For our last day in Gujarat we decided to go to the world heritage sites at Champaner and Pavagadh. These sites are entirely different to one another in character but have a shared history so were listed together by UNESCO in 2004.

Champaner is the site of a fort and imperial palace dating from around AD 1400. The city flourished during the reign of Mahmud Begada (AD 1459-1511) but was attacked by Humayun in 1534 which resulted in the capital being moved from Champaner to Ahmedabad. Champaner never recovered its former glory and is now mostly ruined. A new generation occupies the old town and the people live alongside the ancient ruins.

Above Champaner is the Pavagadh hill fort complex. Most of the structures are not easily accessible and Pavagadh is actually more famous for a Mahakali temple which sits on the summit. Mahakali is the Hindu goddess of time and death and the consort of Shiva consequently every day thousands of pilgrims climb the hill to the temple.

Champaner is fascinating for its buildings and also for the way people live today amongst them. This woman was living very close to one of the mosques, her front door is to the left of the picture:

Here is the most important structure in the city, Jami Masjid:

And here perhaps the second most important, Saher Ki Masjid:

  

In some places the old walls are still clearly visible:

Here is another well preserved structure:

 That was funny 🙂

The town is renowned for the water storage solutions it employed, here is a spherical step well, the first we have ever seen:

We went to one mosque to find it still in use even though the roof had long since gone:

 Panch-Mahuda Ki Masjid

There were three generations of the same family praying at the tombs. When they had finished they kindly let me photograph their very beautiful hands:

and we gave them a lift home!

We went to the top of Pavagadh to see the temple, here is the final climb:

Once you reach the top you are moved pretty smartly through the temple so the pilgrims only enjoy a few seconds in the presence of the deity. Despite that in the short time we were there several people seemed to go into some sort of rapture. No video allowed so you’ll just have to imagine it.

Lots of pilgrims were very colourfully adorned:

 Bangles all the way up her arms.

It wasn’t all pilgrims, this lady was doing her washing in a small lake just below the summit:

The walk back down is on a long winding path the top part of which is absolutely packed with stalls selling all kinds of things:

You can have a tattoo, have your picture taken with a stuffed tiger, buy some alcohol free beer, buy a coconut (for the temple), receive a blessing from one of the many “sages” along the way, and even feed a holy cow:

Everything is possible for a few rupees.

We settled for some peanut masala from this very nice lady:

So that was Champaner-Pavagadh we loved it, hopefully UNESCO will ensure it is protected for the future.

Now we are in Mumbai. It’s the Mumbai marathon this weekend and I’ve managed to get a place in the Old Man’s race (after three months on the road I’m certainly not in shape for anything more strenuous!). Hopefully I’ll be finished in time to watch the Elite marathon runners cross the line.

Our next destination is London! We’ve decided to fly back to England for a couple of weeks. Lots to do, family to see but the thing we’re most looking forward to is seeing two very tiny boys!

So that’s it folks. We’ll be back in Mumbai and on the road again in early February. Until then it’s radio silence!

Thanks for coming along for the ride so far,

Ian & Leishia xxx