Aurangabad sight seeing.

After a good hearty breakfast we met Mr. Thomas Bansod, our guide for today and tomorrow. He was waiting for us in the hotel lobby.

Thomas appeared to be a pleasant, knowledgeable, and soft spoken person. We are looking forward to the day.

Our first stop was the Ellora Caves. This was a good hour or so away and located in the Western Ghats, the mountain range separating the land mass from the Arabian Sea. On the way to Ellora we made brief stops to photograph the Daulatabagh fort.

Ellora is one of the largest rock-cut monastery-temple caves complexes in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Maharashtra, India. The site presents monuments and artwork of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism from the 600-1000 CE period. Cave 16 of Ellora features the largest single monolithic rock excavation in the world, the Kailasha temple, a chariot shaped monument dedicated to Shiva.

It was a lot of walking but definitely worth it.

After Ellora we stopped at the local restaurant called Kailash for a simple but tasty lunch of chicken muglai and roti. It was good to sit down.

Next stop was Bibi ka Maqbara. Built in 1668 the Tomb of Rabia Durani or Bibi Ka Maqbara was erected by Azam Shah, the son of Aurangzeb to commemorate his mother Dilras Begum who was titled Rabia Durani after her death.

The final stop was the ancient water wheel, which was quite impressive but nothing much to photograph.

We then went to the hotel, freshened up and went in for dinner. They have special dinner Friday – Sunday and today was Muglai.

The cooking was fabulous and I ate way too much.

Back to the room to retire; there will be an early start tomorrow.