Balkawadi dam

Our plan on second day in Wai was to visit the nearby temples and Balkawadi dam in the evening. We got up early and did yoga in the fresh natural air of the surroundings. We left at 10:00 am and our first stop was the famous “Mahaganpati temple or Dholya Ganpati temple”. The statue of Lord Ganpati is around 6 ft tall. This temple was built in the 18th Century on the banks of Krishna river in Wai and is the first holy place of the pilgrims on Krishna, the people have known Wai as “Dakshin Kashi”. There are also 7 Ghats on the Krishna river’s bank. We also visited the adjacent Kashi Vishweshwar Mandir. This is a very old temple of Lord Shiva, the main feature of this temple is that Nandi is made by the same stone from which the idol of Mahaganpati was made.

After visiting the temples, we wanted to explore the famous point where various Hindi films like Gangajal, Singham, Swadesh, Chennai Express had been shot and headed towards Menavali. Menavali is only 3 km from Wai. Nana Phadnis was a minister of the Peshwas. He built a wada for residing on the banks of river Krishna. He also constructed two beautiful temples of Menavleshwar and Vishnu. The temple is known by the Village Menavali. There is a huge metal bell hung in front of one of the temple. We all had a nice time here clicking pictures and posing for the camera.

Soon it was 1:00 pm, we were really hungry and headed back to Anandvan for lunch. After lunch, we rested for an hour and it was time to visit Balkawadi Dam. We had heard a lot about Balkawadi dam being the best scenic point in Wai. The stretch of 25 km from Wai itself was filled with sweet smell of paddy fields and most of the time, Krishna river was flowing adjacent to the road. Once we reached there, we were overjoyed with the scenic view of the Sahyadris and Krishna river. Balkawadi dam is a must visit place in Wai, you should not miss it.