Pune
Another first. I thought I was just getting a regular bus for the six hour trip to Pune. It certainly looked very ordinary inside – rather worn and mildly decrepit but it turned out to be electric! More photos from Pune here
Exploring Aurangabad
Yes, another early start but today I was going to take it a bit easier and hire a scooter to see the sights around Aurangabad. I did a bit of research and there was a scooter rental round the corner from the hotel, so all good. As it happened, despite a polished website, Bluebird Rentals was basically a young lad with his parents operating from their house. However, top quality service and I got a nifty little Honda for 500Rs…
Ellora
Yes, another early start! The caves were supposed to open at 6am when it was pitch black but when I arrived at the gate at 7, there were only a few people around, so I immediately headed for the showstopper of the site: Cave 16, Kailasa. So Kailasa really is the centrepiece of the site, in stature and position as it really dominates the place. It’s not actually a cave as they have removed a huge chunk of the rock face:…
Indomitable fortress and a pilgrimage
After exploring the Ajanta caves in the morning, I took a couple of buses and was dropped off at my next destination: Hotel Kailas, Ellora (2,800Rs). The hotel is very handily placed right outside the gate to the Ellora caves but I wasn’t going to squeeze in two World Heritage Sites in one day, I chilled in the afternoon after a very tasty okra curry (bhindi masala) because I was up first thing in the morning again, for two slightly…
Ajanta Caves
Time for takeoff India 2025, Maharashtra Tour. First stop The World Heritage site, Ajanta caves. But how to get there? Well a few firsts first. First time I’d been to Munich (admittedly just the airport), then first time on the huge Airbus double decker, A380 and first time Premium Economy (even though I’d flown Business class a few times!). So I arrived in New Delhi at 1am, a few hours kip before the last legs, a 4am flight to Aurangabad…
Picos de Europa
Ever since watching a stage of La Vuelta de Espana some years ago we had wanted to go to the Picos de Europa and this was the year. We had booked an AirBnB and were all set when the hairy member of our family had a medical emergency. She had a growth on her leg which burst requiring surgery. It wasn’t all bad as our host was agreeable to postpone our stay for a week, when the weather was also…
A Coruña
I can’t believe we’ve been living up north (Ponte de Lima) for over a year already. As we are still in rented accommodation and waiting for our new house to be built, our traditional September getaway is restricted to just a couple of nights away. Of course, the whole point of living up north is the ease of travel to Galicia so it is no surprise that we chose to spend a couple of days in the Rias Altas, near…
Goa
So I got the overnight train from Hubli to Goa. My ticket was to the end of the line – Vasco da Gama station arriving at 6am. However, I utilised a top tech tip that had been a real boon on this trip. Maybe not so new to more tech savvy readers, but this India trip was the first one I had made really good use of google maps on my phone. I could have been completely lost but when…
Hampi
Unlike most people’s conceptions of India, there are plenty of areas with a thinly spread population. Northern Karnataka is one such place. Subsequently public transport is rather sporadic, something I had already experienced. So for my next leg I decided to splurge 3500Rs (£35) on renting a car (with driver) for the 150km/4hr trip to Hampi. The first part of the trip was along narrow potholed roads across agricultural land – mainly sugarcane but also jowari which I found out…
Badami
My previous post starts with the problem of getting a bus from Bidar to Bijapur and the fickleness of non existent timetables. this post will be no different. the previous day I’d been told there was a bus from Bijapur to Badami at 6.45am. Arriving at the station at the appointed time I was then told there was no direct bus but I had to get the 6.45 bus to Kerur and change there. That would arrive at platform 4….