We reached our hotel in an auto rickshaw and there was no way we wanted to leave our hotel room between 10am and 5pm. However, we still tried to visit a few places and take in the vibrant colours of the city.
Just like Delhi, Ahmedabad has an old city at its core.
Visiting these old areas is like a trip back in time to when these cities were established and from where their character emerged.
We walked though the old city and reached Teen Darwaza in the evening.
As the sun shone down on the old city market, three glorious arches stood tall to offer relief from the sweltering heat.
The longest and oldest gateway in the city of Ahmedabad, Teen Darwaza is a testimony to the architectural marvels of old India. Carved with intricacies and moulded by culture, this is a sight to behold.
The narrow lanes are lined with shops selling everything from textiles to traditional footwear and accessories.
We then headed to the Law Garden.
The night market here is a popular shopping destination known for its colourful textiles and handicrafts.
The market is located in a picturesque garden and vendors set up shop in the evening, making it an ideal spot for an evening stroll.
The market is known for its bandhani (tie-dye) and mirror work textiles, as well as its intricate embroidery work.
Close to the market is the century-old eatery Das Khaman. Their traditional Gujarati snacks are the best in the city.
The next day we booked an air-conditioned car and headed to the Sabarmati Ashram, which was once a humble dwelling of Mahatma Gandhi and his wife Kasturba.
The Ashram is now a monument of national importance.
About 5km north of Ahmedabad, the Sabarmati Ashram lies on a serene, tranquil stretch of Sabarmati River.
The Sabarmati Ashram is not just a place where you can go back in time to trace the life of Mahatma, it is a destination for soul-searching as well.
The place still echoes with the legacy left behind by Gandhi.
As soon as you enter the ashram, you can immediately feel a change in the air. There is peace and serenity all around you; the timeless wisdom and warmth of the great Mahatma Gandhi continue to inhabit the ashram, which is spread over 32 acres of land.
There is so much more to the walls and pictures.
We even learned how to make threads using the spinning wheel (charkha).
Our next stop was the Akshardham Temple.
Akshardham is a majestic, intricately carved stone structure that stands amid lush green gardens set in a 23-acre plot.
It was built using 6000 tonnes of pink sandstone from Rajasthan. The temple is 33m in height, 73m in length and 40m in width. The monument enshrining the two-metre-high, gold-leafed Murti (idol) of Lord Swaminarayan is the focal point of this temple.
After taking in all we could in the heat, we headed back to the hotel to rest.
A tea stall next to our hotel was an added advantage as it was open all night so we could go there for a piping hot cup of rajwadi tea served in an earthen cup even at 2am.
On the last day of our stay in Ahmedabad, we decided to stay in the hotel because the temperature outside was soaring.
In the evening, when the weather felt a little cooler, we went to the Atal Bridge, which was a short drive from our hotel.
This iconic 300-metre pedestrian bridge was named after the former prime minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee. It connects the eastern and western sides of the Sabarmati Riverfront and has a unique design which is bedecked with eye-catching LED lighting.
There were a lot more places we wanted to visit like the Science City, Adalaj Stepwell, which has exquisite Solanki architecture, Dinosaur and Fossil Park, Calico Textile Museum, to name a few, but the weather was a spoilsport and we decided we would have to visit the city another time.
