Trip members: Karthik
Trip date: 26 Jan 2023 - 28 Jan 2023
Trip Plan : Chennai - Ahmedabad - Jamnagar - Dwarka - Beyt Dwarka - Jamnagar - Ahmedabad - Lothal - Nal Sarovar - Ahmedabad - Chennai
The main agenda was to have darshan of Dwarakadish temple and Nageshwarnath Jyotirlinga temples of Gujarat. I was willing to visit Somnath as well, but the distance and public transportation (trains) did not fit in for a 3 day agenda. If its a car, possible it can be covered.
The Plan
I planned to start to Ahmedabad from Chennai by late night flight around 23:30 Spicejet and catch a morning train from Ahmedabad to Jamnagar. I preferred Jamnagar stay, as it is a closest city to Dwaraka, the train I chose ended at Jamnagar, though there are trains to Dwarka, all the way to west end of India - Okha; it did not fit by schedule. Jamnagar is also famous for street food and paan. So, the plan was Ahmedabad to Jamnagar by train, overnight stay in Jamnagar and do a day trip to Dwaraka; followed by next day Vande Bharat train to Ahmedabad. I did plan to visit something around Ahmedabad all day along, and booked the last flight back home.
Day-1
Reaching Ahmedabad
The flight got delayed by 2 hours and started around 1:30 AM on 26-Jan. I had booked railway retiring rooms at AMD for a quick power nap before boarding the train. Reached the railway station around 4 AM, and my train was at 8 AM. One hour of rest and got ready for the train. The IRCTC dormitory was just ok, not so clean and worth only for few hours. Not recommended until you are pressed for budget and time. Walked outside the railway station and had some breakfast in local shops - poha, dosa and chai.
Boarded the train, and bargained to get an upper berth with co-passengers in the day journey and slept for a good 2-3 hours. Reached Jamnagar around 2:30 PM and checked into Hotel Kirti. The hotel is located right in the centre of the town - very accessible to the popular Lakhota Lake and markets nearby. The rooms were quite big, clean and simple. It is a budget hotel and good for 1-2 days of stay considering the location. Parking is not available as it is located amidst the centre of town.
Gujarati Thali - WOW
Based on local intel, being so hungry around 3 PM, went for Bhojan at Brahmaniya Bhojnalaya - unlimited Gujarati thali - such an amazing feast with great quality dishes - butter chapathi, dhall, Gujarati kadi, moong dall sabji, aloo masala, paneer masala, dahi bhalla, salad, papad, rice and chaas. Wow! ... was the experience!
Came back to the room and took some nap before starting the evening stroll of Jamnagar.
Evening Stroll
There are few places to see around in Jamnagar. I started around 4 PM, walked towards the popular Lakhota Lake and the palace. There is an entry fee for individuals as well as camera - Rs.10 and Rs.100 respectively. The palace is now a museum and it was closed on that day - public holiday! :-( .. I kept walking around and liked the walkway and the views by the lake.
Next, I visited the locally popular Bala Hanuman Mandir. It is a temple where the longest continuous chanting of Shri Ram is happening since 1964! A very pleasant experience!
The other place to visit was the Khambhalia Gate - an iconic city gates built during the 17th century.
There are quite a number of eateries around this place for street food - popular ones of Jamnagar - Gathia, Bhajiya, Pakwan, Ghugra, Dhokla, Dabeli bread, Katka bread, Ras patra, and Khandvi. I had few Ghugra and sweet paan; and could not take any other items, the noon meal was super heavy!
I kept walking around exploring Jamnagar, had a dosa for dinner at Madras Hotel. Meanwhile, I had also booked a cab through the hotel for my trip to Dwarka - full day.
Day-2
Being a long weekend, I was expecting a long queue at Dwarka main temple, and was mentally prepared to have a long day. Hence, decided to start early; by 04:30 AM. The cab was ready and was on the road exactly at 04:30 towards Dwarka. The road was super smooth with no traffic and we cruised the distance of 170+ kms in 2 hours.
Devbhoomi Dwarka
Please be aware of the temple timings when you go. When I reached Dwaraka around 6:30, the darshan has just started with a very long queue. There was a long queue for depositing chappals and mobiles in different counters. Post this, and going through the security checks, I was into the main temple around 7 AM. By 8 AM, I had a very good dharshan with no pull/push of crowd. Visited the various sanctums around as well - Balaram, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Purushottam, Kusheshwara Mahadev, Devaki and Veni Madhav. Absolutely a serene feel visiting the temple.
The temple is by the river Gomati and the river mouth into the Arabian sea. The river was shallow and people were crossing at some points and few on the camels. The sunrise and river with the temple in the background was just absolutely scenic.
Had some breakfast - dhoklas, gathia and a dosa and rest of the trip started. The driver recommended to visit Beyt Dwarka first, as it gets crowded and the temple also closes by noon. Always go with local advice and I obliged.
Beyt Dwarka
Beyt Dwarka is around 33kms from Dwarka temple - a ride of 45-50 mins - the roads are quite bad and partially getting re-laid when I visited. Beyt Dwaraka is said to be the residence of Lord Krishna; which he received as a gift from Sudama. This is exactly where the ancient clan of Yadavas in Dwarka went under sea.
One can reach Beyt Dwaraka by boat - a distance of around 2 kms taking 20 mins. One has to buy the tickets at the Okha-Beyt jetty - one way is Rs.10 and we can buy two way tickets there itself at the same counter. The jetty ride is more of a get-on into the boat as much space is available. They do have life jackets.
There is a bridge that was closer to completion when I visited connecting Okha and Beyt. Once this bridge is up, pilgrims can reach Beyt by road on their cars or by public transport; and still can also opt for the boat ride.
The Dwarkadish temple is 3-4 mins walk the Beyt boat jetty. There are small shops all around and walking by them will lead to the temple. The temple was quite crowded and I got on to the queue at the earliest. The car driver also accompanied me to Beyt (I offered him to join me and he happily joined). We had dharshan in 15 mins time and came out.
By the time, we came out, the whole place was massively crowded as most of the crowd from the main temple from Dwarka reached here by 12 noon. The temple was almost getting closed when I came out. Do plan your trip in a way that either you complete Beyt before 12; or plan to be there by 3 after completing all places in main land Dwarka.
There was new place called Golden temple opened nearby - in 100m from the main temple. They charge Rs.80 per person as entry - this is more of a museum of all Lord Krishna's events - from childhood to all the epic happenings till Dwarka. This can be skipped as this is not an ancient temple or alike. I did visit it.
Shri Nageshwarnath - Jyothirlinga Dharshan
We came back to the jetty and a boat was waiting to fill-up, boarded swiftly with no queue, and reached Okha in no time. The next stop was to visit one of the 12 Jyothirlinga temples - Shri Nageshwarnath; 19 kms from main temple of Dwarka.
This temple is open from morning and evening and during mid-day as well. The temple was severely crowded when I went around 1 PM. There was no other option and opted to join the queue - mobile phones are allowed in the temple. It took almost 1 hour for the dharshan. People can also do pujas themselves directly at the Jyothirlinga accompanied by the pandits there on special charges. One has to wear doti for males and sarees/chudithar for ladies visiting the main sanctum for abhishekams. For dharshan, as such, I did not notice any restrictions.
It was around 2:45 PM and we were hungry. We stopped by one hotel just before the main place of Dwarka and had thali. The thali was good - similar menu like what I had earlier day.
Rukmini Mandir
Next, I visited Rukmini mandir - around 3 kms from Dwarka. This is the place away from Dwarka as per the curse of Maharishi Durvasa. The curse was because that Rukmini forgot to serve water to the sage, when he was thirsty and she moved out of Dwarka as per the curse. I spent around 5 mins here as it is one sanctum only.
Now, that the spiritual part of visiting the important temples in the region, was next planning to visit one of the best beaches in this part of the coast - Shivrajpur Beach.
Shivrajpur Beach
Shivrajpur Beach is around 3 kms from the Dwarka - westwards. The beach is a perfect white sand beach, absolute stunning with transparent aqua. There are few stalls for doing watersports. Given the fact that this was my last spot in the route, I spent almost an hour strolling on the water and sand. Quite a time killer place any beach is; that too such a beautiful beach!
Aradhana Dham
While returning back to Jamnagar, after crossing Khambhalia, stopped at Aradhana Shree Halar Tirth Aradhana Dham Jain Temple. This is a Jain temple dedicated to Shri Mahavir Jain. There is also a museum around the temple.
And a beautiful sunset....
Reached Jamnagar around 8 PM; enroute watched the massive empires of Reliance, Essar and few more. Had dinner at Hotel Kalpana - Paneer and rotis, paan!
Day-3
To Ahmedabad
Booked on Vande Bharat - my first experience on the train; started at 5:30 AM and reached Ahmedabad at 10:15. I had also booked a cab through Savaari for my trip to Lothal and Nal Sarovar, before being dropped at the airport for my flight at 8:50 PM.
Lothal
Lothal is an ancient Indus valley archeological site, 80 kms from Ahmedabad - a 2 hour drive. The once flourishing river port city of Lothal is dated back to 3700 BCE (almost 4500+ years back); was an important part of Indus valley civilisation. The place is also nominated to be listed under UNESCO World Heritage sites. We can see some amazing findings like boat docks, canals, water supply system, an upper town and a lower town, settlements and cemetery.
There is a museum which has been non-operational for long period of time; said to host jewellery, pottery, seals, religious things, and much more. The excavated site is free to visit and has well laid paths to walk around and observe the place.
It was scorching sun and spent around 20-25 mins walking around, before resuming the trip.
Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary
Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary is 46 kms from Lothal - 1 hour drive and 76 kms from Ahmedabad - 2 hr drive. This is a marshland and shallow water region.
The sanctuary is one of the best in the state but very tourist unfriendly. One has to buy a ticket for Rs.500 to enter the place by car. Or, park the car and walk around 2 kms in scorching sun. No alternate arrangements! On top of this, there are touts all around to push you to take boats and visit the nearby island amidst the marshes and see the migratory and host birds. I managed to avoid them though they were very pushy! I preferred to walk around and visit the place - which is fenced and allowed to walk very limited. The watch tower was also closed with barbwire!
Still, could manage to spot quite a bit of aviaries - various ibis, egrets, herons, gulls and swamphens.
Started the drive back to Ahmedabad through the traffic and almost took 2:30 hours reaching the airport. I bought some sweets from Kandoi Bhogilal Mulchand - the best Mohandal and Soan Papdi they serve! Finished the dinner with the the sumptuous food at the airport lounge, made some new travel connects on the flight and back home!
Distances
- Dwaraka – Ahmedabad – 439 kms (8:30 hrs)
- Dwaraka – Beyt Dwaraka – 33 kms (1:30 hrs – Ferry route - 20 mins ride)
- Dwaraka – Jamnagar – 131 kms (2:30 hrs)
- Jamnagar – Ahmedabad – 305 kms (6 hrs)
- Ahmedabad – Lothal – 82 kms - 2 hrs
- Lothal – Nal Sarovar – 46 kms – 1 hour
- Nal Sarovar – AMD airport – 76 kms - 2:30 hours
