DAY TRIPS AROUND MUMBAI, Mumbai

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Sula Vineyards is near Nashik, around 180 kms from Mumbai. The Expressway is excellent, and driving is pure fun. It would normally take around 3 hrs to Reach Sula, but there are a few stops that you can take on your way. The road through Kasara is really beautiful and looks fantastic in early morning/late evenings. It is recommended to go a li'l offroute and take a stop at Vaitarna Dam, near Igatpuri. The road is in a pretty bad shape but you would not regret taking that path.
The water at igatpuri is very clean, and the place is so very quiet, peaceful and lovely.

Wine tasting and grape stomping are both worth travelling the distance from Mumbai. Sula Vineyards also hosts an annual wine festival called the SulaFest.

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The trip to Mumbai is incomplete without paying a visit to Mumbadevi temple, the goddess of the city. Although the Mumbadevi Temple is not as striking as others are in the city, its resident deity, Mumbadevi, is the city's patron Goddess. The structure is about six centuries old, believed to be the handiwork of Mumbaraka, a sadistic giant who frequently plundered the city at the time. Terrorized by these unwelcome visits, the locals pleaded with Lord Brahma, Creator of all things to protect them. Brahma then "pulled out of his own body", an eight armed goddess who vanquished the brute. Predictably brought to his knees, Mumbaraka implored Her Holiness to take his name and built a temple in her honour. She still stands there, an orange faced goddess on an altar strewn with marigolds: devotees believe that those who seek her divine favour are never disappointed.

Elephanta Island is situated about 10 km northeast of Gateway of India. The island is about 1050 hectares big and has a population of 1600 inhabitants. Elephanta Island is famous for the rock cut Hindu temples and has been an Unesco World Heritage Site since 1987. In the main cave you can see impressive stone carvings; statues, shrines and pillars.

The temples were created in AD 450 - 750. At that time the island was known as Gharapuri, which means the town of Ghari priests, or is it place of caves. Well. I have come across both meanings and don’t know which is the correct one. In 1534, when the Portuguese came they saw a big stone elephant near the shore of the island and thus renamed it Elephanta Island. This statue can now be seen in Jijamata Garden in Mumbai (a place which I didn’t visit).

If you have visited Ajanta and Ellora and don’t have too much time in Mumbai I don’t think it is necessary to go to Elephanta Island as the caves there are not as impressive as the ones in Ellora and Ajanta. Well, the main cave is, but the rest is not.

It takes about an hour to go by boat to Elephanta Island (see my transportation tip for more information). When you arrive to the island the boat stops at the end of a long pier. After the pier you will walk past souvenir stalls and food stalls, and have about 120 steps to climb to the entrance where you pay the admission. Admission for foreigners in June 2010 was Rs 250. The caves are open Tuesday - Sunday between 9 - 17.

There's only one reason to come this far north: the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (Borivali, open 7.30a.m. to 6.30p.m. Tuesday to Sunday admission Rs.20/-),One of Asia's busiest national parks,with around two millions visitors a year.
The park's two lakes- Vihar and Tulsi supply Mumbai with water. The park's forest is a mix of decidous and semi evergreen and contains a great diversity of wildlife, including tigers, leopards, lions, pythons, cobras, spotted deer, black napped hares, barking deer, porcupines and around 5000 diffrent kinds of insects.

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Basilica of mount mary
area: mount marry road, bandra west

it is perched up on the hill alongside the mount mary's road and is commonly reffered to as the mount mary church.
it is the most popular church around this area, especially during the annual mount mary fair held in the month of september.
during this time thousands of devotees visit this church and the adjoining bandra reclamation area

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Siddhivinayak temple
area: prabhadevi

Located at prabhadevi this splendid temple made of white marble is dedicated to lord ganesha. this is probably the most popular temple of mumbai and people from all over the city make a beeline from wee hours of the morning especially on tuesday, considered an auspicious day amongst hindus

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Mumbadevi and other temples
area: mumbadevi road, near zaveri bazaar

this temple is names after the same goddess as the city mumbai.
it is probably the biggest temple amongst the sea of colourful hindu temples in the bylanes of bhuleshwar and kalbadevi.
the other temples that adorn this area are dwarkadheesh temple which has a row of monkey statues outlining its facade, ram temple dedicated to lord ram and the nar narayan temple.

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afghan church
area: navy nagar, colaba

The church of st john the Evangelist better known as the afghan church is a presbyterain cherch built by the british to commemorate the dead soldiers of the first afghan war of 1838.
this wat was a complete debacle from the british point of view where they suffered heavy casualities. the church began as a small chapel in what was then known as the " sick bungalows" (now the inhs asvini, the indian naval hospital)
this awesome structure has wide gothic arches and beautiful stained glass window.