Mumbai Travel Guide

If you happen to be in Mumbai one day, I hope the Mumbai Travel Guide here will be of use to you. Mumbai is a very colorful city, just like everywhere else in India. The Portuguese first gave the city its old name. It was not Bombay, it was called Bom Bahia at the beginning, but later the British translated this name into their own language as Bombay.

In the following years, it was disturbed that this name reminded the British, so in 1995 the name of the city was changed to Mumbai. This name comes from the Indian goddess Mumba. Although Mumbai seems to be connected to the mainland, it is a very crowded island city built on the island of Salsette. It has a population of around 20 million. With this population, it is currently the most populous city in India.

When it is very crowded, transportation, food, work, everything becomes a problem, of course. For example, there is a special food delivery system established in the city for those who rush out of the house on their way to work in the morning. This service, made by people called Dabbawala, is quite interesting and dates back to ancient times. We can call this system a food distribution network that started in the 1890s. Dabba means carrier, wala means lunch box and these people have been carrying these food containers in Mumbai since the 1800s. The system has been working in the same way for a long time.

When this confusion is over at noon, you can walk around a little more and go towards India Gate. Behind this gate is the famous Taj Mahal Hotel. This door has a symbolic significance. On February 24, 1948, the last British battalion passed under this gate while leaving India. It's the door to freedom. However, there is an irony behind this door, which was completed in 1924, if you ask me. Because the first purpose of it was dedicated to King George 5 and Queen Mary who visited the country. Afterwards, it was the last gate the British passed through.

Just behind this important gate, the Taj Mahal Hotel rises in all its glory. The massive domed stone building is truly magnificent. The Tata family, one of the richest families in India, had this hotel built. No one other than hotel guests is allowed to enter. If you remember the hotel had suffered a terrorist attack in 2008, unfortunately many people died here.

It is a very beautiful hotel with a swimming pool in the middle of a square-shaped structure with an open courtyard and rooms around it, as magnificent inside as it is outside. Although not everyone can get into it, they can take good pictures from the front of the India Gate.

The area where the Taj Mahal Hotel is located is right by the sea. There are aesthetic boats where we can take beautiful pictures at sunset, birds and friendly, smiling people in local clothes. Another interesting place you can visit in the evening can be the Haji Ali Mosque. It is an interesting mosque, which was on land during the time the sea was receding, and then re-immersed in the water when the sea rose, and a place where you can take beautiful photos. 

Another interesting place to visit is the world's largest open-air laundromat called Dhobi Ghat (Dhobi: person who does the laundry Ghat: can be translated as door). It is possible to see more men while doing laundry here. Laundry is washed, dried, ironed and delivered to the address.