Our drive off to PATAN from MUMBAI.

       RANI KI VAV....

After the 2nd wave of Covid Pandemic in Dec'2021 we thought to go on a drive off to Patan in North Eastern part of Gujarat.  Since the distance we were expected to cover will be 1500+kms , thought to deroute our plan ie Mumbai to Kewadiya, which is 9hrs drive & check out the Statue of Unity there , before we make a stopover at Vadodhara for a night stay & next morning take on the drive to Patan via Ahmedabad & visit the SUN TEMPLE OF MODHERA & RANI KI VAV at Patan besides checking out the Patola Museum  there too & do some shopping too of Patola textile , before returning back for a night halt at Ahmedabad & then drive back to Mumbai ....This was the overall plan for the trip ....

      Patan is 125kms from Ahmedabad..We took the Vadodhara- Ahmedabad-Mehsana- Modhera-Patan route..... Vadodhara to Ahmedabad its a fantastic Expressway were one can enjoy the world class drive .....We started from Vadodhara after breakfast & reached Ahmedabad by 11am around & then our drive continued to MODHERA....we reached there around 2pm , since winter , though , sun was quite strong but there was chill in the air  but we were feeling hungry too but didnot come across any good restaurants on the way....Though , there were food stalls at the Sun temple site but I didnot like to eat bhujiya 's as its all oily stuff and settled for some fruits instead ..... 

As we walked up to the Sun temple located in a huge compound I was simply awestruck to see the awesome cravings on the walls & pillar ....the temple is made  of soft Sandstone but those cravings simply stands out & speaks about the artisans skills of by gone eras .... There is a stepwell too infront of the Sun temple .... marvelous  indeed ...we tried to captured every inch of its beauty in our lens.

        sun temple of modhera( gujarat)

 its truly amazing......

Next we left for RANI kI VAV  in PATAN .... it was somewhere around 4pm that we reach this UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE.

      RANI KI VAV, built in the later half of the 11th century  by Queen Udayamati, in memory of her husband  King Bhimdev 1 of the solanki dynasty. Its made in maru gurjara  style  of architecture  including beautiful  detailing of sculptures. Its basically a Well .... it is divided into 7 levels of stairs & designed like an inverted temple.500 main sculptures  & 1000 minor  found there .The Central theme  of the sculptures  here is Dasavataras or the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu. It is featured on the new 100 rs note of India... 

   

its simply  should be in everyone's  itenary  who ever wish to visit Gujarat...

it was  almost 5pm by the time we finished seeing the Rani ki Vav & now it was time for us to drive back to Ahmedabad  for a night halt ....hungry & exausted we simply didnot wish to continue late there at Patan after our shopping of Patola there, we didnot go to visit other jain temples around at Patan.