Recent trip to Lonavala...

Lonavala is a favourite  destination for those in Mumbai and Pune. I had made a short trip to there on April 7th.We started from Pune around 2PM. We choose to drive through Mumbai-Pune Express Highway to have a feel of it.

A section of Express highway

I knew that it is a wrong time to visit Lonavala. The nature is still green compared to Pune. We did small shopping (ofcourse CHIKKI). We drove with the help of a small map dowloaded from a website. Took off to see duke's nose. After driving for few kilometers we were getting frustrated due to heat and also lack of information about route. Some young guys on the way has told us about the place and immediately we abandoned that plan. Then it was decided to change the route to Bushi Dam and  Lion's point

Bushi dam was almost dry and we did not even get down from our car to see it. We drove on to Lion's point. It was a beautiful sight but the heat took all the josh from us. 

Lion's point

We continued to drive after lion's point. After almost 5KM enquired to locals about the way and attractions on the way and got to know that there in only Ambey Valley of Sahara is ahead. Hence decided to return and go to Karla Caves.

While passing through the town again visited a chikki shop and bought some more chikies and some fudge.

After filling diesel we set out to Karla caves. The building on the hill is visible from far away on the highway. 5KM fron town we reached the junction to turn to Karla. Kids were hungry. We decided to hit a small tea shop at the foothill. The tea shop owner advised us to climb and reach as fast as possible since the caves will be closed by 6PM.  IT took us around 15 min to reach as we climbed very slowly. It was an amazing sight

First sight of Karla caves

I was wondering about the effort those people took in that era. It was an awesome sight inside the cave

Inside the cave

 It was the symmetry of the structure that cathes the eye. It is a precision work. Really amazing.What might have been their techonological knowhow in this...?

There are other caves too in the same area. View from top is great. Our binocular has come handy there.

As informed by the teashop guy, the caves were closed promptly at 6PM. We came down by 6.15. There ia an Uduppi hotel at the foot hills. Misal Pav, Dosas and Vadas were found to be very tasty as we were famished by that time.

  Sun set seen from Karla

We were back to home at Pune by 8.30 PM through old Mumbai Pune highway.