Exploring Pune Day 3

Shankarwadi

Our third stop was Shankarwadi near to the Somatne Toll booth. I have heard from friends that it is a Cave temple having Lord Shiva as deity . I was curious to climb the hill and see the cave temple. 

We started the ascent around 5 in evening. It was a pleasant evening. The temperature was not really affecting us due to heavy winds that time. But I was exhausted and sat down after the first flight of steps. I drank some water and also washed face, which brought the energy back. 

Then a steady climb brought us to a junction like place at mid of the hill. When asked a person who seems to be Poojari over there, he gave directions. The way to left is for the Shiva temple and the right side way is leading to a Ram temple. We went staright to Shiva temple first. 

The temple / cave is carved out of  single rock. The entrance is made of cut rock pieces. The rooms are rectangular in shape. I prayed silently in the Shiva temple. There are few pond like holes in the rocks nearby, which are filled with water. People who visit there have made the pond dirty by throwing all sorts of waste in it.

In the second temple we saw a swami sitting and reading a book. On enquiring he said he resides inside that temple itself.  It was really cool inside the cave in contast to the heat outside.

 IPL stadium seen from the hill

We had taken few snaps around and was about to walk down. It was then we noticed two young guys climbing the hill above there. That prompted us also to follow them. There was no defined way to go to top. It was not a difficult terrain to climb but lack of a defined path made the climb slightly difficult.

A steep Climb

To our surprise midway of our climb we reached at a courtyard of a house. There were two old people sitting there. We asked them what is ahead to see and they said it’s a flat surface on top and nice to walk around. Most amazing thing we have seen was another big pond in that height with plenty of water inside.

Sumesh was feeling bit tired and was reluctant to climb further. My earlier tiredness has vanished and I was daring to venture as much as possible.  It took another 10 min climb for me to reach the top of hill. It was an amazing sight from there.

I could see Pune, Talegaon, Exp Highway, stadium, Dehu road Ayyappa temple, etc, etc… My binocular had come really handy. I walked around a bit and found that I had enough company on top of the hill. Sumesh also caught up with me without much delay.

The flag post is bend due to strong winds...

We both were in agreement that it would have been a great loss if had left without climbing to the top of the hill. We waited there itself till the sun set. My camera has captured all those images that could swallow by that time.

 It was almost dark by the time we reached down on plains.