We had just arrived in Ahmedabad from Bhopal, and were admiring Ahmedabad's interesting architecture. The old city is awash with distinctive wooden buildings. These multi-storied homes and shops, have large and colourful shuttered windows overlooking the narrow streets.
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| Houses above shops in Ahmedabad Old City (UNESCO) |
We'd flown into Ahmedabad with Spicejet, then taken a tuktuk from the airport to our accommodation at Hotel 440-A Serene Stay. It proved to be a modern and clean hotel with nice comfy beds. Yaay! Up until now, we've found the beds in India to be very, very firm.
Ahmedabad, in Gujarat state, is a big, fast-growing 'smart city' (around 8.4 million people in 2018). But it was originally a smaller walled city built in the 11th century on the eastern bank of the Sabarmati River.
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| Ahmedabad Old City mansion (UNESCO) |
The old walled city was India’s first UNESCO World Heritage city because of its unique housing. Some of it was the colourful, shuttered places we had already admired. Others were mansions built by the elite of the day, and now restored as grand homes or hotels. We'd gone into the old city to explore them.
While in the old city we also visited the Jama Masjid Mosque. This Mosque was built of yellow sandstone in 1442.
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| Jama Masjid Mosque, Ahmedabad |
It is huge, one of India’s largest, and contains some beautifully carved columns, niches, domes and other decorative works. We were allowed to wander around and take photos, and found it a very peaceful place.
Leaving by a side gate, put us into some tiny winding streets where we encountered colourful stalls, goats, cows and carts, all vying for street-space.
People were very friendly and lots asked where we were from. Most knew of New Zealand and one young man greeted us with the Maori “Kia ora”!
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| Spice market, Ahmedabad |
We found the spice market where we learned about spices for cleansing the mouth (among other things) - there were many tables of these beautifully coloured and aromatic spices.
There were more shops of all kinds and people, scooters, cars and carts everywhere. We saw one large car in a very narrow street and weren’t sure how he had got there!
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| Bhadra Fort |
We came across several grand city gates and ventured through them. One took us to the Bhadra Fort built in 1411. What’s left of the original is a small by fort standards but it is still very imposing.
Opposite was another impressive city gate called Teen Darwaza. This has three arches and dates back to 1415.
The open-space around the Fort and Teen Darwaza was a market. It was incredibly busy and noisy with people buying and selling, but so vibrant.
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| Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, Ahmedabad (UNESCO) |
The small, attractive Sidi Saiyyed Mosque was nearby. Built in 1572-73, it is one of the most famous mosques of Ahmedabad, because of its ten intricately carved stone latticework windows on the side and rear arches.
The sun was setting behind the mosque when we were there, and the highlighted the intricate carvings. It was very beautiful.
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| Top (L-R): A modern clothing store, Leigh and cow. Below: Mosque goats, typical street |
Around the corner, was a street where they sold traditional clothing. The whole area was fascinating. It was colourful and full of interest – we loved it.
After a hot but terrific day exploring, we happily headed back to the hotel and air-con!
The next day, we took a taxi a few hours out of town, to visit some interesting places. Our first stop was the Adalaj Stepwell. Stepwells are a form of water storage, also used to bathe and stay cool in summer heat.
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| Adalaj Stepwell |
Adalaj was built on five levels in the 15th century. The detailed carvings and stepwell layout are beautiful. We wandered around there for quite some time, enjoying the breezes that flowed through the lower levels of the well.
Our next stop was Rani Ki-Vav, another stepwell, but this one is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was built by Queen Udayamati in the 11th century in memory of her husband, the King, and designed as an inverted temple.
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| Leigh inside the Rani Ki-Vav stepwell (UNESCO) |
It is quite different to the Adalaj stepwell. Rani Ki-Vav has seven levels and is very ornate. It's many stone carvings and sculptures are devoted to Lord Vishnu, and it is quite stunning.
The next day we took a taxi out of Ahmedabad again, this time a couple of hours in the opposite direction. We wanted to visit the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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| Sahar ki Masijid, Champaner (UNESCO) |
Champaner is an historic walled town dating from the 8th to 14th centuries, and it sits in the foothills of the Pavagadh Hills. The site now contains many heritage buildings and ruins from that period.
It is spread out over more than 3,000 acres so needless to say, we didn’t get to all of it, but what we did see was really interesting.
Later, we headed up Pavagadh Hill via a steep winding road. This eventually led us to a cable car that took us almost to the top of the hill.
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| Temple at the top of Pavagadh Hill (UNESCO) |
There were a lot of people climbing the hill on a pilgrimage to the Kālikā Mata Temple which sits right on the peak surrounded by fortifications. It is a Hindu goddess temple dating back to 10th century.
To reach the temple, there was a very long uphill walkway, some steps leading to a small lake, then more steps to the peak. We didn't go right up to the peak, but enjoyed the cooling breezes around the lake instead.
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| Decorated cow near the top of Pavagadh Hill (UNESCO) |
On the way up, we passed many stalls selling icons and other religious items, and a beautifully decorated (and obviously sacred) cow.
Again, we felt very much the odd ones out, as we seemed to be the only white faces there.
People were very friendly but we kept getting asked for photos or selfies with them, which we politely declined.
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| Donkeys and Temples near top of Pavagadh Hill (UNESCO) |
We passed several herds of donkeys carrying rocks, and then on the way down later, we passed many without rocks. Presumably they were part of the restoration effort!
Back down the mountain, grateful for an air-conditioned taxi while temperatures were in the high 30’s, we headed back to Ahmedabad.
Our taxi driver had a surprise for us however. He suggested that we stop in the city of Vadodara to visit the Lukshmi Vilas Palace. We had to go through Vadodara anyway to get back to Ahmedabad, so we agreed.
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| Lukshmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara |
This magnificent Palace was built in 1889 and is still the home of the Maharaja of Baroda and his family. Only part of the Palace is open for visitors, but the size and decoration are amazing.
After a good look around, we headed back to Ahmedabad, very satisfied with our day.
Ahmedabad is a ‘dry city’ with a very strict no-alcohol law. So our hotel, and the restaurants we visited, were not able to serve alcohol. That meant no cold beers which would have been great in the hot weather for two thirsty Kiwis! Never mind, we are heading back into Rajasthan state tomorrow, and that’s not dry.
The above blog is part of our 2-month tour of India. The first blog on this tour is called "Off to Delhi".