Next up is filling up the fuel

First stop... The ATM ... to grab some cashola

View from the hotel

Around 50 KMs from Pune, near Khed Shevapur, we had a small accident where I had to brake hard and to the right to avoid a motorcyclist who suddenly decided to take a U turn.

I managed to avoid him somehow, but the car coming from behind me banged into mine from behind. The motor cyclist hit the car behind me and his mother sitting behind him was injured with a fractured foot.

We retraced our route by 10 kms to carry the injured motorcyclist and his mother to this hospital. After the doctor began treating them, we again began our journey.

As we left the cities and reached the rural side, the landscape changed to miles of fields all around us.

We stopped at this hotel for lunch. Our car was badly bruised, but ok.

We came across this tree with these amazing red flowers near Panhala.

A nice view within the hotel property

Some cute cottages within the hotel

View from the hotel

View from the hotel

Another cottage in the hotel

Strolling here and there

The 'tabak van' boanical garden

The local court

View of the valley from the sunset point

An unusual spider web

Sunset from the sunset point

View of the valley from the sunset point

View of the valley from the sunset point

View of the valley from the hotel

From the viewpoint at the hotel

View of the valley from one part of the fort

Snap of the walls of the fort

The western entrance to the fort

a nice panorama of the fort walls

This building was a backup of freshwater supply, in case water in the rest of the fort was poisoned by enemies. There is still water in the lowermost level.

Around 500,000 sacks of grain could be stored in these granaries. Food was poured in the granaries from the holes in the top.

After her sacrifice, King Bhoj was able to complete the 3 granaries successfully. He named the largest as Ganga (in the woman's honor) and the 2 smaller ones as Jamuna and Saraswati (in her daughter's memory). This incident gave rise to the phrase - 'Kahan Raja Bhoj.... aur kahan Gangu teli'

The panhala fort was built by Raja Bhoj in 1200 AD. As he was building the granaries, he noticed that its walls kept crumbling. His pandit told him that he will have to make a human sacrifice to set the construction right. A woman from a nearby village, called Gangu, volunteered for the sacrifice. Along with financial security, she also wanted her 2 daughters to be immortal in the history books.

Near the sunset point. The embankment to the right was built after a car parked near the edge fell into the valley and kill both its occupants.

View from our hotel window

A model of the Panhala Fort

A nice trail near the botanical garden

bamboos on a slope during a trail

A panorama of the lawn outside our hotel

The place where we stayed was actually the property of the popular hindi director of the 60s - V. Shantaram. This building is the new bungalow of his daughter which is not leased out to customers.

A great view of the valley from the hotel

The West gate of the fort

The walls of the gate were re-enforced with lead

The Panhala fort has over 350 wells which provide it with adequate fresh water throughout the year.

This hinge is unique as it once singularly supported the huge door of the gate. Usually any door has at least 2 hinges to support it.

When the son of Aurangzeb laid the 5 months seige around the fort sometime in late in 1600, cannons were fired at the fort from afar. The guide pointed us to a lone tree on a hill some 15 kms away to give us an idea of the distance (the tree appears as a small green dot in the center of this pic)

During the seige a loose cannon actually managed to hit the main western door.

The cannon ball does not seem to have done a lot of damage

The road to the fresh water supply.

The walls of the Panhala fort stretch for 18 KMs around the fort. It is the largest of the deccan forts.

When Shivaji started to run out of rations, he decided to make an escape from the fort towards Vishalgad (another fort, around 15 kms away)

Food sacks were pulled up from these staircases and dropped into the granaries from above.

Monkey's were everywhere in the garden

I was praying that he wouldnt turn around and bit me while i clicked his snap.

This rock had almost perfect eye shaped slits. Imagine if you were standing besides it in the night and its eyes suddenly lit up!

bougainvillea galore

V. Shantaram's original bungalow. Its lying unused now.

Our hotel room windows

The lawn in front of our hotel

a vrindavan in the hotel

A sunflower field on our way back

a local lady who plucked a sunflower for Aru...