Great Picnic Spot in Galteshwar Near the City of Vadodara, Gujarat State of India

There are many beautiful picnic spots near the city of Vadodara in the state of Gujarat in India. I am very much familiar to such picnic spots, as I have spent around 35 years of my life in the city of Vadodara. One such picnic spot is Galteshwar, which is situated at around 40 miles from the city of Vadodara and around 60 miles from the city of Ahmedabad. Many people visit this beautiful picnic spot during weekends from Vadodara or Ahmedabad, or any other nearby cities of the Gujarat State. It can be a wonderful one-day's outing that will recharge your body and mind to take up fresh challenges of your life.

One can easily reach Galteshwar by the State Transport buses from Vadodara, Ahmedabad, or Anand. The bus fare from Vadodara is around Rs.25 (60 cents) per head and takes around two hours to reach Galteshwar. The famous Ranchodrai temple of Dakor is only 15 miles away from Galteshwar. Hence, most of the visitors combine the visit of Dakor and Galteshwar for convenience. Galteshwar is situated at the bank of River Narmada. Though, Narmada River here is not as wide as it generally is at other places, its beauty is really eye-catching. However, the water flows very speedily here at Galteshwar in the River Narmada and hence, offers a wonderful experience of taking a bath in it. The leisurely bath of around couple of hours here can really freshen up all the tourists. There is a very ancient sun temple here at Galteshwar, which is around 3000 years old. There are most beautifully engraved stone statues of the human beings involved in all sorts of sexual positions. Even though the statues show the sex in its most primitive way, it does not generate any dirty sexual feelings in our minds. The statue of Lord Sun is installed at this temple, which is made of black, smooth stones. The statue and the main entrance of the temples are arranged in such a way that the first ray of the sun at the time of the sunrise everyday falls first directly in the eyes of the statue of Lord Sun. there is one small water reservoir here at the temple. Taking a bath in this water reservoir prior to entering the temple is considered very holy for all the visitors. Though it is not very safe to take bath in it now a days as the water in this reservoir is very dirty.

There are no restaurants or hotels here that serve nice, clean food items. Hence, it would be the best to carry your own food supply with you from your home or hotel, wherever you are staying. The mineral water for drinking purposes also must be carried with you. There are some small restaurants that can supply tea or coffee or the hot milk with the traditional Indian snack items. However, it would be best to avoid them. One can start from Vadodara at around 7 am in the morning, reach Dakor Ranchodrai temple at around 8.30 am. The Dakor temple darshanas can be done up to 10.30 am and then reach Galteshwar at around 11 am. One can start back from Galteshwar at around 5 pm after leisurely bath, picnic lunch, and the temple visit at Galteshwar and reach Vadodara city by around 7 pm in the evening. It can be the most memorable outing of one day in this region. However, please do not enter in to the deep water in the Narmada River, as there are many twisters in this River that can pull anybody inside it. There have been instances of such deaths due to drowning in the Narmada River.

I have myself visited Galteshwar on many occasions and have enjoyed it each time. Hence, I would request all my AC readers to please include Galteshwar in their list of places to be visited during their stay in the Gujarat State.