2025 - India, Mumbai to Goa: Day 2: Thu 6 Nov

Awoke at 0700h feeling surprisingly refreshed. Bob finally worked out why my e-sim wouldn’t play the game, thanks Mate. I knew my darling secretary should have come along for a reason. Went down to breakfast about 0830h, and although it included some curry, it was very nice.

First attraction on our list was visit to the Gateway of India, built to commemorate the place that King George V and Queen Mary landed in 1800 and something. Considering how many people in India were probably starving to death at the time he would have been better received if he’d landed with some food rather than build a pretty well useless monument. Anyway, on the walk to the monument we came across some wonderful architecture, World Heritage Sites actually, that you wouldn’t see anywhere. The Art Deco stuff especially was amazing, albeit a little rundown in some cases.

Considering that an estimated 21million people call Mumbai home, the pollution isn’t too bad. Although there was always a haze hanging in the air that played havoc with our photos. By lunchtime we’d had enough of the traffic noise and pollution, so we decided to retreat to our aircon rooms for a well-earned rest. For dinner, we picked one of Mike’s (cycle tour operator) recommendations and it was great.