Mumbai - part 3

Today, Tuesday, we had planned to visit the Elephanta Caves. These are ancient (6th-8th century) shrines situated on an island about an hour’s boat trip from Mumbai. We had a great view of our hotel as the boat pulled out from the dock.

Back to the hotel early afternoon and time to relax by the pool after some hectic sightseeing!

At 5pm, we joined a small group heritage tour of the hotel - billed at an hour, but our guide was so enthusiastic about the hotel and the Tata family that it lasted about 1 3/4 hours! He had worked at the hotel for 42 years and was then asked to come out of retirement to run these tours, so he was a mine of information. The hotel was built in 1903. The founder of the Tata dynasty had been denied access to Watson’s hotel (“no Indians, no dogs”) and so decided to build his own, bigger and better. Over the years, it has hosted the great and the good….and now us.

Dinner this evening was at Pizza on the Bay, as a change from Indian food! The restaurant originally opened in 1968 as the Talk of the Town and has been operating on Marine Drive ever since. Excellent pizza and a passable Indian rosé wine. We walked there so we could see some of the buildings around the Maidan lit up at night, when they look even more spectacular than they do in the day time!