Aamchi Mumbai Ep. 2

Top Tourist Attractions of Mumbai

Mumbai is rightly regarded as the 'Maximum City'. It never fails to amaze the visitors with its beautiful tourist attractions all over the place. It has something to offer for all kinds of people, nature lovers, shoppers, spiritual tourists, city folks and a lot more. Here we are gonna explore the most famous tourist sites & it's amazing facts. 

1. Marine Drive :

First on the list is the magnificent Marine drive a.k.a Queen's necklace. It's official name is, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose road which extends itself towards the North side and forms a bay creating a lovely C shape, it's a concrete road of 3 km which connects Babulnath to Nariman Point. Day to day, the locals and visitors come here to take a break from the hustle bustle and to breathe in some calm atmosphere. One of the oldest aquariums in India, The Taraporewala Aquarium is situated nearby where hundreds of people visit to explore & observe a number of aqua species. One more fascinating thing about marine drive is the large similar-shaped structures, which are known as the - 'Tetrapods', 4-sided concrete structures which are placed strategically adjacent to each other serves a purpose. These structures protect the sea line & the people from the large waves which may cause major destruction. When waves hit with huge energy, the pods lowers their impact. There are approximately 7000 such structures, weighing 2 tons each which  were brought to Mumbai in 1950s. Sitting on this drive, one can also see the most beautiful skyline of this wondours city. 

2. Taj Mahal Palace Hotel :

The Taj is a 5 star, luxury hotel with heritage architecture which is situated in the Colaba area of Mumbai. There's a myth around this hotel construction is that, Jamshetji Tata once tried to enter one of the grandest hotels during the British era in Mumbai, The Watson Hotel, which was only meant for the Britishers and he was denied the entry. This annoyed him and out of anguish he constructed the awe-inspiring hotel, The Taj and ensured that everyone irrespective of any identities would be allowed to enter. It opened in 1903 built in saracenic revival style. It was one of the major target during the 26/11 attacks, where six explosions are reported inside the building and atleast 30 people died in Taj. On 15 August 2010, the Taj Mahal Palace was reopened after restoration. The total cost of restoration so far has been reported as 1.75 billion rupees. Despite of these adversities, 'The Taj' stands tall and marks the strength & spirit of the city. 

3. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalay :

Visiting the museums, which offer splendid works from the past are among the favorite things for history lovers. This museum was previously called as the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India. 

This has approximately 70 k+ items from the past Indian history and also elements from the external world including, Himalayan art, Asian coins, jewelled swords & weapons, miniature art works etc. This museum also holds many valuable artefacts from Harappan Civilisation & sculptures from the times of famous dynasties such as Mouryas, Guptas etc. Situated in the fort area of Mumbai, it was established in 1922. This establishment is listed as a Grade 1 Heritage Building and begged the '2010 UNESCO Asia – Pacific Heritage Award' for Cultural Heritage Conservation. 

4. Shopping destinations :

There are some places which are rightly regarded as the paradise for shoppers. Like, Colaba Causeway, Crawford market, Hill Road, Linking road, fashion street etc. All these trendy fashion markets impresses the people from all walks of life as the goods available here are quite reasonable and always in trend. The famous Crawford market near the CSMT, spanning over 72000 sq.yards. It is the biggest wholesale market in Mumbai which has a enormous variety of household items & daily goods. The famous Colaba Causeway is a must - visit place for shopping lovers as  it has the colourful junk of jewellery, fancy handbags, gorgeous antique & vintage pieces that one would love to purchase. The well known shopping streets from Bandra include, Hill Road & linking Road which offers fashionable accessories & embelishments at a reasonable price. All these mentioned markets have a variety of food joints where you can enjoy yummy & mouth watering delicacies. Walking over these streets is never boring, you will definitely discover something that you don't wanna leave behind. 

5. Mumbai's Coastlines

One cannot miss the beaches in the list of tourist attractions of Mumbai. One of them is the Juhu Beach, being the longest beach in Mumbai, it has a different warm & crazy vibe. There are number of vendors and stalls, which provide a lots of items. Stalls have delicious snack items especially, street food and local Maharashtrian cuisine. Best time to visit this place is believed to be the sunset, where one can actually see the sun disappearing in the clouds. There are a lot of activities like, jet skiing, parasailing etc present to attract the adventurous people. Another famous beach of Mumbai, The Versova Beach has a few rocky patches & it's famous for the colourful fishing boats which belongs to the fishing community. Marvé Beach in Malad is the widely known coastline from the Western Suburbs. Another coastline is, The Girgaon Chowpatty, near the Marine Drive where the very famous Saarvajanik Ganapati of Mumbai, 'Lal Baug cha Raja' is immersed annually which is attended by lakhs of devotees. 

6. Bandra - Worli Sealink

Everyone dreams of driving along the mesmerizing Bandra - WorliSealink which spans over the coastline of Mumbai, which is of 5.6 km, 8 lane bridge that connects North Mumbai to South Mumbai. It's official name is Rajiv Gandhi Sealink. Surprisingly, this is India's first 8 lane bridge. It significantly reduces the commutation time period between western suburbs of Bandra to Worli from 60 minutes to just 20 minutes. Over 90,000 tons of cement was used to construct the lovely cable-stayed bridge & it is superbly engineered. It took a decade to complete this project, which opened in 2009. One more fascinating fact is, the length of steel wires used here equals to the circumference of the Earth! Many people just head to this bridge only to witness the beautiful experience of seeing the entire city's skylines. 

These are the few famous tourist attractions of Mumbai, which many of us embrace. Yet there's a lot to explore & Mumbai is never boring. On this note, I end my listicle and hope to see you all in the next episode....till then stay tuned! 

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