This week, The Musafir Stories speaks to Saumy Nagayach, a Pune based blogger, photographer and full time software engineer who loves writing poetry as much as he loves writing code. So sit back and enjoy as Saumy takes us to explore some of the hidden

This week, The Musafir Stories speaks to Saumy Nagayach, a Pune based blogger, photographer and full time software engineer who loves writing poetry as much as he loves writing code. So sit back and enjoy as Saumy takes us to explore some of the hidden gems of Madhya Pradesh

Today's destination: Dhar, Madhya Pradesh

Nearest Airport: Indore, MP Nearest Railway Station: Mhow, MP

Prerequisities - N/A

Packing - Pack light, weather can be hot in summers.

Time of the year - December

Length of the itinerary: One can do a day trip to Dhar, or spread it over two days to cover the place at a slow pace. Overall 5 day itinerary covering Dhar, Mandu, Omkareshwar, Maheshwar and Ujjain

Itinerary Highlights:

• Start off with the majestic Dhar fort, built by Mohammed bin Tughluq, in the 14th century. The fort is built of red stone and is located on a small hill. The walls of the fort can easily be seen from a good distance.
• Places of interest are the Kharbuja mahal, in the shape of a musk melon, which was built inside the fort and is best known as the place where last Peshwa i.e. Bajirao II of Maratha Empire was born. From Kharbuja palace, one can see the whole city and Munj Sagar lake. The Munj Sagar lake was excavated by Raja Bhoja's uncle Vakpati Munja in 10th century
• Check out the district archaelogical museum within the fort campus - it is one of the oldest museums in MP, built in the year 1902.
• Next stop is the Bhoj Shala, built by the great Raja Bhoj, is a center for learning. The pillars and walls have stone carvings and people say that Raja Bhoj had written some literature/grammar/poetics there.Some of the Sanskrit inscriptions of those times were found in 1903 by an expert and then he researched more about it and gave this place the name "Bhoj Shala".
• Lat Masjid is another point of interest which is unique in the sense that the mosque was built in 1405 by Dilawar Khan from the ruins of Hindu and Jain temples. An iron pillar used to be there which is now broken and is displayed outside the Mosque (the mosque is named after this iron "lat" pillar).
• Make a quick stop at the Phadke studio. Raghunath Krishna Phadke was an Indian artist and many of his artifacts are installed at several places in India. Phadke taught the clay art to many of his students and a lot of his works can be seen at Phadke Studio, Dhar
• Don't forget to grab some poha and poha jalebi for the road!

Links:

Link to Saumy's blog - www.saumynagayach.blogspot.in

Link to the blog post - gems-of-madhya-pradesh-dhar.html">http://saumynagayach.blogspot.ae/2017/04/hidden-gems-of-madhya-pradesh-dhar.html

Twitter @saumynagayach

facebook - https://www.facebook.com/saumynagayach21/?pnref=lhc

email - saumynagayach@gmail.com

More about the guest -

A novice photographer, an enthusiastic blogger and an IT Engineer by profession. Saumy also loves to write poems and tell stories around pictures.

Photos featured in: National Geographic Traveller India Well known Instagram accounts like Maharashtraig, SplendidIndia, Discover_India. Some of the best Travel/Photography Blogs of India.

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