Sat 15th Feb 2025. Another first. I thought I was just getting a regular bus for the six hour trip to Pune. It certainly looked very ordinary inside – rather worn and mildly decrepit but it turned out to be electric!

Pune is certainly a very large city of  seven million people and like many large cities in India is currently building a Metro system. I didn’t go on it but here’s a photo taken near the hotel and the Mutha River which also runs through the city.

Arrived at Hotel Sapna. I’ve actually stayed in a few Hotel Sapnas in India and the name means Dream. Hardly a dream hotel but not too bad:

It was next door to the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj garden. Interesting for two reasons. The first is that they were having a flower come veggie show so I went there for a look around. The flowers on show were quite good but quite frankly the display of limp lettuces and rubbery carrots was pretty poor. The second reason is the name. Sambhaji is the most famous (maybe the only) Hindu warrior king. More information about him can be found online but as he was from round here, he is almost worshipped and it seems almost everything in Maharashtra is named after him from this garden to the International airport in Mumbai.

Even the sweeper ladies, as in all India, are very colourful.

Sunday 16th Feb 2025.

After the last few days of full on touristing, today was designated for just a wander around the old town. First up, of course, breakfast and another plate of poha. Very nice.

First stop of the walk was Shivaji’s old house, Laal Mahal. It was supposed to be his childhood home but the place was actually a modern building built in the old style and quite frankly rather boring inside with just a few poor oil paintings of some of his great victories.

From here I wandered down one of the main streets of old Pune until I came to the Golden Ganesh Temple or to give it its full name: Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati Mandir. I didn’t realise until I got near that it was having a huge festival. The sign below says “Darshan pass 100Rs” Darshan means to have a sight of the god or idol which is very auspicious. In this case the golden Ganesh. The queues were enormous so I didn’t fancy waiting in line and it is also forbidden to take photos inside the temple as well but they did have a window on the outside so I managed to get a photo from there.

Another Ganesh was outside:

and I met a few interesting characters

Near the temple, not surprisingly were a huge number of shops selling worship regalia.

And I made a short video:

Nearby are a number of other temples hidden away in a myryad of lanes. this is the Tulsibaug Rama Temple:

And this is another nearby

From here I pressed on further south to a Victorian Era market the Mahatma Phule Mandai market built in 1886 and still being used. There is quite a bit of work going on in the vicinity however for the new Metro.

As I was wandering around I noticed this little hole in the wall place selling interesting things so I stopped for a bite. They were doey balls served with a coconut relish. Slightly sweet as well. Very nice.

In the afternoon I wasted quite a lot of time trying to find a place that rented scooters as I planned to go to the Karla caves the following day. I couldn’t find anywhere and was also given the runaround by the bloke in the hotel who also said he knew someone. As it happened, that night I had quite a bad case of the runs so I wasn’t in much state for biking the following day anyway. Normally my stomach upsets are not long lasting and I was able to spend the following couple of days doing more wandering around the city.

I visited the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum which contains the collection of Dr Dinkar G. Kelkar (1896–1990). It was quite interesting but I thought the entrance fee of 350Rs plus 100Rs for using a mobile phone camera a bit steep. After all, it’s hardly a world heritage site!

I also visited Tambat Ali (Coppersmith Alley). Apparently the area was once packed with coppersmiths at their work but the day I visited there were only one or two artisans about.

Old Pune certainly has an amazing number of intereting old buildings but of course I wonder how long they are going to be around for?

Talking of artisans, I always notice little backstreet places making stuff. In this case, Pune style crisps!

I also walked past a temple, in common with many in Pune with a figure of a guard outside. I’m not sure whether he was supposed to be Maratha or someone from the Raj.

And finally not a photo of food, and I had quite a tasty Thali at the Durvankur Dining Hall but here are the colourful waiters:

 

More photos from Pune here
And here’s a map of my travels: