One thing that I find fascinating are those cars that you sometimes see somewhwere in the middle of the city. The whole life is hectic and people are busy, just one car seems to have been forgotten by its owner at the side of the street and likely has silently watched the history of the street for the last 10 years, without ever being touched by someone. ... I like it. :)
Do you remember those buildings? On the left the Taj Hotel and in front of it the Gateway of India. Both are famous sights in the touristy Colaba neighbourhood in Mumbai and also the point from where the boat trip to Elephanta Island starts.
The trip took about an hour an sometimes made the impression to me of driving through an industrial area ...
We arrived on Elephanta Island, it is a small and calm island, that is about 10 km away from Mumbai. Not many people live there and it is not possible to stay overnight. Mostly tourists go there to visit the popular caves.
The Elephanta Caves are of unknown date but the carvings have been estimated by historians in the range of late 5th to late 8th century.
Included in the fee for the boat trip and the entrance to the caves was this guide, who told us about the details of the carvings, which all have to tell some interesting stories about the life of gods.
In this carving for example you can see the Hindu God Shiva and his wife Goddess Parvati. I think they are dancing, if I remember it correctly.
I'm actually not the biggest fan of monkeys, but as long as there are no Elephants around to take pictures of, what can I do?
It was way too hot and humid, so this guy is doing the only right thing.
On the way down from the caves we could hardly escape all the souvenirs and things that people wanted to sell to us. Trying not to make eye contact is always a good idea, but we ended up buying a few things nevertheless.
Going to Elephanta Island is a nice trip for half a day, if you stay in Mumbai and want to get out of the city for a bit.
3 Kommentare:
How come they call it Elephanta Island when there are no elephants? Some sort of tourist bait? Or does the word elephant mean anything different in Hindi?
Yes! Where are the elephants? I want elephants! You're promising it all the time, photos of elephants! Or Heiko on the elephant!
The island's name was changed from Gharapuri (City of Ghara-Priests) by the Portuguese in the 16th century, after the stone elephant that they saw in the harbour.
I never said WHEN I will have pictures of elephants ... just be patient. Come to India if you want to learn patience ... ;-)
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