After covering Adalaj Vav, Modhera Sun Temple, Rani ki Vav & Patola House in Patan in a day, yesterday, we woke up bit late by 7.00 am. We had dedicated one day for Lothal & some sightseeing in Ahmedabad.

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We checked out by 9.00 am and were on road to Lothal, excavated site of Indus Valley Civilization.

Lothal is almost 78 kms from Ahmedabad and took two hours to reach. Lothal means literally Mound of Dead. Once a flourishing port, now is a vast picture of ruins. Lothal was first discovered in 1954, S. R. Rao of ASI excavated the site from 1955-1960.

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It is home to one of the oldest docks in the World. It is situated along the Bhogava River, a tributary of the Sabarmati, 30 km from Gulf of Khambat. The settlement plan was rectangular, surrounded by wall initially made of mud, later of mud as well as burnt bricks. There was a burial ground outside the enclosing walls. The main citadel included an elevated area with remains of residential buildings, streets, lanes, bathing pavements and drains. Lothal had two primary zones – the upper and lower town.  A metropolis with an upper and a lower town had in on its northern side a basin with vertical wall, inlet and outlet channels which has been identified as a tidal dockyard. There is a mud-brick platform on the western embankment that may have been where goods would have been loaded and unloaded.

We left Lothal by mid-noon, reached Ahmedabad by 2.00 pm. Decided to have a Thali lunch at Agashiye, restaurant by House of MG.

It was bit heavy on pockets (Rs. 1300 for regular Thali after adding GST, offcourse) but, curiosity of looking around Heritage structure of House of MG, we gave in. The meal was standard, not a place for foodie though. But the ambiance and the artifacts displayed gave some satisfaction for shelling out so much.

The Siddi Sayed Jali Mosque was opposite to this restaurant. Clicked a quick pic of famous Jalis. We skipped the rest of the Ahmedabad tour and concentrated on shopping at Law Garden.

Our train was at 11.25 pm. We boarded the Duronto and were back to Mumbai by 6.00 am in the morning.

P.S. There are tickets in all these place ranging from Rs. 5 to 20/-.