Palitana - Bhavnagar
The temple covered Shetrunjaya hill, 2000 ft over Palitana town, believed to span 863 shrines in all has some really exquisite marble temples of great religious and artistic importance, containing arches, carved pillars and bejeweled idols. The temples date from 11th to the 20th century. The summit is the most revered of Jain temple complexes, surpassing those of Mt Abu, Gwalior, Girnar and Bihar. Palitana town is a good place to shop for textile related handicrafts and has a Jain kala sansta
with ancient paintings and manuscripts. You can stay at Sumeru Torana tourist bungalow, private hotels or Dharamshalas.
Bhavnagar is another of the rich princely cities of Saurashtra, and has several grandoise buildings such as the 18th century Darbargadh with its huge arches, the Takht Sinhji hospital, Alfred high school, high court, Barton library and Barton museum. bhavnagar is also a delightful place for birdwatchers-a number of birds can be seen at Gaurishankar lake and Victoria gardens, flamingoes at the salt pans, painted storks roosting at Pill gardens, reef heronry at New port and a number of other good birding places in the city. The Velavadar National park, 1 hour from the city centre on the Bhavnagar-Tarapur coastal highway, has the largest number of blackbuck antelope in India today and one of the world's largest roosts of harrier, beside a wealth of other birdlife, nilgai, wild boar, wolf, jackal, fox and jungle cat. Deluxe accommodations are available at the Nilambagh palace in the luxurious range, Hotel Blue hill and Jubilee in the deluxe range, Hotel Apollo and Circuit house in the moderate range and Mini Guest house in the low budget range. The beautifully painted palace of Sihore can be visited on the way from Palitana to Bhavnagar and has a nice garden for picnic lunches. Sihore is also known for its temples and sweets.
PALITANA : Palitana is one of the most important pilgrim spots for Jains. The Shetrunjaya hill, with it’s 863 temple covered mountain summit, 600 meters over the town is considered by many Jains to be more important then the temple covered hills of Bihar, Gwalior, Mt Abu and Girnar. Palitana was the capital of a princely state of the Gohil Rajput clan, was known for it’s Kathiawadi horses, and has a number of palatial buildings. It is also one of the greatest tourist attractions in Gujarat for foreign tourists.
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