Vadnagar

Vadnagar is a town in the Mehsana district of Gujarat. It is around 2 hours away from Ahmedabad. We visited this place in the month of July last year. It was a rainy day. In Vadnagar, we have the temple of our (Nagar Brahmins) family deity  Hatkeshwar(Lord Shiva) mandir. The temple was under renovation but still we were able to do puja inside the inner sanctum. It was very peaceful experience.

Vadnagar

 

  

Hatkeshwar Mandir

Hatkeshwar Mandir

After having lunch at the temple canteen, we went to see the Kirti toran. It was erected after a war victory in the Solanki Period.

Kirti Toran

There is a memorial built in Vadnagar to honour Tana- Riri. The two sisters Tana-Riri cured Tansen by singing Rang Malhar when Tansen sang the Deepak Rang. King Akbar asked the two sisters to come to his court which they refused. As Akbar sent his army to bring the two sisters, they killed themselves by drowning in the well. Tana-Riri musical festival is also organized by the government of Gujarat in their honour. 

At Tana Riri Memorial

 We then went to see the Sharmistha lake. The weather was really good with a bit of drizzling. The lake and the surrounding areas were well maintained. 

Sharmistha Lake

Sharmistha Lake

 Before leaving Vadnagar, we went to Buddha Monastery ruins. It was excavated and it belongs to 2nd-7th century AD. 

Buddha Monastery Ruins

The trip to Vadnagar was memorable especially the puja we performed in the temple.

Globetrotter

 It’s been long time I haven’t written anything about any place though visited quite a few places. In May, we went to Finland and explored Helsinki and Rovaniemi ( famously known for Santa Claus Village).Then back to India, we explored Amritsar and Jaisalmer. I love photography. Now,  I don’t want to put pictures of specific places and write about it. This blog is full of random pictures I took in my trips. So Guess the places 😀 

Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi

Angry Birds Park, Rovaniemi

Tallinn, Estonia

Sibelius Monument, Helsinki

Helsinki, Finland

Suomenlinna Fortress, Helsinki

Suomenlinna Fortress

Letters to Santa @ Santa office, Rovaniemi 

Reindeer at Elf farm, Rovaniemi

We cross the Arctic Circle, Finland

Finland

Sometimes, the beauty captured by the eyes can’t be captured by camera or phone. Here are some of the pictures of Amritsar and Jaisalmer.

Golden Temple, Amritsar

Wagah-Attari border, Amritsar

Jallianwala bagh

Sand Dunes at ……. Jaisalmer 

Abandoned village of Kuldhara, Jaisalmer

Haunted Village Kuldhara visited by flock of tourists

Suryagarh, Jaisalmer

Mandir, Palace, Jaisalmer

Bada Bagh, Jaisalmer

Balasinor

Do you know India has a Jurassic Park? Yes, you read it right and India’s Jurassic park is in Gujarat . It is about 90 km from Ahmedabad in the village of Raiyoli in Balasinor. From Ahmedabad, it takes around 2-2.5 hours to reach.  There are fossils remains, and bones found by the Paleontologists (scientist who studies the history of life on Earth through the fossil record) in Balasinor. 

Balasinor

Princess Aailya of the Royal Family of Balasinor is the promoter of the site and because of her efforts, the Gujarat Tourism opened a Dinosaur Fossil Park and Dinosaur Museum in Balasinor. We went to Balasinor on a weekend trip. We stayed at Garden Palace Heritage Homestays which is run by the Royal Family of Balasinor. The Dinosaur Fossil Park is the actual site where the remains of dinosaurs were found. A place where the dinosaur had nested and lived more than 65 million years ago. The entry to the fossil park is free.

Fossil Park

Fossil of a Dinosaur

 

Fossil

The main fun is exploring the museum. After buying the entrance ticket, we went to see the museum which is fully air-conditioned. The museum is nicely maintained.  At the Entrance, there is a dinosaur statue which moves. There are 3-D and 5-D shows. There are many galleries displaying the fossils exhibits and details on Dinosaurs. I was really surprised to read there that the women of the Raiyoli village used to use the egg of the dinosaur to crush their spices. 

The moving dinosaur 

Life-size Dinosaur

In the museum, the remains of Dinosaur

Eggs of a Dinosaur

Eggs of a Dinosaur

There is a souvenir shop also. This is one of the museums where the kids will enjoy a lot. It was an educational as well as an entertaining trip.
 

Bergen - Norway

In my previous blog, I wrote about Oslo, Norway. This blog is about our visit to Bergen in Norway. The trip was memorable so I remember everything about it, though it will be a year of the visit in May. 

To reach Bergen from Oslo by train, it takes around 7 hours. The journey offers beautiful views of the fjords, rivers, lakes and snow-capped mountains.

View from the train

View from the train

The train passes through Finse Station which is the highest station (4000 feet above sea level) of Norway. We could see many tourists with ski equipment getting down at Finse Station. At the Myrdal Station, the train halts for around 10 minutes. We got down to click few pictures, there was snow everywhere. The weather was very cold with cloudy weather and a bit of drizzling. 

Finse Station

Myrdal Station

Our hotel in Bergen was walking distance from the station.  After taking some rest at the hotel, we went to explore the nearby areas. We went to the famous and scenic wharf with old and wooden buildings in different colours known as “Bryggen”. It is on the UNESCO’s list of world heritage site. There are some shops, galleries, museums and restaurant on this wharf. We bought some woollen caps from the shops. For us the best thing was, we could find Indian restaurants in Oslo and Bergen easily and they offered very delicious Indian food, though costly.

Bryggen

Bergen

Next day, we had a fjord tour in the afternoon. The fjord tour was from Bergen (Zachariasbryggen) to Mostraumen and back. The tour takes around 3 hours. It was drizzling that day and we were not carrying our umbrellas. The weather was very cold. Our caps and jackets saved us from getting wet.  Inside the cruise, it was warm. We went exploring on the deck only after an hour. While buying coffee from the shop in the cruise, the shopkeeper told us this weather is the best to explore the fjords as one can see the waterfalls everywhere. The cruise came to a halt at a big waterfall for ten to fifteen minutes and all the tourists were on the deck to click pictures of surrounding areas and waterfall. The fjord tour was amazing. 

What a beautiful place to live!

Waterfall

A big waterfall

We went to explore Floyen the next day. Floyen is one of the mountains of Bergen. There is a cable car from Bergen which takes you to the top. There is a viewpoint which gives spectacular view of the city. There are playgrounds for children. My little one was totally busy playing there. There are also some goats which roam here and there. One can pat them, if they want to. This place is good for hiking and walking. We went to explore the beautiful lake Skomakerdiket.  Before heading back, we had ice-creams at a shop. 

lake Skomakerdiket

Goats at Floyen

Playground at Floyen

View of Bergen city from Floyen

Bergen zoo is small but it was fun exploring it.

Bergen Zoo

We also went for a day trip to a small village called Flam. I will write about it in my next blog.