ABC Wednesday - 'E' for Elephanta Island

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The Elephanta Island is a forest covered island off the coast of Mumbai, and a quiet and interesting getaway from the chaos of the city. It can be accessed by ferry from the Gateway of India. The island is famous for its Elephanta Caves ( a World Heritage Site), which are cave temples carved in the rock of the island. The temples date back to somewhere between the 5th and 8th century.

To go to Elephanta island, go to Gateway of India, an impressive structure facing the sea, and board the ferry to Elephanta, tickets for which are available at the Elephanta ticket counter, or from a person officially distributing tickets to passengers in queue at the jetty for the next boat to Elephanta. The first ferry leaves at 9 am and the last one at 2 pm and the frequency is every half an hour.

After getting off the boat, there is a walkway that leads to the base of the hill, where there are steps leading to the caves. There is also a mini toy train that will take you to the base of the steps.

There was a lot to the trip besides the sculptures in the caves which are in poor condition. The ferry ride was one of the attractions.
In my next few posts, I will show you around the island, caves, sculptures, the huge canons, shopping for sculptures, souvenirs and handicraft and not to forget the monkeys grabbing food from visitors and drinking Pepsi straight from the bottle. And also the speedboats and the ships and the seagulls we saw during the fascinating breezy boat ride.

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