Trip to Maheshwar

I am not sure how many of you would have heard about this place. In my opinion, Maheshwar is a hidden gem and one should not miss visiting this beautiful place.

Maheshwar is an ancient city which is known for its forts that are located on the banks of river Narmada. This Narmada Ghat is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful ghats I have ever seen. Hence I called it as a hidden gem. It is around 80 kms from Indore, Madhya Pradesh and around 2 hours drive.

Our Indore trip would not have been complete without the family trip to this wonderful place. After having some delicious methi paratha prepared by our wonderful mami, we left Indore at around 9 in the morning,  The drive to this place is quite good and troublefree. Initially we had decided to visit only Maheshwar. But later extended also to Mandleshwar which is further 8 kms away. We reached Mandleshwar at around 12.

Mandleshwar is known for its water supply and filtration plant. Above is a picture of the entry to this water supply plant. This plant pumps the Narmada water and purifies it and then distributes it to most of the places in Madhya Pradesh. After a long search, we managed to spot this plant. It has basically two seperate units, one to pump water from Narmada and store it in huge tanks.

This water further goes to the filtration plant. This magnificient filter unit is worth watching. Below is the picture of the filter unit. The rim surrounding the water tank is actaully the pathway to monitor this unit. We were lucky to get a chance to walk around this pathway. The experience of visiting this water filter unit was unexpectadly an exciting and somewhat thrilling for all of us.

After this short educational trip, we went to Maheshwar, which is around 8 kms from here. To satiate our hunger buds, we gobbled some local fruits from the market. At the entry of Maheshwar fort, we all got full recharged with the refreshing sugarcane juice. This was much needed for some trekking to the Fort and the Ghat.

As we walked inside past the arch, we could already see the fort, which overlooks the Narmada river. One can get a very good paranomic view of the Narmada river as well as the ghat from here. Next to it is the Ahilya Bai Holkars Palace. It was more like a Rajwada kind of a house. For those who dont know Rani Ahilya Bai Holkar is a widow who ruled this place for years and is known for her courage and determination and also her governance and ability to maintain perfect law and order in her kingdom. This place also has a big statue of Ahilyabai Holkar.

Next halt - the most awaited Narmada Ghat. We walked down a few steps to reach the Narmada Ghat. This place is surrounded by temples. Much to my surprise, there were hardly much tourists here. It was more like a peaceful shrine. And whoever visited this place, were more inclined to go for boating rather than to temples. Below is the picture of one of the temples.

There were many boats waiting for us. We all jumped into one nice Shikara kind of a boat. Boating was really fun. As our boat moved away from the shore, we could again see the whole paranomic view of the Narmada Ghat and the fort. It looked really picturesque and serene. Below is the view of Narmada Ghat from our boat. Here you can also see the fort.

In this picture, you can see the entry to the ghats and the awaiting Shikara boats.

There were many people taking a dip in the water. But unfortunately none of us came prepared for a swim. So finally we decided to sit down on the ghat and atleast dip our legs inside this holy water, splashing water on each other once in a while.

The ghat is surrounded by many temples. Each of the temple has meticulosuly carved architecture. Here is Charvi posing near one of the temples.

After enjoying some chats, we finally decided to retreat back. Aila...we had almost forgotten about lunch. While on our way back, we had lunch at Foody's. Fortunately food was available there even at 5 PM.

We reached back to Indore at around 8 PM. All thanks to Rohit dada and his non stop bakbak, that kept us entertaining throughout the journey.

Visit to Indore

Welcome to the Foodies City of Indore...Also known as the Cultural Capital of Madhya Pradesh.

Though Indore does not look very far from Bangalore when seen on a map, the travel from Bangalore to Indore gives a different picture.

There are not many direct trains or flights from Bangalore to Indore. We had to take the Rajdhani till Bhopal and after a overnight stay in Bhopal, the next day, we took the double decker train to Indore. This was the first time I was travelling by a double decker train in India. There are also chartered buses (Volvo) running between Bhopal - Indore , 24 hours a day.

Though Indore is not a very popular tourist destination, one can definately visit this place for the varieties of gourmets. And if you are a foody, then this is a must visit destination. For us, the reason was very obvious. My hubby has many relatives settled in Indore, and it was almost 5 years since we had visited them last.

Some popular places to visit here are the Annapurna Temple, Rajwada, the Chaatris, etc.

My favourite being the Rajwada. Not for its construction or carvings but for the ample number of eatouts surrounding that place.

Below are some of the "Must Try" items.
- Coconut stuffed Aloo Tikki called as Coconut Patties
- Rabdi
- Shikanji
- Poha served with garma garam Jalebis
- Garadu - deep fried Yam
- Gulab Jamuns
- Bhutte ki kees
- Pani Puri - popularly known here as Pani Patase

The best way to enjoy these delicacies is by visiting the "Sarafa Bazar".
This is set up late evenings everyday till the wee hours in the morning.
These eatouts are setup just outside the jewellary shops (sarafa) ...hence the name.
Here you can enjoy wide varieties of snacks..from Kachori to Chole Patties, Jalebis to Gulab Jamuns and everything served hot and fresh.

Try the coconut patties and Kachori at Vijay Chaat. Walk down a few lanes to try the Dahi Wada at Joshis followed by the Shikanji at Nagori Sweets.

Seeing the crowd at these places will tell you that Indori people are really big shoukeens of food.

Another such place is the Chappan Bazar where there are Chappan eatouts setup in the late evening. Unfortunately I could not visit this place. This is a must visit place for my next Indore trip.

Below are some "take away" items which one can buy to enjoy Indori Tadka back home
- Sev (Lahsun Sev, Ratlami Sev, Ujjaini Sev and many more varieties)
- Farsan and Chiwda
- Gajak - a must "take away"

This blog talks more about food or rather only about food...

But Indore is not only about food. The market area here is also very interesting. Here you will see market in very nook and corner...just like the food joints. As the winters are quite extreme, the varities and choices of warm clothes and winter wear available here is really awesome.

Indore is close to many other tourist places like Ujjain, Omkareshwar, Maheshwar, Mandu and that could be one more reason for tourists to visit this place.

Below is the link to our trip to Maheshwar :)
Trip to Maheshwar

So whenever you are trying to decide on a vacation the next time, do consider visiting Indore, especially if you are a foodie ;)

Enjoy Travelling!!