Ahmedabad Heritage Walk — Attraction in Gujarat

The 2 km heritage walk takes place in the Kalupur area. It's a Muslim-dominated area but has communal harmony throughout. And the name of the walk conveys that beautifully. It's called Mandir Se Masjid Tak.

Photos 1 & 2 are from the Shree Swaminarayan Mandir where the walk starts. Constructed in 1822, It's the first temple of the Swaminarayan sect in India. There are multiple deities here, which include Nar Narayana, a duo of sage brothers regarded as the partial incarnation of Vishnu

After this, the walk enters the Pol areas where you get to explore the history and way of life of people.

Crossing the Pol, you enter the market area which has the famous Manek Chowk. There are multiple buildings with amazing architecture that you can look at for a long time. Photo 3 shows one of them. Zoom in and you will notice that it used to be the office of the Stock Brokers Association of Ahmedabad.

The walk comes to an end at the Jama Masjid. It was built in 1424 during the reign of Ahmed Shah I from the Muzaffarid dynasty who ruled over the Gujarat sultanate. But he is better known for another fact: Ahmed Shah I was the founder of Ahmedabad.

Considered to be one of the largest mosques in India, it covers a huge area. Being away from the Delhi Sultanate, they developed their architectural style known as the Gujarat style, which comprised elements of both Islamic and traditional Hindu architecture. It's a beautiful structure and you get glimpses of that in photos 4-7.

After the walk, we went to another mosque and tomb enclosure called the Sarkhej Roza. It's away from the old city and that day, filled with local tourists. What impressed me was the design of the Jalis in the structures. Peeping through the hole, each one seemed to open up a different portal to a magical realm and I loved their symmetry. Photos 8-10 shows that.

All in all, it was a very enriching experience to better understand the rich heritage and history...

If you are in Ahmedabad, you surely don't want to miss the walk across the lane that carry within its womb the history of Old And culturally rich Ahmedabad...beautifully carved temples,mosque and Haziro, pious pratimajis within temple premise to soak in spiritual experience in Meditation or just looking at the Pratimajis of Tirthankaras or sitting simply in silence, carved havelis and homes tell us about the flavour of architecture of those times. Having a guide will be nice, but one can do the walk all by oneself if one has a map ( available over google) and locals help to navigate too. Since many of these structures are within the hustle bustle of live market, it's best to finish the walk before the market opens. To me, it was a pilgrim to self explore, soak and navigate through the history and culture of Herritage of Ahmedabad. And, i was supported by the weather too that day, the early morning drizzling made the weather cooler and even late morning excursion through this remained pleasant. (I started at 8.30am and...

It was a pleasant experience & a nice timepass for outsiders to know the city well esp if the weather is good. TIPS TO REMEMBER for anyone who's planning to go:

1)prefer weekdays for smaller groups 2)always go on a pleasant weather day checking weather updates in advance (it will make the most difference) 3) wear comfortable chappals and avoid socks and shoes at all cost. It's not a v long walk that your feet may tire, but there are many temples, masjids where you have to remove footwear again & again, so better to wear chappals/sandals. 4) wear full pants only. don't wear anything above the knee as entry into religious places will be restricted.

This may be underwhelming for people from Rajasthan, you can better go for Adalaj vav or Thol. :)

Lastly, if due to genuine reasons or glitches on their part you're unable to go for the walk on booked time, they co-operate with shifting slots too. That was...