Hallstatt, Austria

Think Alps and you get images of Switzerland in your head – snowcapped peaks, lush green meadows, cow bells, Shahrukh & Kajol etc etc. However, the Alps range stretches halfway across Europe - from France, across north of Italy, Switzerland (of course), the tiny country of Liechtenstein, Germany & Austria. And while all of the Alpine regions are very pretty, the Alpine lakes are in a league of their own. Whether it is Lake Geneva in Switzerland or Lake Cuomo in Italy, Alpine lakes are usually breathtakingly beautiful.

Our destination was Lake Hallstatt, a slightly lesser known, but no less beautiful Alpine Lake in the Salzkammergut region of Austria (also known as Austrian Alps region). The tiny town of Hallstatt lies on the shore of Lake Hallstatt (called Hallstätter See in the local language). Earlier, the town could only be reached by boat from the town of Obertraun on the opposite shore, but now has a beautiful road connecting it to Bad Ischl, onto Salzburg.

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Český Krumlov, Czech Republic

The first time I heard of this picture-postcard town, it was in a small blurb in the Indian magazine Outlook Traveller. Back then (5-6 years ago), international travel was very rare for us and this name was just filed away in some corner of my head. But over the years, the name kept cropping up, in articles or travelogues. And after knowing more about the place, I just had to include it in our Czech trip.

Český Krumlov (pronounced 'chessky crumlaw') is situated in the southern part of Czech Republic, in what was erstwhile the republic of Bohemia (origin of the word ‘bohemian’). Český Krumlov is a charmingly well-preserved medieval town, built around an equally well preserved 13th century castle – and has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The river Vltava flows through it, and the Old Town is within a horseshoe bend of the river. The town is small enough to walk across in 15 min or so (most of the Old Town is pedestrian only). Or you could take a canoe down the river if you felt like it.

(the same river Vltava flows through Prague as well)

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Czech Republic & Austria

For someone running a travel blog, I am ashamed to say, we had only seen one European country before this - Croatia. European countries, are a victim of their own popularity. We know exactly what to expect in a France or a England or Italy or Netherlands or Switzerland. They are still very beautiful and special, but they are missing that thrill of discovery. Of some corner, which makes you feel like you are one of the few to see this.

So we decided on a compromise for our first proper European trip – we chose the central European countries of Austria and Czech Republic – or more like chose the cities Prague and Vienna and wove a trip out of it. Prague (and Czech Republic) are the new European destinations, with the charm of the old world, but with lower prices and some rough edges from the communist times. And Austria has always been in the shadow of the more famous European countries, but Vienna is now getting more attention as a European destination.

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Renault LiveLodgycal in Goa

I am sprawled in the super comfortable seats of the Lodgy with the back reclined to the max, like a sleeper seat. There is enough legroom that I can stretch my 5’10” frame almost straight while lying down. It is raining hard outside and there is the melodious pitter-patter of rain falling on metal. The vipers are fighting valiantly to keep the windshield clean, but the rest of the windows are covered by a sheet of water, making for a very diffused lighting inside the car. I have my Fiio connected to the Lodgy’s fancy-looking audio system and Arijit Singh’s soulful voice is sounding oh-so-good. No one in the car is talking, everyone probably lost in their thoughts or immersed in the music. It is as if we are insulated from everything else in the world, just the 4 of us, in Renault’s spacious new Lodgy.

We are driving on the dreamy NH17 in Goa, from Lalit Resort, Canacona to The Leela Kempinski, Cavelossim (our base of operations). Manjulika (@manjulika5) is at the wheel, and she is driving slowly, in a very relaxed way. Goa in monsoons is a carpet of green and the NH17 is taking us through some beautiful ghat sections, where everything apart from the road is heavily forested, accentuating the feeling of being disconnected from the wider world. Usually I am the guy hogging most of the driving, but today I was discovering how pleasurable it can be to be driven though such beautiful roads. Sitting in the front is Rekha (@RekhaKakkar) taking photos through the rain and lying alongside is Jim (@JimmieLuthra) who like me, is content to lie back and enjoy the drive

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Pammukale : Photo Blog

We travelled to Turkey in 2011, much before we started the blog. As a country, Turkey is spectacular. A true melting pot of the East and West, Turkey is recently being credited as the cradle of human civilization (Göbekli Tepe - supposedly the site where organized religion started - as well as first cultivation of wild wheat). Turkey as a country has something for everyone - the Meditteranean for the beach bums, thousands of archaelogical sites for the history buffs, charming city life in Istanbul, natural wonders like Cappadocia ..

Today we are looking at Pammukale, which is a natural wonder without a peer

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Jal Srushti Island Resort

Each summer in Bombay feels more wretched and scorching than the previous one, doesn’t it ? “Is baar garmi bahut zyada hai” is the common refrain on everyone’s lips in Bombay nowadays. The neverending spells of rain in monsoon seem so alluring right now! But they are still atleast 2 months away …

While we don’t have a solution for the heat, we do have a recommendation for a splendid weekend getaway . Our latest find is Jal Srushti Island Resort (www.jalsrushti.com), near Pune. It is one of the more plush resorts to have come up in the region, in the last couple of years. It is much closer to Pune actually (45 km), and if you are coming from Bombay, better to use Expressway till Pune and then go via Hinjewadi.
(Roads in Hinjewadi have some scary holes, but rest of the roads were great)

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Lonavala Drive with Tata Bolt

Watching Jeremy Clarkson & co review newly launched cars on Top Gear, or their Indian brethren on Autocar Show etc, have always made me so jealous. They actually get paid to drive around in new cars everyday to test them. Long drives, picturesque locations, they seem to have it all

Till this Sunday, when I got to do the same with a fiery red coloured Tata Bolt, courtesy Tata Motors and Blogadda. It was a trip to Lonavala and back in the newly launched Tata Bolt. It was an event for bloggers to experience the car for a full day, with some fun activities along the way.
(also, now I am even more jealous of motor journalists)

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Puri / Konark

(This was a small trip with Pradosh’s parents, while spending Christmas holidays with them. Not really like our other trips around Bombay, but we had a great time nonetheless, so here it is)

Puri doesn’t need much introduction. It is one of the char dhams of Hinduism, site of the famous Jagannath Temple and the annual Rath Yatra.

(For bengalis, it the number one quick vacation from Calcutta (the other being Darjeeling). There are 8 (EIGHT) trains dedicated just for Puri everyday (apart from other long distance trains). As a result, Bengali is lingua franca in the town, with most of the seafront hotels having lots of Bengali dishes on the menu and the main city beach (Swargadwar) is almost overrun with Bengali tourists
If that doesn’t sound appealing, it isn’t meant to be)

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Mandu

(part of our Madhya Pradesh roadtrip)

Mandu is called India’s best preserved medieval city, and justifiably so. Built by the Malwa governor Dilawar Khan in 1400, Mandu had an interesting 300 years of existence before it ceased being a capital and then was abandoned due to plague. Mandu is very similar to Hampi in the sense that they are both medieval cities spread over a huge area, abandoned after a couple of centuries of prosperity. Hampi is set along the Tungabhadra river, while Mandu is set amidst beautiful lakes. The difference is that Hampi is set in a dry area of the Deccan region while Mandu is covered in greenery.

(Bhopal to Mandu is about 300 km, most of it on the NH3, which continues to be a charming road. From Mhow, we had to branch off on a small two lane road which heads towards Mandu. Here we had another Google Maps error – chose the wrong road – which wasn’t as bad as the Vidisha road, but was about 25 min of broken road. After we rejoined the correct road, the road started climbing onto the Malwa plateau and soon we arrived in Mandu)

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Sanchi

(part of our Madhya Pradesh roadtrip)

Sanchi needs no introduction - most of us remember it from our history books.
However, I dont think Indian education system does justice to all these magnificent monuments left behind by kings long gone by. For example, the Sanchi Stupa is the sole surviving stupa built by Emperor Ashoka - and the oldest surviving stone structure in India (thank you wikipedia). Legend goes that after Buddha was cremated, his ashes were divided into 10 parts and they formed the core of 10 main stupas built by Emperor Ashoka. The location of 8 of them are lost, only two are known - Sanchi and Sarnath. The one at Sarnath has been rebuilt around 500 AD (by Gupta rulers probably), with only the basement surviving from Emperor Ashoka's stupa.

Sanchi had a more lucky existence, where the original brick stupa has been retained and covered with stone by the later Sunga rulers (enlarging it in the process). They also added the ballustrade and the stone pathway around the stupa. The Satavahanas, who succeeded the Sungas, added the 4 elaborated carved toranas (gateways) which give Sanchi its identity.

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Udaygiri Caves, Vidisha

(part of our Madhya Pradesh roadtrip)

Vidisha is an ancient, but little known town in Central India. In fact the Great Stupa at Sanchi owes it's existence to Vidisha - as Emperor Ashoka met and married his first wife Devi at Vidisha (she was a merchant's daughter). Sanchi was one the first stupas built by Ashoka and it's construction was apparently personally supervised by Devi herself. Vidisha is only 15 km from Sanchi, hence it was a sort of bonus to Sanchi. The target was the Udaygiri caves near Vidisha, one of the oldest cave temples in India, and probably the oldest Hindu cave temple in India. Built around 400 AD by Chandragupta II of Gupta dynasty, it is one of the few surviving examples of Gupta architecture.

However the road to Udayagiri was much more than we bargained for. Google Maps showed a road that skirted Vidisha city, and we were happy to get a chance to avoid the narrow roads of an old city. But that road soon vanished, leaving a dirt track through corn fields, which was fit only for tractors. We coaxed and cajoled our car through it for km after km, hoping that better roads were just a little way away. The car even touched one of the rocks on that road, but thankfully nothing broke. That 13 km took us a full hour to cover.

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Bhimbetka

(part of our Madhya Pradesh roadtrip)

If we go into India's recorded history, the earliest written records we have belong to the Maurya kings (4th century BC) - mostly edicts and inscriptions left behind by Emperor Ashoka - or accounts of foreigners like Megasthenes and Fahein. The Nanda dynasty, who preceded the Mauryas, are mentioned by Alexander's historians and made famous by the story of Chanakya, but they did not leave behind any physical evidence themselves.
The story goes that Alexander stopped his world domination march because his soldiers got frightened by stories of Nanda's huge army (including 3000 war elephants), and refused to march any further

The oldest standing manmade monuments in the subcontinent are undoubtedly the Indus Valley cities, which date back to more than 4000 BC (or about 6000 years old). Their pictographical script hasn't been decoded yet. But the expansive cities they built, with high amount of civic engineering and town planning, were unparalleled in the world at that time. The more famous cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro are unfortunately located in Pakistan, but the sites in India are equally wondorous, as we discovered in Dholavira

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Indore : Sarafa Bazaar

(part of our Madhya Pradesh roadtrip)

Indore is sometimes called the "Bombay" of Central India - on account of being the largest city in Madhya Pradesh and its commercial capital. We were using Indore just as a resting point on day 1, but after sampling the amazing food on offer, we think it should be known as the food capital of Central India as well.

Imagine a traditional market area in any Indian city. This one specializes in jewellery - hence the name Sarafa Bazaar. The lanes are narrow, and vehicular traffic isn't allowed inside. The shops themselves are small and aren't too fancy. But once the hustle bustle of the day dies down and the shops close up, a different kind of crowd starts trickling in. By 10 pm, food stalls pop up in front of the jewellery shops - serving different kinds of chats and sweets. And local residents turn out in droves to savour the famous Joshi dahi wada or have a glass of cold sweet thandai - or any of the other chats on display. And the stream of customers stretches upto 3 am in the morning ! (in Bombay everything in shut by 1, in comparison)

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Madhya Pradesh - Bhimbetka, Sanchi & Mandu

October was an exceptional month for travelers in India
There were three long weekends possible in a single month – a situation which was probably unprecedented in the past few years.
The 2nd Oct weekend was especially alluring because the following Monday, 6th, was also a holiday. So taking 3rd off would make it a 5 day weekend.

It was quickly decided that the long weekend would be perfect for a trip to the desert in Rajasthan. Jaisalmer and Jodhpur were quickly finalized and a rough itinerary formed. But at the start of Sept, we were already too late. All trains to Rajasthan were booked solid (triple digit waiting list). Flights were also expensive due to the additional demand. The 5 day trip was coming out to be quite expensive.

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Spiti Valley

Imagine a beautiful crescent shaped lake, with the most amazing turquoise colour you have ever seen.

White clouds scattered across a stunning blue sky, snow capped hills towering around the lake. It is bright and sunny, yet a chilly wind is blowing, which makes you want to zip up your jacket tighter and push your hands firmly in your pockets. There is green carpet of grass growing close to the waterline, but the rest of the hills are bare rock

In this idyllic landscape, there are just two of you walking, on a stony path, set around the lake – and there is no one else in sight

It is difficult to not feel euphoric, as you view Chandrataal lake from different angles – and different colours - as the sun plays hide and seek above. It is one of the most romantic places we have travelled to, where all we wanted to do is sit down by the lake, side by side, resting heads on each other – and keep looking at the waters in front of you.

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Vihigaon Falls

This year’s monsoon had a false start in June when we had gone to Ark Wellness Retreat – when the initial few days of rains fizzled out and the sky remained cloudy but never burst open. There was a long wait for rains to arrive and the downpour finally started only in the second week of July in Mumbai. And this time the rains haven't stopped yet, bringing smiles to our faces when we are safely ensconced in our homes or offices. From my window seat in office, I always stare at the torrential rains outside, longing to be in my car instead, driving.

So I was definitely hoping for a fully wet Sunday when we made plans to visit Vihigaon Falls. And I got my wish fulfilled as the rains were torrential when we left Bombay. The downpour stopped when we were at our destination and then again started in an almighty fashion on our way back. Driving in heavy rain, sitting cozily inside the car, music playing, is one of the most indescribably pleasurable things I have recently discovered

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Ark Wellness Retreat

Monsoon is here AGAIN !
Like most Bombayites, we were also waiting anxiously for monsoons rains to start – as this has been a long and hot summer. While Bombay takes a turn for the worse once the downpour starts - as roads gets taken over by potholes, traffic slows to a crawl, trains run late and autorickshaws play truant - but the silver lining are the weekend trips. The Sahyadri hills around Bombay, which were dry and brown and quite an eyesore in the summer months - will turn green, sprout waterfalls and have the most pleasant weather possible

Although rains this year were delayed by a week, Gods smiled on us and we had rains for the day before and on our trip. Our destination was Ark Wellness Retreat (www.arkretreat.in), a new weekend getaway property in the hills around Lonavala. This is somewhere between Pavana dam and Mulshi dam, somewhere in Mulshi district. It is exactly a 3 hour drive via the Expressway from Mumbai, so it can be done without a break – but whats a weekend trip without a McDonald’s breakfast ?

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Gir National Park

We have been in Mumbai 8 years now. And we love travelling, as is evident by this blog.

So it was like a black mark on our wanderlust credentials that we hadn’t yet visited Gir National Park, which is practically next door in Gujarat. To be fair, although Gujarat sounds closeby, Gir is about 800 km away by road from Mumbai – because the road skirts all the way around Gulf of Khambat. Same with trains. And with only a single train to Junagadh (closest railway station) from Mumbai, tickets are always in short supply.

However, Gir is the only place where lions can be seen in India – only place in Asia infact. It is the last surviving population of the Asiatic lion (otherwise lions are only found in Africa now). And it is something else to see the king of the forest in his natural habitat. India is a more of a tiger country, with about 15 tiger sanctuaries spread across the nation. And it turned out to be a blessing, because the holiday (Good Friday) weekend that we travelled, all tiger sanctuaries were full. But we were able to get safaris in Gir for that weekend (The Supreme Court has limited number of safaris everyday in all wildlife sanctuaries – and for holidays, safari permits at the well known tiger reserves are sold out months in advance)

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Mango Beach House, Kihim

With 3 weddings in the second half of 2013, we hadn’t been able to take a travel break since Fratelli ! So when a small cause for celebration came up last week, we decided to splurge on ourselves a bit and drove down to Mango Beach House in Kihim (Alibaug) this weekend.

Mango Beach House (http://www.mangobeachhouse.com) is a very cosy property tucked away near Kihim beach. It is spread over a hockey-field sized plot with 8 regular rooms and two terrace suites. The regular rooms are pretty huge and the bathrooms themselves will put many Mumbai bedrooms to shame. The buildings are in white and each room is very airy with very liberal use of glass in the design

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Kaas Plateau : Valley of Flowers

Most of us have heard stories of the famed Valley of Flowers in the Himalayas in Uttarakhand – where the entire valley is engulfed in wild flowers of all colours, for a couple of months in a year. My father had the good fortune of seeing it for himself back in his younger days and he cannot help gushing about how beautiful it was, every time the topic comes up. However, that phenomenon is not limited to Himalayan peaks alone. Here in Maharashtra, in the district of Satara, there is a plateau of Kaas (locally called Kaas Pathar) which too gets covered by wild flowers, when the monsoon rains recede.

These wildflowers blossom for a very short while – just a couple of weeks – but they cover the full plateau with it. The Western Ghats in the monsoons are already at their most magical, with all the hills surrounding Kaas in a verdant green. Lakes are full and waterfalls in full flow. Amidst all this, imagine a plateau kissed by clouds & fog, covered with pink, blue, yellow and white flowers all over. And if you are lucky, you will have a clear day without the mist – with blue skies above and flower carpet on the ground (as this photo below. Photo credit www.bcmtouring.com)

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