Mumbai - Bombay - The City Of Dreams

ATTRACTIONS OF MUMBAI

Mumbai, previously known as Bombay is one of the most populous and biggest cities of Maharashtra. Also the biggest metropolis of this state, Mumbai is also popular as the entertainment and financial capital. It is the largest city in India and is fondly called the city of dreams. It is a place filled with dreamers and people who work hard day and night to achieve their dreams. From struggling actors, laborers, Bollywood stars to gangsters, Mumbai has a lot. A lot that can be written about and talked about! Mumbai is also home to one of the biggest slum areas as well as home to the richest and thus it is only fair to describe Mumbai as a city for all. The majority of spoken language is definitely Hindi, but this city has welcomed people from all faiths and religions warmly. If you want to know and experience diversity, visit Mumbai. This city also has its very own language that is Bambaiiya Hindi. Known to be a city filled with warm and friendly people, we believe that anything written about Mumbai is never enough.

Also the biggest metropolis of this state, Mumbai is also popular as the entertainment and financial capital. It is the largest city in India and is fondly called the city of dreams. It is a place filled with dreamers and people who work hard day and night to achieve their dreams.

If you are all about visiting the iconic places Mumbai is known for, make sure that you do not miss the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, the Gateway of India, Marine Drive, and Juhu Beach.

1. Gateway of India

The Gateway of India is located on the waterfront at Apollo Bunder area at the end of Chhatrapati Shivaji Marg in South Mumbai and overlooks the Arabian Sea. The monument has also been referred to as the Taj Mahal of Mumbai and is the city's top tourist attraction.

The Gateway of India is an arch-monument built in the early 20th century in the city of Mumbai, India. It was erected to commemorate the landing in December 1911 at Ramchandani Road near Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Chowk in Mumbai.

The foundation stone was laid in March 1913 for a monument built in the Indo-Saracenic style, incorporating elements of 16th-century Gujarati architecture. The final design of the monument by architect George Wittet was sanctioned only in 1914, and construction was completed in 1924. The structure is a triumphal arch made of basalt, which is 26 meters (85 feet) high.

After its construction, the gateway was used as a symbolic ceremonial entrance to India for important colonial personnel. The gateway is also the monument from where the last British troops left India in 1948, following Indian independence. It is located on the waterfront at an angle, opposite the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, and overlooks the Arabian Sea. Today, the monument is synonymous with the city of Mumbai and is amongst its prime tourist attractions. The gateway is also a gathering spot for locals, street vendors, and photographers soliciting services. It holds significance for the local Jewish community as it has been the spot for Hanukkah celebrations, with the lighting of the menorah, since 2003. There are five jetties located at the gateway, of which two are used for commercial ferry operations.

2. Haji Ali Dargah

The Haji Ali Dargah is a mosque and dargah or the monument of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari located on an islet off the coast of Worli in southern Mumbai.

An exquisite example of Indo-Islamic Architecture, associated with legends about doomed lovers, the dargah contains the tomb of Haji Ali Shah Bukhari. Bukhari was a Sufi saint and a wealthy merchant from Uzbekistan. Near the heart of the city proper, the dargah is one of the most recognizable landmarks of Mumbai.

One of the most renowned Islamic shrines, Haji Ali Dargah, is a striking illustration of the Indo-Islamic architecture style. Famous for its mesmerizing location, architectural beauty, and religious significance, the Haji Ali Dargah houses the mortal remains of a 15th-century Sufi saint, Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari.

The Haji Ali Dargah was constructed in 1431 in memory of a wealthy Muslim merchant, Sayyed Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari, who gave up all his worldly possessions before making a pilgrimage to Mecca. ... Later, Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari had a recurring and disturbing dream that he had injured Earth by his act.

Since this is a place of worship, there's a strict dress code that you need to adhere to. Firstly, your shoulders and knees need to be covered, and women need to cover their heads as well. Also, men and women pray in separate prayer halls and there's a separate entrance for both.

3. Elephanta Caves

Designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the Elephanta Caves are a collection of cave temples predominantly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. They are on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri (literally "the city of caves"), in Mumbai Harbour, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of Mumbai in the Indian state of Mahārāshtra. The island, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, consists of five Hindu caves, a few Buddhist stupa mounds that date back to the 2nd century BCE, and two Buddhist caves with water tanks.

The Elephanta Caves contain rock cut stone sculptures, mostly in high relief, that show syncretism of Hindu and Buddhist ideas and iconography. The caves are hewn from solid basalt rock. Except for a few exceptions, much of the artwork is defaced and damaged. The main temple's orientation as well as the relative location of other temples are placed in a mandala pattern. The carvings narrate Hindu mythologies, with the large monolithic 20 feet (6.1 m) Trimurti Sadashiva (three-faced Shiva), Nataraja (Lord of Dance), and Yogishvara (Lord of Yoga) being the most celebrated.

These date to between the 5th and 9th centuries, and scholars attribute them to various Hindu dynasties. They are most commonly placed between the 5th and 7th centuries. Many scholars consider them to have been completed by about 550 CE.

4. Chhatrapati shivaji maharaj terminus

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, formerly Victoria Terminus, Bombay station code: CSTM (mainline)/ST (suburban)), is a historic terminal train station and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

The terminus was designed by British born architectural engineer Frederick William Stevens from an initial design by Axel Haig, in an exuberant Italian Gothic style. Its construction began in 1878, in a location south of the old Bori Bunder railway station, and was completed in 1887, the year marking 50 years of Queen Victoria's rule.

In March 1996 the station's name was changed to "Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus" (with station code CST) after Shivaji, the 17th-century warrior king who employed guerrilla tactics to contest the declining Mughal Empire and found a new state in the western Marathi-speaking regions of the Deccan Plateau. During the 18th-century the state was expanded by the Peshwas to extend over many interior regions of India as the Maratha Confederacy, or the Maratha Empire. The expansion was checked in 1761 by the Afghans in the Third Battle of Panipat, and the empire was defeated by the British in 1817–18 in the Third Anglo-Maratha War.

5. Marine Drive

Marine Drive is a 3.6-kilometre-long Promenade along the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road in Mumbai, India. The road and promenade were constructed by Pallonji Mistry. It is a 'C'-shaped six-lane concrete road along the coast of a natural bay. At the northern end of Marine Drive are Girgaon Chowpatty and the adjacent road along with links Nariman Point at the southern tip to Babulnath and Malabar Hill at the northern tip. Marine Drive is situated on reclaimed land facing west-south-west. Marine Drive is also known as the Queen's Necklace because, when viewed at night from an elevated point anywhere along the drive, the street lights resemble a string of pearls in a necklace.

The official name for this road, though rarely used, is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road. The promenade is lined with palm trees. At the northern end of Marine Drive is Chowpatty Beach. This is a popular beach famed for its Bhel Puri (local fast food). Many restaurants also line this stretch of the road. Further down this road lies Walkeshwar, a wealthy neighborhood of the city, also home to the Governor of Maharashtra.

Most of the buildings erected by wealthy Parsis were constructed in an art deco style, which was popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Among the earliest art deco buildings on Marine Drive were the Kapur Mahal, Zaver Mahal, and Keval Mahal, built between 1937 and 1939 for a total cost of 1 million rupees.

6. Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Sanjay Gandhi National Park is an 87 km² (34 sq mi) protected area in Mumbai, Maharashtra State in India. It was established in 1996 with headquarters at Borivali.

The rich flora and fauna of Sanjay Gandhi National Park attract more than 2 million visitors every year. Tourists also enjoy visiting the 2400-year-old Kanheri caves sculpted out of the rocky cliffs which lie within the park.

Mumbai's Sanjay Gandhi National Park is one of six national parks in Maharashtra state. The park is an amalgamation of forest and agricultural land that has been carried out over multiple decades (it was initially formed under the Bombay National Park Act in 1950). The site may not be as large or exotic as some of the top national parks in India, but it's luring basalt rock formations and accessibility make it very appealing. It's the only national park in India that lies within city limits, and it's full of more than 100 ancient rock-cut Buddhist caves, a lake, and a lion and tiger safari zoo. 

The park is a great destination for families to enjoy nature amid the bustling city center, complete with plenty of activities to keep both adults and kids entertained.