Nasik
road and after an hour we saw a board for Saptashrungi devi, there we took a
detaur and begin ascending the small hill.
 |
| Saptashrungi Devi |
 |
| Saptashrungi: View from temple |
When on top we were stopped by
first shop owner. He requested us to
park the vehicle in front of his shop and in return we bought Prasad from his
shop.
We then started climbing the
stairs, someone was saying that there are 500 steps. We just climbed up in 15
mins. It was fun to move up the stairs. I also let Prathamesh, my one year old
son to climb some stairs. Here also crowd was so less that we got
darshan in just few minutes.
 |
| View near Saptashrungi |
We then started toward Shirdi.
We were not carrying much cash
due to recent demonetization so we were looking for a daba where card payment
can be done. An interesting incident happened.
Somewhere between Saptashrungi Devi
and Shirdi, daba guy said that he was accepting card payment so we got down and
had food there. All the workers in daba were from Nepal and we asked them about
hometown.
At the time of billing daba guy said
that he did not have card payment machine.
I told him that I have no money
and asked him to swipe card in any nearby shop. He said that there was an ATM
in nearby petrol pump and I could take his bike to get the money. However I
asked him to come in his motor bike after my car. In Petrol pump, surprisingly
ATM had no queue. There were only 2 people, who were facing some problem in
swiping of their card. I tried my card and in second attempt my card got
recognized and a new 2K note came out. After paying daba wala, we had 1600 extra
cash.
We reached Shirdi around 5 in
evening.
When we reached temple road,
there were many people who wanted to guide us to parking or hotel. I asked one
such guy about hotel, who told us about a hotel. He wanted to come inside the car
and show us the hotel. But I was little skeptical getting that guy in the car, so
told him that I will reach the hotel myself. To my surprise he ran in front of
car on foot to show us the hotel, he ran for half kilometers.
Hotel was okay so we took the hotel.
Crowd was very less here well so
we had darshan in about one hour.
 |
| Cane sugar juice |
Next day morning we started toward Shani Shingnapur. On highway, we enjoyed fresh Guava and Pomegranate from road side temporary shops. We had uneventful darshan and then came toward ahmadnagar. Near Shani Shingnapur, there were many shops of cane sugar juice, we stopped in one of them and enjoyed the juice.
 |
| Daba : somewhere in Ahmadnagar Kalyam Road |
 |
| Pimplegoan joga dam.lake |
While coming back to Mumbai we had lunch at daba and enjoyed beautiful evening at Pimplegoan joga dam.
