Blr-Hubli-Shirdi-Mahabaleshwar-Tarkarli-Bangalore (6 nights 7 days - A sequel)

The last time we did this stretch was here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...tures-fun.html This was a reloaded version of the same with a small change in destinations. This trip was centered around a visit to Shirdi to seek Sai Baba's blessing for our 5 month old baby. Since a quick dash to Shirdi along with the baby was ruled out, we decided to space the entire trip over a period of a week. My dear friend raj from Delhi decided to join us along with his 8 year old son, but 4 adults with a small boy and our baby in her baby seat meant a real tight squeeze in the Safari. A phone call to Pavan Kadam solved the problem, he agreed to lend me the third row forward facing seat he had designed for his Safari. So two days before the trip, the seat was installed though it was a compromise on luggage space. The Itinerary finalised was: Bangalore - Hubli (1 Night) - Shirdi (1 Night) - Mahabaleshwar (2 nights) - Tarkarli Beach (2 nights) - Bangalore. Day 1 (13-11-2011) We left home post lunch and reached Hubli by 8 pm, we had booked ourselves in Clark's Inn (Clarks Inn Hotels India, Hotel, Restaurant Hotel), a very decent business hotel. An early dinner and we hit the sack. Day 2 (14-11-2011) This was a full day travel to cover almost 670 kms to Shirdi, after breakfast at Clark's Inn we started at 8.45 am and were in Pune for lunch, almost 2 hours were spent on lunch and negotiating our way out of Pune. from Pune we took the Sangamner route which turned out to be a mistake, the traffic was bad and road too was not very good after the NH4 we had driven on all day, after a tiring drive we reached Shirdi by 8.30 pm. In Shirdi, we had booked accomodation and darshan online, we collected our darshan pass from the PRO and checked into Dwarawati guest house, we had booked AC rooms and for 900 bucks per room they were very good. Our darshan was the "kakkad arati" which begins at 4.30 am, so we had to report at 3.30 am, again a quick dinner and we went to sleep. Day 3 (15-11-2011) We woke up by 2 am and were at the gates of the temple by 3.45 am, we joined about 150 people who had also booked for the kakkad arati, at 4.30 am we were ushered into the sanctum sanctorum and the arati began. A full hour of bhajans in front of Baba and then went around the Samadhi and we were out. We came back to our rooms rested for an hour and then checked out. We had breakfast at an udupi hotel and left Shirdi. There are no pictures as cameras and mobiles are not allowed and we had not even unpacked the camera. We took the Ahmednagar route on the way back and it was a very good road all the way to Pune, we were out of Pune by 1 pm and stopped at the McDonald's on the highway for lunch. We refuelled ourselves and the car and we were on our way to Mahabaleshwar. We reached Mahabaleshwar by 4 pm and checked into the MTDC resort, we took a family suite and again it was very comfortable. We decided to just take it easy as we had all woken up very early and driven the whole day. We had dinner at the MTDC canteen and called it a day. Day 4 (16-11-2011) We woke up a bit late and had a leisurely breakfast and ventured out almost close to noon back to Panchgani, a short visit to Table Land and our stomachs were growling. Black Storm at Table Land Attachment 846693 Now was the time to justify our visit to Panchgani. We parked at Mapro Garden and feasted. The Yummy Display Attachment 846694 Lip Smacking Pizzas Attachment 846695 Even our 5 month old daughter could not resist the fare. Where's my share? Attachment 846696 She immensely liked the place and showed her acrobatic skills on the trampoline at Mapro garden. Wowiee!! Attachment 846697 Then the Strawberries beckoned Attachment 846698 We promised ourselves that we would never buy the packed strawberries at Foodworld ever, after the strawberries at Panchgani. Post a heavy lunch we retired to Mahabaleshwar for a short nap. At 5 pm we were at Venna lake for some boating on the tranquil waters. Boating on Venna Lake at Mahabaleshwar Attachment 846699 Back to our rooms and had a nice head massage by the local masseur, his tools of trade was what attracted us to test his skill. "Champi tools" Attachment 846700 A leisurely dinner at the canteen and we hit the sack ruing that we had already finished 4 days of our week long trip. A splash of colour at the canteen Attachment 846701 ....Contd. Attached Images

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