Riya's Ramblings: Ep 77 - A trip to Pune, India

07/04/2024 13 min

Listen "Riya's Ramblings: Ep 77 - A trip to Pune, India"

Episode Synopsis

This is part 2 of my travel series about my recent trip to
India with my family. (Part 1 was Mumbai).
 
My father’s younger brother (my “kaka” in Gujarati) lives in
Pune, so that was our main reason to visit.
Pune is about 4 hours by road from Mumbai. It’s higher in
elevation and has a cooler climate than Mumbai.
This was my first time visiting Pune and it was so fun! I loved the vibes of the city a lot!
Throughout our visit, we enjoyed the food, the local attractions, and, more food!

Pune is a very historical city so we did a heritage walk of many old sites in the center of Pune. It was tiring but very educational. We had an amazing guide from an organization called INTACH. Listen for more details about the tour!
We also visited Aga Khan Palace – where Mahatma Gandhi was kept under house arrest during India’s war of independence. Super fun and educational!
 
Pune is also known for it's ancient temples, so we visited a ton! My favorite was Pataleshwar, an ancient temple, which is more than 1200 years old!
That absolutely blew my mind!!

Another fun activity we did was taking the stairs up a mountain called “Parvati”. There were so many super cute puppies on the way!
There was a museum about the Peshawas on top. And also a temple, so that was fun. :
It wasn’t a hard hike for me but I could see the adults in
our group get tired. :)
 
The food was so good – different from Mumbai but still so so good!
Puna missal – spicy bean curry + local bread (pav)
Vada paav – fried potatoes + chutnies + local break (pav)
Marathi thaali – multiple curries/subzis, daals and sweets.
So filling! And super yummy!

Listen for more things we did!
 
Overall the city felt a little more laid back than Mumbai, but there some similarities, like the street dogs. People were so mean to them!

Shout outs to my fais (my dad’s cousin sisters) - Kinjal fai
and Priyanka fai for emailing me about my Mumbai episode.

And to Harper and Emerson from my soccer team!

If you live in Pune or have visited Pune, email me and tell me what you thought of my experiences at [email protected]! You will get a shout-out!