A trip to Aurganbad , the tourism Capital of Maharashtra state, India. Its 374 KMs away from CST Mumbai.
Our journey started around 6:10AM on January 17, 2015 when our train (Tapovan Express) left CST station. The train reaches Aurangabad at 1:30 PM.
You remember in my previous blog I did mention it to you that if one want to travel comfortably in the Indian sub-continent you have to plan and book your tickets in advance. Since this trip was planned on very short notice hence although we were able to get confirmed tickets but it was in the Non-AC category. Moreover, this not the end of our misery story .Google maps showed our hotel near Jalna which is like 1 hour away from Aurangabad. However, sometimes Google maps can also misdirect. After crossing the Aurangabad station the train was put on halt due to some technical failure and while we were waiting eagerly for the train to restart a fellow passenger asked about our destination the moment we told him that we are headed towards the heritage caves of Ajanta and Ellora, he told us that both the caves are near to Aurangabad and we were heading in a wrong direction. Realizing the mistake we were quick enough to de-board the train from that small station Karmad and after crossing the village we were finally able to hire vehicle which took us to Aurangabad and from there we hired another vehicle which dropped us at our Hotel which was right beside the Ellora Caves. Hotel Kailas is the only hotel which is near Ellora. It was well positioned in the vicinity of beautiful mountains and natural habitat however our room did not look interesting to me although the room and attached bath which was huge, the beds very uncomfortable and the room lacked basic amenities of a T.V and an Intercom. Also, they charged us INR 2400 for one night stay.
By the time we reached our hotel it was already 4:20PM and since the entrance to the caves are closed by 5:30 PM there was no point in heading to that direction. After a quick freshening up we decided to for a stroll and check out the local area. After speaking to locals we were told that the auspicious Jyotirlingha of Grishneshwar is just a couple of minute walk away. We decided to take the walk and visited the temple and offered our prayers to lord Shiva. The temple does not allow visitors to carry handbags or mobile phones inside the premises. We did a little shopping around the place. Please make sure you bargain a lot. The traditional Paithani sarees range from 2500 – 25000 Rs/ we were able to purchase for 2500Rs
The travelling Nightingale 