Mumbai - museums

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Our original plan of getting up early and heading out to one of the islands failed when we woke up late. This hostel is great - cool, dark and quiet. We quickly changed our plans to include a leisurely breakfast at the local bakery/cafe and a trip to the Prince of Wales museum (its now called Chhatrapati Shivaji).

The museum itself is set in pretty gardens and the architecture of the building is stunning. As usual it’s more expensive for foreigners but this at least comes with a reasonable audio guide. As is usually the way with us we discovered most of the side galleries were shut for conservation but the main galleries were open and there was plenty to keep us occupied. We found the information given in the sculpture section about the different religions and the stories behind the images particularly interesting.

After a good look around we had lunch in the beautiful museum gardens. The food was mediocre but reasonably priced and the location was brilliant.

Somewhat optimistically given how hot it is in Mumbai we then started the 3 mile walk over to see the Ghandi museum. En route we saw the university of Mumbai, clock tower, high court and other buildings of historical interest.

As we left the Fort area of Mumbai the streets we walked through looked increasingly dilapidated. Despite this there are still little gems to find as you walk through, colonnaded buildings or tiny side alleys lined with beautiful old colonial houses.

The Ghandi museum is in a house where he spent most of his time in Mumbai. The museum requests donations only and although small is interesting. The people running it were friendly and helpful.

From the museum we walked across to Chowpatty beach, had a coffee, and then began the long walk along the sea front back to our hostel via some food (this turned out to be a bit of a challenge). Food finally sourced, and dessert found in the fabulous ‘sweetish house mafia’, which was opening today, we headed back to our room for some well earned rest.

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