We were finally here!! Counting the final days of our four year long
journey struggling to become an engineer. In the midst of this comfort there
was also a grumbling feeling in the heart thinking about the future and of the
fact that our paths were going to be different after this. In this dilemma of
mixed feelings all we needed was a final trip before we, the "Urban Riders" set
on different paths. This was going to be the final ride for us as Urban Riders,
at least that’s what we thought! Hence we decided to spice things up and make this trip special. This trip
involved just me and my three biker buddies Cleon, Cletus and Zeyn on our two favorite bikes, the Hero Impulse and the Yamaha Fazer.
After a brief whatsapp session and some phone calls back and forth we decided to trip to Nashik and Bandhardara. Now Bandhardara was a destination we were planning to visit from almost a year now and the irony is we missed it this time as well!
"The time has come to shift gears, step up the accelerate, for
adrenaline fueled entertainment, its full throttle ahead for the fast and the
furious, here we go!"
After a brief whatsapp session and some phone calls back and forth we decided to trip to Nashik and Bandhardara. Now Bandhardara was a destination we were planning to visit from almost a year now and the irony is we missed it this time as well!
I used to love stating this before
the start of all our trips alarming my friends that it was time for us to leave
for our destination. Our trip began at 6:00 AM sharp as we had decided. Cleo
and I left from home towards Andheri station and found Cletus and Zeyn waiting for us there. The joy on our faces exclaimed how excited we were for this trip, we left at once sporting an expression on our faces which said
"Let's do this!"
From Andheri we left towards Thane and then connected to the Mumbai-Nashik Expressway. There is always some traffic in the island city of Mumbai!! No matter how early we leave, we always get stuck in the city traffic. It took us quite some time to reach the Expressway. Before connecting to the Expressway we took a pit stop to have some breakfast at one of the roadside dhabas. It is always fun to have food at such dhabas. The Expressway is a part of the National Highway 3 segment, hence once we connected to the Expressway the roads were smooth right up to Nashik.
Infant Jesus church
We reached Nashik at around 1 PM. On reaching we visited the Infant Jesus shrine and prayed for some time. Our initial plan was to check-in to the rooms at the Infant Jesus church, but stay was not available for us as only family accommodations were allowed here. Like we weren’t family already!
Thus we went out for the search of pocket friendly rooms for the night. In the next 15 minutes we found a guest house and after some negotiation we checked in to the rooms. The rooms were really spacious and comfortable for us all to stay. We had opted for a non-AC room at first, but then due to the excessive humidity we upgraded to an Ac room. We rested in the confines of our rooms for some time and the set out for exploring the Nashik city and headed towards Sula Vineyards.
We reached Nashik at around 1 PM. On reaching we visited the Infant Jesus shrine and prayed for some time. Our initial plan was to check-in to the rooms at the Infant Jesus church, but stay was not available for us as only family accommodations were allowed here. Like we weren’t family already!
Thus we went out for the search of pocket friendly rooms for the night. In the next 15 minutes we found a guest house and after some negotiation we checked in to the rooms. The rooms were really spacious and comfortable for us all to stay. We had opted for a non-AC room at first, but then due to the excessive humidity we upgraded to an Ac room. We rested in the confines of our rooms for some time and the set out for exploring the Nashik city and headed towards Sula Vineyards.
Sula Vineyard
From our guest house it took us around 45 minutes to reach the vineyards
due to poor roads in the vicinity of the Vineyard. On entering the vineyard you
will see a beautiful architecture which is surrounded by abundant grape
farms. On reaching the building area we we were guided by the guards towards
the bike parking. Near the main entrance there were many showpieces that were
kept for the visitors to glimpse upon.
Once we entered the building all we saw
were wine bottles stacked everywhere! The main building has two sections, one
reserved for wine tasting and the other on the first floor for the visitor to
relax and register for a tour of the vineyard. It was a splendid view from the
first floor which opened towards the grape fields. We clicked lots of images
here waiting for our turn to tour the vineyard. We waited for around 30 minutes
as each batch for the tour lasted for around 45 minutes.
The tour inside the vineyard was marvelous. It started with the guide explaining us about the grapes seasons, the soil, water and climate requirements for farming grapes. The tour continued to the inside of one building where there were many machines for different purposes. First the grapes pulp was extracted and the peel was separated in a extractor. The machinery were in sets of two, one for producing white wine and one for red. After this the extracted pulp was transferred to a very huge steel container where the crushed grapes were to be left in the container to undergo fermentation by adding yeast to the extracted juice. Thus the grapes were fermented in this container into the beverage we call “Wine”.
The tour continued further to the place where the fermented grape juice was stored. The cellar was maintained at a constant temperature which hosted a large amount of wine in large wooden barrels. At regular intervals water sprinklers would go on in this room to keep the barrels cool all the time.
The tour of the vineyard concluded with us entering the wine tasting room. Here we tasted four normal Sula wines and two premium ones with a combination of red, white and sparkling. The person who served the wine was demonstrating on how each wine had to be consumed for the best tasting experience. Visiting the vineyard, taking a tour on how wine is made and the delightful wine tasting was yet another overwhelming experience for us.
The tour inside the vineyard was marvelous. It started with the guide explaining us about the grapes seasons, the soil, water and climate requirements for farming grapes. The tour continued to the inside of one building where there were many machines for different purposes. First the grapes pulp was extracted and the peel was separated in a extractor. The machinery were in sets of two, one for producing white wine and one for red. After this the extracted pulp was transferred to a very huge steel container where the crushed grapes were to be left in the container to undergo fermentation by adding yeast to the extracted juice. Thus the grapes were fermented in this container into the beverage we call “Wine”.
The tour continued further to the place where the fermented grape juice was stored. The cellar was maintained at a constant temperature which hosted a large amount of wine in large wooden barrels. At regular intervals water sprinklers would go on in this room to keep the barrels cool all the time.
The tour of the vineyard concluded with us entering the wine tasting room. Here we tasted four normal Sula wines and two premium ones with a combination of red, white and sparkling. The person who served the wine was demonstrating on how each wine had to be consumed for the best tasting experience. Visiting the vineyard, taking a tour on how wine is made and the delightful wine tasting was yet another overwhelming experience for us.
After the heartwarming visit to the vineyard we decided to head back to our
rooms as it was becoming dark. We had some dinner in the vicinity of the hotel
and then headed back for a well-deserved sleep (Haha). In the morning our plan
was to check out and go to Bandhardara, but as we all were too lazy to travel
in the hot sun we decided to rest in the cozy air conditioned room. I think
after being adventurous in our previous trips, this was unlike us. But we
didn’t care at all. We were just some engineering students who wanted some
rest! We left from Nashik at around 3pm and reached home taking the same route
we had taken to get to Nashik.
All in all this trip was a really awesome experience for all of us. We all
enjoyed a lot. Although we missed Bandhardara, there were absolutely no
regrets.
As I said earlier we all thought that this was our last ride as Urban
Riders…but it was not! We still have to make it to Bandhardara together!
Until next time...Cheers!
