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Published: December 28th 2019
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Today is our last in Mumbai and we have decided to visit Elephanta Island. The rock-cut temples on Gharapuri, better known as Elephanta Island, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Created between AD 450 and 750, the labyrinth of cave temples represent some of India’s most impressive temple carving.
It was the Portuguese who dubbed the island Elephanta because of a large stone elephant near the shore (this collapsed in 1814 and was moved by the British to Mumbai’s Jijamata Udyan). There’s a small museum on-site, with informative pictorial panels on the origin of the caves.
Boats head to Gharapuri from a set of stone steps behind the Gateway of India every half hour. We had no trouble purchasing tickets, several touts approached us waving ticket books in our faces. One tried to tell us the caves were best seen in the middle of the day and his boat (or his friend’s) can take us on an island trip in the meantime. We bypassed him, and bought our tickets elsewhere. It cost us R205 ($4.10) for the hour long return cruise to the island, and another R10 (.20c) for the privilege of sitting on the upper deck.
The
ferry was followed by a greedy flock of seagulls which flew within touching distance from us. I have never been so close to birds in flight before. The braver ones snatched crisps from our hands. Strangely enough they only followed the outbound boats for some reason.
Once the island was reached, the ferries dock at the end of a concrete pier, from where you can walk or take the miniature train (R10) to the base of the 275 steps leading up to the caves. They are lined with cheap souvenir stalls and patrolled by pesky monkeys. Several doli-carriers were at the beginning of the steps, ready to carry up the aged or disabled for R1200.
It cost us another R600 ($12) admittance to the caves, which I thought a little steep at the time. There’s not a lot to do here once you’ve seen each of the six caves, which takes no time at all. The place is well tended, turf had been laid outside some of the caves recently and litter was at a minimum. We didn’t stay long, looked in the caves, bought an ice cream from one of the stands and caught the next ferry
back to the mainland. Been there, done that basically!
We thought we’d try and have a look inside the Taj Palace Hotel, as it’s the most luxurious in Mumbai. There is a memorial inside, remembering the victims of the terrorist attack in 2008. Surprisingly we walked straight in, after having our bags checked through a scanning machine.
It was gorgeous in there, the air was lightly scented, the floors highly polished marble with inlaid patterns topped with expensive furniture and Persian rugs, an air of wealth and opulence prevailed. We wandered through the foyer, browsed in a couple of expensive shops, checked out the memorial, snapped a couple of photos and left, heading back to our favourite haunt, Effingut, for lunch.
This afternoon we visited Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, short name - CSMVS/The Museum. The museum has various galleries which are related to Art, History, Natural History and Indian Culture. We browsed the textile gallery particularly, and had a quick look at some others, but didn’t get through them all, this place is huge! In 2020 a new gallery is opening, this one related to Indian jewellery,
which would be well worth a visit.
We headed back to the hotel after leaving here, it has been a big day. Tomorrow we have a 11.15am flight to Jaipur, heading north to where the air is cooler I hope.
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