2025 - India, Mumbai to Goa: Day 5: Sun 9 Nov

Fine & Sunny 24 to 30deg C

Walk: 15km; total: 59km

Arrival in Mumbai. Arrive in Mumbai and transfer to a hotel near the famed Gateway of India. Rest up and set up your bike before exploring this energetic cosmopolitan metropolis with hidden gems and secrets. End the day with a meal at a famous Parsi restaurant. Overnight: Mumbai

Our early pre-breakfast walk this morning took us to the ‘Colonial Gothic Block’ as we have named it. Apparently when India gained their independence from the colonial masters a lot of these very beautiful buildings were abandoned by their owners. The India government is still struggling to sort out the ownership of some of them. It’s a shame really because without proper ownership there can’t be a lot of money put into maintaining them to a condition that they deserve. While there has been some effort put into upkeep many are definitely showing their age.

Back to a healthy breakfast and a couple of cups of that wonderful ginger tea. That done we met up with Mike and the crew to fit out our bikes with our own saddles and pedals. Took mine for a short spin up the esplanade and everything felt good after some fine tuning.

By the time we finished up with the bikes and catching up with old friends, it was time for coffee. Ken, Bob, Dogan and I headed for the overpriced and overrated western coffee shop, Pret a Manger. It was then onto the memorial for the 26/11/2008 Mumbai Terrorist Attack at Nariman House. Our research had indicated that it was an open to the public memorial, however on arriving at the Google location we discovered that it was a bit of a secret. In fact, it took some digging and talking to establish that the apartment block, Nariman House, was one of the six locations where the attack took place. See the story in the photos below.

About 1730h we all met up and headed out for our first dinner as a group. As usual it was a fantastic spread in a lovely, albeit very noisy, restaurant. We certainly needed the walk home to wear off some of that substantial meal. After some washing and preparation for the move tomorrow I gladly hit the sack.

SOME OF THE LOVELY OLD COLONIALS

What does this do to their spine?

Dogan & Mike

Bob supervising his bike fit out

THE STORY OF THE MUMBAI TERRORIST ATTACK

This is the apartment where a Rabbi and his wife were murdered by the terrorists. Apart from the carpet being stripped out it has been left as it was. The hole is from a RPG that was fired.