Ajanta and Ellora
In my journey southwards I detoured slightly to go to two places, Ajanta and Ellora in order to visit some cave temples, both of them being UNESCO world heritage sights.
Ajanta has a collection of Buddhist cave temples dating from the 2nd Century BC to the 6th Century AD. Put in 60km to get there then checked into a hotel, left the bike there and went round the caves. Very much worth it, some wonderful carvings and paintings even though it was overrun with school children.
And the location... alll set in a river bend, they were rediscovered in 1819 by a British hunting party. Without a wide angle lens this is the best I can do.
Next day it was on the bike again and off to Aurangabad, a base for visiting the next set of caves at Ellora. Bit of a push making it uphill and by the end of the day my legs were aching more than usual, possibly also due to the amount of walking up and down steps all day at Ajanta after cycling in the morning.
Ellora is shut on a Tuesday so I had a rest day in Aurangabad. Nice enough for a single day. Next day I headed off on bicycle to cycle the 30km to Ajanta and then discovered I had a problem when I hit some hills. My left knee was get increasingly painful and I've a nasty feeling I've either sprained some muscle or, worse, torn it. Still, if Ajanta was worth the trip then Ellora even more so! A collection of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples from the 4th century AD to the 11th century. This picture is off one of the Buddhist temples.
The highlight was the Kailash, a massive rock hewn temple, shown from above, below (if that makes any sense). Apparently they removed some 200,000 tons of rock during it construction, carving it down from the top in one piece. Wow. My pcitures, as ever, just do not do it justice. One thing I learned here is that bat urine smells remarkably like bovril. Make of that what you will.
Currently still in Aurangabad and contemplating my next move. I had been planning to be on the bike today but I really don't want to push my knee, so I'll decide what I'm doing tomorrow, Christmas day, after resting today. If it's still bad then on the 26th I'll put the bike on a bus and head down to the coast in order to recuperate there.
Seasons greetings to one and all!
Ajanta has a collection of Buddhist cave temples dating from the 2nd Century BC to the 6th Century AD. Put in 60km to get there then checked into a hotel, left the bike there and went round the caves. Very much worth it, some wonderful carvings and paintings even though it was overrun with school children.
And the location... alll set in a river bend, they were rediscovered in 1819 by a British hunting party. Without a wide angle lens this is the best I can do.
Next day it was on the bike again and off to Aurangabad, a base for visiting the next set of caves at Ellora. Bit of a push making it uphill and by the end of the day my legs were aching more than usual, possibly also due to the amount of walking up and down steps all day at Ajanta after cycling in the morning.
Ellora is shut on a Tuesday so I had a rest day in Aurangabad. Nice enough for a single day. Next day I headed off on bicycle to cycle the 30km to Ajanta and then discovered I had a problem when I hit some hills. My left knee was get increasingly painful and I've a nasty feeling I've either sprained some muscle or, worse, torn it. Still, if Ajanta was worth the trip then Ellora even more so! A collection of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples from the 4th century AD to the 11th century. This picture is off one of the Buddhist temples.
The highlight was the Kailash, a massive rock hewn temple, shown from above, below (if that makes any sense). Apparently they removed some 200,000 tons of rock during it construction, carving it down from the top in one piece. Wow. My pcitures, as ever, just do not do it justice. One thing I learned here is that bat urine smells remarkably like bovril. Make of that what you will.
Currently still in Aurangabad and contemplating my next move. I had been planning to be on the bike today but I really don't want to push my knee, so I'll decide what I'm doing tomorrow, Christmas day, after resting today. If it's still bad then on the 26th I'll put the bike on a bus and head down to the coast in order to recuperate there.
Seasons greetings to one and all!
posted by Bill at 1:01 pm
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