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| A painting on the wall of one of the Dwarka Temples |
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| The trip destinations |
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| State of Gujarat districts |
We flew to Ahmedabad on the first day. At Ahmedabad airport, we hired a car with a driver for our road trip to Dwarka. We reached Dwarka around late evening.
Day 2
The second day started early. We went to the Dwarkadhish temple first. Then to the Pandava wells and the beach. After lunch, we took a boat ride from Okha to Beyt Dwarka. On the way back to the hotel, we visited some other popular temples in Dwarka.
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| Places of interest in Dwarka |
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| On the way to Dwarka |
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| Dwarkadheesh Temple |
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| Beyt Dwarka |
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Nageshwar Jyotirling
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Nageshwar Jyotirlinga Temple
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Day 3
On the third day, we went to Nageshwar temple Jyotirling in the morning and then after lunch, we headed towards Porbandar. We reached Porbandar around 5:00 p.m. So, we decided to just relax at the beach in the evening.
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| Places of interest in Porbandar |
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| Mahatma Gandhi's birth home |
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| Sunset at Porbandar beach |
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| Huzoor Palace |
Day 4
On the fourth day, we went to Mahatma Gandhi's birth home, Kirti Mandir which is now a museum. After Kirti Mandir, we toured around the other popular tourist attractions in Porbandar.
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| Places of interest in Somnath |
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| Somnath Temple from the beach |
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| Somnath temple in the evening |
Day 5
On the fifth day, we drove down to Somnath early in the morning. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we headed for Somnath Temple. From Somnath, we went to the beach and other popular tourist attractions in the city. In the evening we came back to the Somnath temple for the light and sound show.
Day 6
On the sixth day, we drove down to Diu. We had a beachfront hotel at Nagao Beach, so we spent the day at the beach. There were quite many beach activities. In the afternoon we went to Gangeshwar Mahadev and Sunset Point at the Chakratirtha beach
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| Banana boat rides at Nagao Beach |
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| Gangeshwar Mahadev |
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| Watching the sunset from Chakratirth Beach |
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| A sea (Gulf of Khambat) viewpoint near Gangeshwar Mahadev |
Day 7
On the seventh day, we toured around Diu in the first half and in the late afternoon headed for Gir National Park.
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| The dark brown part is the national park area - Our safari route covered the western periphery of the park from Kankai to Devadungar |
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| Barking Deer or Indian Muntjac |
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| Blackbuck - The endangered Indian Antelope |
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| Peacock without tail. At the end of the mating season, most peacocks shed their tail feathers. The tail grows back again before the next mating season |
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| Nilgai or Blue Bull |
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| Spotted Deer or Chital |
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| Chinkara or Indian Gazelle |
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| A camouflaged Jungle Cat. These are currently among the critically endangered species |
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| Lions at Devalia Park - we didn't see any lions on the morning safari so we decided to go for an afternoon safari at the park which is kind of a reserve |
Day 9
On the ninth day, we headed for Junagadh early in the morning. Our plan was to cover some of the popular tourist destinations in the city and go directly to Ahmedabad. It was a little hectic plan and I later felt we should have stayed back at Junagadh for a day. We reached Ahmedabad close to midnight and were completely exhausted.
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| Places of interest in Junagadh |
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| Junagadh Fort / Uperkot Fort |
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| Adi Kadi Vav (Stepwell) |
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| Junagadh Fort |
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| Buddha Caves at the fort |
Day 10
On the tenth day, we went to the Sabarmati riverfront and the Gandhi Ashram first. Since we had a long day the day before, we woke up pretty late that day. We had plans for Patan, Modhera, and Adlaj but canceled all of that. It would have become another hectic squeezed breathless trip. We decided to do Ahmedabad and the sites close to Ahmedabad the next time. We had an early morning flight the next day.
