Kashmir - Spring of 2024

Summary of our visit 

Up there,  nestled in the Northwestern Himalayas, between the Great Himalayan range to the north east and Pir Panjal range to the south west,  lies the scenic Kashmir Valley. This place was on our to visit list but that intention got translated into action only during our Scandinavian trip in January when our fellow traveller Anu, mentioned that she would be there in her Srinagar home for a couple of months in April & May and that would be an opportune time to visit Kashmir. We needed no further push and planned a visit between 9th and 15th April. Our itinerary consisted of 4 night stay in Srinagar at her guest house which is fantastically located a few hundred meters away from Dal Lake. Based on her inputs and those from our driver-guide Lateef, we did Srinagar sightseeing for a day and did two excursions, one to Gulmarg and other to Doodhpathri. Thereafter, we moved our base to Pahalgam and after two nights there, proceeded straight to Srinagar Airport for a flight back to Mumbai.

Now for the detailed description of our visit.

During our Srinagar stay these are some of the places that we visited. On the day of our arrival at Srinagar, before checking into the guest house, we headed straight way to Dal Lake and took the Shikara ride. The Shikara ride is really charming, the ambience is peaceful and even as you stretch comfortably in the Shikara, you can savour the illumination of house boats parked along one of the lake, watch the sky as dusk rolls in and temperature starts to drop making you reach out for warm woollens. The Shikara took us to a market and we did our first shopping there - a woolen shawl. 

We then proceeded for an early dinner and found a gourmet place that served piping hot soups, spring rolls and a choice of main courses. Having worked up a healthy appetite, we indulged in Kashmiri special Dum Aloo, Dal Makhni, Butter Nan and topped it up with a dessert of Brownie with Ice Cream.  Around 9:30 or so, we checked in to the guest house and called it a day.

The following day (day 2), we learnt that due to the Id festival, the guest house cook is on holiday and we will have to have our breakfast at a near by place. That was challenging since most establishments were shut as Id was announced that day. Luckily we found a small place serving Alu Paratha and bread toast. After a time consuming breakfast, we moved out for Srinagar local sightseeing. First place was the temple that Adi Shankaracharya had established up on the hill.

This temple requires you to climb 250 steps if you wish to have a 'darshan', which we did. View from the top of the temple was our first brid's eye view of Srinagar. Next to the temple is the cave like place in which Shankaracharya did his penance. After seeking the blessings from the temple, we moved on to visit Tulip Garden. This garden is said to be the largest in Asia spanning some 30 acres. There were thousands of Tulip flowers of so many different colours blooming there. 

There on, we visited a few of the famous Mughal gradens - Chasmeshahi where there are perennial glacier melt stream and we could'nt drink enough of it.  We then visited Shalimar Garden, old city Hazratbal, Nigin lake in Badamwari which is a must do place and then we went up the hill to Hari Parbat Mandir aur Killa. We skipped the Killa since it involved a lot of climbing up the steps but visited the temple of Sharika mata. The deity is believed to be 'Swayabhu" - self manifested. It was such a serene experience - there were no other devotees around and the dusk was just setting in and we were standing infant of the deity!! I have experienced this serenity in only a handful of  temples like Golden Temple, or  at Garudeshwar. 

Calling it a day, we decided to head back to the guest house but before that we stopped by in the carpet factory called Jamal but it was closed that day. So we returned and ordered in some hot soup and retired for the night.

Day 3(11 April 2024)  was the trip to Gulmarg which is about 2 hours drive away. We started from our guest house around 9 am and reached Gulmarg by 11. 

Along the way we got to see the famous Lal Chowk. This was the place that the tri color was hoisted after 30 years on 26 Jan 2022. The Chowk or Square was given its name by left wing activist who named it Red Square as they fought the princely state's Maharaja, Hari Singh. 

As we drove towards Gulmarg, along side were large trees - Chinar which is believed to release large quantity of oxygen, Deodar, Willow and then trees like  Walnut, Apple trees and Pine. Apple season is September so all we saw were Apple flowers. Before we ascended the last 30 minute stretch going into  Gulmarg, we stopped at Gumboot rental shop and rented gumboots to prepare for wandering on the snow on mountain slopes.  

Since it was the in season rush, all online tickets for the Gondola ride were already taken. So we hired a vehicle to drive us around the scenic places. Our first stop was by the hill slope which was snow covered. The locals were offering a sledge ride some distance up the hill and then a speedy down slope ride. Thanks to the enterprising locals, there was a tea/coffee shack right up the slope and it was a treat to savour hot coffee amidst the cool surroundings. 

Gulmarg also offers All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) hire and joy rides on helicopter. We decided to skip those and settled for enjoying the scenery.  After a late lunch(3 pm) on the way back to Srinagar, we reached Srinagar around 5 pm and thought that we will complete our shopping at the Jamal Factory and head back to guest house in time for dinner but we didn't anticipate the huge traffic jams.  The narrow roads were clogged with traffic and instead of an hour's ride to the factory, it took us almost 2 hours to reach the factory. This factory has amazing collection of silk, woolen and cotton carpets most of them hand woven. they showed us their exquisite collection of runners, round and rectangular carpets. We purchased one for the bedroom and requested them to courier it to us which arrived a few days after we returned home.

Returning to guest house there after was another 90 minute ordeal and when we reached atlas at around 9pm, we were so drained that like the previous day, we just ordered in hot soup from Lhasa and retired for the day.

Day 4( 12 April 2024)

After a hearty breakfast of hot delicious  Alu Parathas, Toast & Omelette, we started for yet another excursion, this timey to Doodhparthi. There is a river that runs thru this place called Shali Ganga which has milky colored glacial melt. There are couple of legends about origin of its name Doodhpathri literally meaning Valley of Milk. Some say that the name comes from the Mughal emperor Akbar, who was impressed by meadow's beauty and named it for its resemblance to milk. Others say that the name comes from a legend about the famous Kashmiri saint Sheikh Ul Salam Sheikh Noor din Noorani, who pricked the ground with his stick to find water for prayer and milk came out. He asked the milk to be only used for drinking and it immediately turned into water. 

As we ascended to Doodhpathri, our driver pulled up near a food stall by the road side. The husband and wife team was dishing out Makke Di Roti and Sarson Da Saag - hot freshly made corn roti roasted with liberal amount of genuine ghee along with the Mustard leaves plucked freshly from the farm was a treat too good to let pass. So we sat down on a make shift table/chair ensemble and savoured the treat despite the sumptuous breakfast we had eaten earlier. 

Post that treat we drove into Doodhpathri parking lot where our driver arranged for us horses to carry us to the river Shaliganga. Now we were riding the horses and after about 45 minutes travel thru grass and mud we reached the river bank. Thanks to our gumboots, we could actually enter the river (which fortunately did not have much of a current or water levels. The back drop were snow capped mountains and in front of us the green meadows. After a few photo sessions there, we returned two the parking lot and headed back to Srinagar, determined to reach the guest house well in time which we did at 5:30 pm. We did some shopping along the way primarily dry fruits & saffron.

 That evening Anu and her husband took us out for a nice hot dinner to Lhasa which by now had become our favorite restaurant. We retired soon after dinner packed and ready to check out and leave for Pahalgam the next day morning.

Day 5 ( 13 April 2024)

After an early breakfast we bid good bye to our hosts and caretaker of Lakshmi Guest House and headed towards Pahalgam on NH 44. Along the way we visited Martand (Sun) Temple - of the 3 temples in India. Quite an impressive construction considering it was done in 800 AD and later destroyed by Mughal king as well as earthquake. 

We also visited the Mattan mandir at the foot hill of Martand temple hill and stopped by for a quick lunch at a Dhaba. We reached our hote,l Hotel Heeven in Pahalgam in late afternoon. The pleasant surprise was that the hotel had upgraded us to presidential suite - the best room in the hotel which offered 270 degree view. 

The hotel has stunning views of mountains, clouds drifting lazily in the valley, the Lidder river flowing continuously making a nice relaxing sound. The atmosphere was simply enchanting.

We took a small walk and just lazed around in the evening. Before retiring for the day, had some light dinner of Khichdi /Kadhi that the chef had specially prepared for us.

Day 6 ( 14 April, 2024)

The breakfast at the hotel was a lavish spread. After a generous breakfast, we asked for a local sightseeing taxi and for under Rs. 3000, the driver took us to Chandan Ware  - a place from where the Amarnath Yatra proceeds on foot. It was drizzling and we were up in the clouds. Visibility was low. We then came to Betaab valley. Interestingly, the valley is so named after a bollywood film that was shot there. By then the clouds were yielding way for sun to shine thru. There after we visited Aru Valley where some scenes from movies like Karma, Bajrangi Bhaijan and bobby were shot. After returning to the hotel, we had lunch at the Italian place (Pizza) and after a relaxing nap, went to Pahalgam market for shopping.

Day 7 (15 April 2024)

After breakfast, we were on our way to Srinagar airport. Home was beckoning us. We didn't want to be late for our 3 pm Vistara flight to Mumbai. Drive through jams Srinagar airport.

We left the hotel at 8:45 and drove non stop, reaching the Srinagar airport around noon. Our return flight was at 3:20 pm - so we had ample time to settle down and have tea/coffee at the Airport. The connection at Delhi was a tight one. There was a change of gate and the gate for the next flight was quite a distance away. We had to literally run to make it to the flight.

Finally reached Mumbai at 8 pm and after a longish wait for baggage, reached home at 9:30pm. Kashmir is really so full of nature and so beautiful. I would certainly want to revisit and just relax at Pahalgam - may be at Hotel Heaven or some other such.