Kanyakumari-Kashmir Round trip - Day 26 - Prayagraj - Vindhyachal - Varanasi

Day 26 - Prayagraj - Vindhyachal - Varanasi (stay in Varanasi)

Kilometers covered - 280 KMs

Walking - 6000+ steps

A late start because of lack of sleep - started by 8 AM, had tea and went to Triveni Sangamam, Prayagraj - around 120 KMs from Rae Bareli. We skipped breakfast keeping the holy dip in mind :)

On the way CNG filling at M/S Rajaram Singh & Sons, IOCL pump, Wari, UP

At Triveni Sangam, the Ganges and the Yamuna can be identified by their different colours – the water of the Ganges is clear while that of the Yamuna is greenish in colour.The third river, the mythical Saraswati, is called invisible. A place of religious importance and one of the sites for the historic Kumbh Mela held every 12 years, over the years it has also been the site of the immersion of ashes of several national leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi in 1949.

We took the boat ride to take a dip in the center of Sangamam, it was very clean and tidy. A seperate cleaning boat was in operation and was informed that it's main objective is to keep the river clean - a meticulous effort indeed. Diesel boats are not allowed inside the sangamam to avoid pollution - another good initiative.

We spent around 30 minutes in the sangamam - a peaceful sun bath :)




We the went to Adi Sankaracharya mutt, Bhade Hanuman temple & Alopi Mata mandir (these are in and around the sangamam). We walked bare-foot to Alopi Mata mandir and could literally feel the heat - it was very hot and our feet couldn't bear the heat. Gulped couple of sodas, then sugarcane juice and mosambi juice in a span of 45 minutes. However, we still felt thirsty and settled for water - lolz:)






Another CNG filling Mishra Modern Filling Station (IOCL), Naini Industrial area, UP

Vindhyachal is a city in Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh. It's a Hindu pilgrimage site having the temple of Vindhyavasini, who according to Markandeya Purana had incarnated to kill the demon Mahishasura. A detailed description has been given in the 'Durga Saptashati' Chapter of Markandeya Purana. The river Ganga flows through this city. The Indian Standard Time (IST) line passes through the Vindhyachal railway station.

We had a good darshan amidst crowd, followed by a late lunch (4.30 PM) - a thali. The roads throughout was pretty decent and no issues in that front. 




We stopped in Birla Mandir, Varanasi around 6.15 PM. A huge temple inside the Banaras Hindu University campus.





A very interesting note for foodies visiting Varanasi; just outside the Birla mandir campus, you could see an outlet selling cold coffee. OMG!!! it was super nourishing and foamy - gulped couple of glasses while Mahadevan settled for one. Another interesting snack cart - you can pick and choose the grains of you choice (rice, channa, mattar, green gram etc..,) they'll roast and puff it live. They mix masalas and onion before serving it - hot, spicy and healthy snack. 

There are dedicated parking lots in Varanasi and very few lodges has it's own. We used the common parking space and walked around searching for lodges. We found one to our budget (there was no name though - it was inside a complex) and settled in by 8.30 PM.

We decided not to have dinner, however hot steaming idlies just below the complex tempted us. Had couple of idlis and a dosa - I could only Srirangam visually and never felt like Varanasi. It was full of idli, dosa carts all over :) Finished the dinner with Amul Buttermilk - Masti and settled by 10 PM

Luv,

Krishna & Mahadevan

insta - viswanatkr01 

PS - As long as you have a good phone connection, you wouldn't require any special route maps. Google maps could help for the most part

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