11 a Must Visit Places in Mumbai, India

[Edited 18.01.2022]

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Mumbai was once called Bombay until 1995, it was officially changed by Hindu Nationalist party Shiv Shena. They renamed the city after the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi, the city’s patron deity. Though Bombay city’s name changed but the ‘Bollywood’ remain the same which comes from the merging of the word ‘Bombay’ and ‘Hollywood’.

Mumbai is the capital city of Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous, the wealthiest and has the highest millionaires and billionaires among all the cities in India. It is also the home of India’s largest slums population.

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Below are the places we visited in Mumbai for our quick trip:

• DAY 1:

Bandra, Mumbai, Maharastra, India.
From Sharjah International Airport to Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Directly after our flight (though so delayed), we rode a taxi to reach Bandra and walked to Mount Mary Church in Good Friday. We reached there by late in the morning. Then after the church, we had our lunch nearby then went to Bandra Fort “Castella de Aguada”. From there, we found a street food and stop there to try some. It was indeed great as well as the price. Then we continue our walk and hunt for the Graffiti Art Painting. We found few paintings but not those big ones. It needs more strolling tho. But we’ve decided before evening to look for our hotel, we avoid strolling late in this travel. We rode Mumbai’s popular Tuk-tuk ride and great we’ve experienced it! It was a nice day. ♥ (more on the video playlists of our Day 1 below in this post).

1. MOUNT MARY CHURCH

The Basilica of our Lady of the Mount or Mount Mary Church is a Roman Catholic Church located on a hillock in Bandra, about 80 metres above sea level. This is the first site we visited after we landed in Mumbai. You can also used the back way of the church if you want to walk through lots of stairs.

2. BANDRA FORT

The Castella de Aguada or Bandra Fort was built by Portuguese in 1640 as a watchtower that overlooks the Mahim Bay, the Arabian sea and the southern island of Mahim. This also serves that guards the northern sea route into Mumbai harbor.

2.1 Bandra-Worli Sea Link

Is a cable-stayed main spans; concrete steel precast segment viaducts at either end. This bridge links from Bandra in the Western suburbs of Mumbai to Worli in south Mumbai.

3. GRAFFITI ART PAINTING

We’ve checked that there are lots of Graffiti arts in some buildings in Bandra area. Unfortunately, during our hunting we just found few paintings and not those big & many others. But still appreciated it and thankful for the day as we ended our stroll and look for our hotel. We rode tuk-tuk from there.

 

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• DAY 2:

Our original plan is to visit Ellora & Ajanta caves but due to a busy season, we cannot book a train or flights going there. So we checked another ancient sites which are so close to Mumbai. We found this Elephanta caves & Kanheri caves. In our day 2, we visited below sites including Elephanta caves. Of course, we cannot forget India’s one of their great men and Mahatma Gandhi will always be the first in mind. We also went to Mani Bhavan and some other historic places in Mumbai.

4. GATEWAY OF INDIA

The Gateway of India was built during the 20th century in Bombay. It was erected to commemorate the landing of King George V and Queen Mary at Apollo Bunder on their visit in 1911. But the construction did not begin until 1915.

From Gateway to India we rode a ferry to our next destination to Elephanta caves. There are ferries at the back of this monument routing towards Elephanta island.

Here you can see also the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel from this view to the opposite side.

4.1 TAJ MAHAL PALACE HOTEL

It is a heritage 5 star hotel in Colaba region. History: It is widely believed that Jamsetji Tata decided to build the hotel after he was refused an entry to one of the city’s grand hotels of the time, Watson’s Hotel, as it was restricted to “whites only”. However, this story has been challenged by some commentators that suggest that Tata was unlikely to have been concerned with ‘revenge’ against his British adversaries. Instead, they suggest that the Taj was built at the urging of editor of The Times of India who felt a hotel “worthy of Bombay” was needed.

5. ELEPHANTA CAVES

Elephanta caves is located at the island of Elephanta, Maharashtra, India. These are collections of cave temples literally “the city of caves” mainly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. It is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

6. COLABA CAUSEWAY

If you want to buy something locally made products, you should visit Colaba Causeway Market. It is located in Mumbai’s nearby famous landmarks – the Gateway of India and Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. (Unfortunately, I don’t have photos from Colaba market but it’s on the video playlists below this post).

7. MANI BHAVAN

Mani Bhavan was a focal point of Mahatma Gandhi’s political activities in Mumbai between 1917 to 1934. This mansion belonged to Revashankar Jagjeevan Jhaveri, Gandhi’s friend and host in Mumbai during this period.

Front view of Mani Bhavan’s Bombay residence

8. CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI TERMINUS RAILWAY STATION

This is a historic railway station and a UNESCO World Heritage site in Mumbai. It is formerly known as Victoria Terminus, built to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This is the headquarters of the Central railways and one of the busiest railway stations in India. The station name changed from Victoria Terminus to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on March 1996, in honor of the emperor Chhatrapati Shivaji of the Maratha empire.

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• DAY 3:

Few days before traveling to Mumbai, we’ve got a quick research about ancient caves that can be found there. Since we can’t travel to Aurangabad district of Maharashtra to visit Ellora & Ajanta caves. We look for another historic sites nearby in Mumbai and so we found Kanheri and Elephanta caves. But before those ancient things, we went first to places that many common people lives. So first we check Dhobi Ghat and Dharavi slums. To know more why we visit there instead of those luxurious places in Mumbai, check on the video playlists below this post. 😉

9. DHOBI GHAT

Dhobi Ghat is the largest human laundry in the world. Their customers are mostly from hotels and hospitals in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The washers are known as Dhobis. It is located next to Mahalaxmi Railway Station.

10. DHARAVI SLUMS

It is considered to be one of Asia’s largest slums & one of the most densely populated areas in the world. There are lots of industries found in Dharavi like: pottery, textile, leather and the recycling industry. When we were there we’ve gone only in pottery area and just a few minutes in leather stores.

It said that Dharavi exports goods around the world. These consists of leather products, jewelries, accessories and textiles. Its markets includes stores in the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

11. KANHERI CAVES

Kanheri caves are group of caves and rock-cut monuments located at Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai. Kanheri comes from the sanskrit Krishnagiri which means ‘Black Mountain’. Most of the caves contain Buddhist sculptures, relief carvings, paintings and inscriptions dating from the first century CE to the 10th century CE. There are 109 caves that are carved from the basalt rock in the forest.

The photo below are Chaitya and Stupa. Chaitya is a common term used in Buddhism refers to a sanctuary, shrine, temple or prayer hall in India. The Stupa is a hemispherical structure that contains relics used as a place of meditation.

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My Travel Videos in our 3 days trip in Mumbai below. Hope you like watching. ☺

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Reference: Wikipedia