Pune 2023 - City Tour

Our first real opportunity to truly explore the city of Pune and I, like all of my peers on this trip, was so excited to get started. After an 8:30am meeting we wasted no time getting into the city's culture. We made our way to the Shaniwar Wada fort where I was instantly blown away by the scale and architecture on display. After touring the fort, we headed back to the bus and to our next stop. This part of the day I was particularly excited, as we headed to the city centre of Pune. We made our way through the city centre exploring the numerous temples, markets, and monuments that the city has to offer. I have never experienced a place with the energy and vast amounts of culture there is in Pune, around every corner there is another piece of the country’s history. After a couple of hours weaving through the city centre, we all, and especially me I think, were ready for some lunch. We were treated to a traditional Indian platter with various dishes and delicacies for us to try.

After we had all finally finished our food we headed out for our next part of the city tour. We made our way out of the city centre and my anticipation of what awaited was building as we got closer to our destination. We had the opportunity to explore a temple dating all the way back to the 8^th century and I simply cannot put into words the experience of seeing this first-hand. The detail of the architecture was like nothing I had ever witnessed. After a quick look around the temple, we made our way to our final stop where we could wander around the Aga Khan palace which contained a museum dedicated to the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi. After a tiring yet incredible day scouting the wonders that lie within Pune, we began to make our way back to the hotel for a much-needed freshen-up and for me personally, some more food.