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Hi all
Well we got togged up and enjoyed a very nice drink in the rather plush Harbour Bar at the lavishly beautiful Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai. If only we'd checked Booking.com earlier as much to our surprise the room rate was pretty reasonable so we could have treated ourselves to a night's stay. Hey ho we will do next time as we certainly intend to visit India again as we're loving it so much.
We spent 3 full and rather crazy days in Mumbai over the Diwali Festival. It was extremely busy, wonderfully colourful as many of the properties were decorated in fairy lights and so very noisy with fireworks being let off all the time. The sheer volume of people was a little overwhelming at times - the population of Mumbai is 18.4 million and there were thousands of visitors in town for the festival.
We dd manage to see the following attractions though:-
- Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai's biggest and best museum which opened in 1923 and displays a great mix of exhibits from all over India.
- The Gateway of India, a huge
Taj Mahal Palace Hotel
As seen on TV. Our place was one road back, but a world away! basalt arch facing out to Mumbai Harbour. It was actually built to commemorate the 1911 royal visit of King George V but was not completed until 1924. Nowadays it's a favourite gathering spot for locals and a top spot for people watching.
- St Thomas' Cathedral, a charming building begun in 1672 and finished in 1718. It's the oldest English building in Mumbai - a marriage of Byzantine and colonial-era architecture.
- The High Court, an elegant 1848 neo-Gothic building the design of which was inspired by a German castle. Sadly for us it was closed over the Diwali Festival as we'd have loved to have seen inside too.
- Victoria Terminus, Mumbai's most extravagant Gothic building (added to Unesco World Heritage list in 2004) and the beating heart of its railway network. It was completed in 1887 and today is Asia's busiest train station.
- Elephana Island, another Unesco Heritage site and an hour's boat ride away from Mumbai Harbour, home to a labyrinth of cave-temples carved into the island's basalt rock that contain some of India's most impressive temple carving. The temples are thought to date from AD 450 to AD 750. The island
Taj Mahal Pacace Hotel
Taking in the lavish surroundings. was originally known as Gharapuri (Place of Caves) but the Portuguese called it Elephanta because of a large stone elephant near the shore.
We flew from Mumbai to Goa on 26 October - just a short 1 hr 5 min flight away but felt like we'd landed on a paradise island! Wow what a fab part of India. Beautiful scenery, so lush and green, fabulous golden sandy beaches and the warm Arabian sea - a real tonic for the soul. We chose to stay way down South in Palolem and very pleased we did as it was a lovely quiet resort with a wonderful bay. We enjoyed 3 days of rest & relaxation there. It was very hard to leave but our time in India is running out fast.
From Goa we flew to Bangalore (short 1hr 10min trip) and then took a cab onto Mysore which we'd expected to take 4 hours but had omitted to take into account the rush hour in Bangalore so ended up being nearly 6 hours. We'd only planned to stay in Mysore for a night or 2 but ended up staying there 4
Victoria Terminus, Mumbai
Not bad for a train station nights as we liked it so much. It's said that if you haven't been to Mysore then you just haven't seen South India. It's one of the most flamboyant places in India and is known for its glittering royal heritage, bustling markets, magnificent monuments, cosmopolitan culture and friendly people. Whilst here we visited:-
- Mysore Palace, a jaw-droppingly stunning richly decorated palace. It was the former seat of the Wodeyar Maharajas. The old palace was gutted by fire in 1897, the one you can see now was completed in 1912 by English architect Henry Irwin. Highlights for us were the Private and Public Durbar Halls', the Marriage Pavilion (a lavish hall used for royal weddings) and the numerous fabulous oil paintings. It's a feast for the eyes as everywhere you look you see the most ornately carved teak and rosewood doors and ceilings and amazing stained and painted glass ceilings. Unfortunately cameras are not allowed inside. Luckily for us we also got to see the palace lit up which happens for one hour every Sunday and on public holidays.
- Mysore Zoo, which was brilliant and we're sure has much higher standards then we suspect most zoos do
Victoria Terminus, Mumbai
Looks more like cathedral in India. It's set in pretty gardens that date from 1892 and highlights included the big cats (especially the white tigers), rhinos, Indian & African elephants and giraffes.
- Chamund Hill, on its summit of 1,062m stand the Sri Chamundeswari Temple which is dominated by a towering 40m high entrance gateway. We queued with thousands of locals to get into the temple to be blessed. There are also fabulous views up here over the city.
- Jayachamar Art Gallery which is housed in the Jaganmohan Palace that was built in 1861 as the royal auditorium. The gallery contains a collection of kitsch objects and royal memorabilia of the Mysore Royal family.
- Rail Museum, open-air with main exhibit being the Mysore Maharani's saloon (a wood-panelled beauty dating from 1899). There are 6 steam engines you can climb aboard and pretend to be the driver - great for kids of all ages. Worryingly we noticed one of the engines was 2 years younger than us!
- St Philomena's Cathedral built between 1933 and 1941 in neo-Gothic style with beautiful stained glass windows.
While we were in Mysore there were some parades going on which we later
Elephanta Island
Big rock carvings hey! discovered were to celebrate its name changing to Mysuru.
We're now making our way down to Kerala where we plan to spend our last week in India.
Happy thoughts from India.
Lots of love, Trev & Verity xx
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Geoff
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Hi
Well can't say I'm not just a little jealous. It all looks fantastic and makes my little trip to India seem a weekend trip. Hopes all well on travels until next blog. But just to let you know you are missing out on pouring rain and cold temperatures here in England. But hey don't be jealous for us in Blighty. Keep well and enjoy.