Ellora and Ajunta

After Goa we took off on a night train to Aarungabad which would be our base camp for exploring the cave temples of Ellora and Ajunta. We initially were going to try to do it on the cheap via the bus but Ajunta ended up being closed on Mondays and for $30 we could get a car and driver to show us both with far less hassle.




Ellora ended up being the more interesting of the two though less scenic than Ajunta. The Ellora caves were more of an exploration as there were few of the boundaries present at Ajunta. Both caves filled us with wonder at the dedication the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain pilgrims that had carved out of solid rock the temples that 1700 years later we could still marvel at. Bats were also plentiful and I’ve rarely, if ever, gotten to see so many so close. I’ll admit I jumped a couple times when one would drop of it’s perch to find another, more suitable, location.













We also got to tour a fort outside of Aarungabad that a very paranoid ruler must have built. It had huge walls, moats, traps, stairs, tons of stairs, and cannons all running up the sides of mountain. The guidebook said it had only been breached once and that was went the guards were bribed! We also wanted to know how they managed to haul several many toned cannons to the top!