Today, a friend from the Pune team took me around the city ... It was a jam-packed day, which started at 7am. The first stop was the Parvati Temple. Here's a view of it as you approach it from the road ... Yes! It is very high up!. It is actuall 2100 feet above sea level .
There are 105 steps to climb in order to get to the top. Each step is about 6 feet deep and about 10-12 feet wide ... and the problem is that the steps are not level ... they are all at the same incline as the mountain you're walking ... I'm guessing that the steps are themselves at a 10 to 15-degree slope. There were quite a few people walking up and down ... some of the more athletic (and you really have to be in good shape for this!) were running. I've been told that folks will sometimes go up and down three times as part of their morning exercise routine. I had to stop in mid-climb once to catch my breath.
Once arriving at the top ... and catching my breath yet again ... I got to explore the temple grounds and buildings. There are actually several temples on the grounds. This one is the main temple area ... the temple is dedicated to Parvati, who is the goddess of love, wife of Lord Shiva and the mother of Lord Ganesh. So there are also shrines to Ganesh and many symbols of Shiva all around. And, of course, when entering a temple area ... the shoes must come off.
When it is open, you can pay 2 rupees to gain access to the wall surrounding the temple area. Not only is this a temple ... it was at one time a fortress. So, I was imagining myself being a sentry on the walls looking down the mountain. The one thing is that there are not guard rails (no pun intended) to prevent you from tumbling over the edge ... so ... gotta be careful. 2100 feet is a long way down. This picture is of the main temple area looking down from the wall.
From the fortress wall you can look down to see the city of Pune, which sprawls all along ... as you can see. The morning fog hadn't quite burned off just yet ... but you could still see plenty in the distance.
Walking around the temple, we came across another temple area ... this one dedicated to Lord Ganesh. I could only take photos as I was approaching ... were not allowed to once inside the temple proper. As we were approaching, we heard the chants of morning prayers.
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