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Exciting Mumbai: Home of Asia’s Oldest Stock Exchange

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is one of the most populated cities in the world. In 1533, when the Portuguese founded Bom Bahia, which means “good bay”, no one could have thought how Mumbai would work out.

In India there is no official system in place to register people and addresses. This makes any estimate of the population of Mumbai a highly inaccurate task. This sprawling city is modern India’s centre for business and commerce, its financial capital and site of the the largest money market in the country. The Bombay Stock Exchange, founded in 1875 and based in Mumbai, is the oldest in Asia. Mumbai is also home to the largest film industry in the world. Even Hollywood cannot match the sheer number of films that are produced in Bollywood.

Mumbai is a city of contrasts where gleaming skyscrapers stand side by side with decrepit shacks, where air conditioned tourist buses cruise along next to ox carts. The city pulses with activity day and night. European style shopping centres, recreation venues, bars, discos and pubs are everywhere. Whatever your taste, whatever you desire, you can probably find it in Mumbai. Multiplex cinemas are found on every street because Indians have a love affair with movies. As is the case with many large cities, Mumbai is also burdened with a long list of social problems. The biggest problem is the size and growth of the population.

Land is scarce, and the cost of living is extremely high compared to the rest of the country. Approximately 6 million people live in slums today, making up nearly half of the city’s population. Many of the poor, unable to afford Mumbai’s relatively expensive housing costs, live far outside the city centre in impoverished commuter communities. Many spend several hours a day travelling to work via Mumbai’s extensive rail and bus system.

Mumbai is not an easy, relaxing city to visit and it is not exactly packed with typical tourist attractions. Nevertheless, if you are ready and willing to travel to every corner of the city, there are certainly some beautiful places to see. The home where Mahatma Gandhi lived from 1917 until 1934, for example, is open to the public. Known locally as Mani Bhavan, it includes a museum and research centre devoted to the life and work of its famous former occupant.

The Gateway of India is also worth a visit. This monumental gateway directly on the harbour is a symbol of both Old Bombay and modern Mumbai. It was constructed in 1911 to welcome King George V and his queen, Maria von Teck on the occasion of their visit to the city. Boat tours of the harbour depart from this point, offering the best vistas of the Mumbai skyline, with the Gateway of India in the foreground and the Taj Mahal Hotel behind it. It is also possible to take a boat ride to Elephanta Island, where the Temple Cave of the Lord Shiva is located, one of the two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the city.

The second UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai is the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly known as Victoria Terminal. Dedicated in 1888, it has long been one of the largest and busiest railway stations on Earth. Its imposing scale was deliberately designed as an assertion of British claims to power and the right to rule. Architect Frederick Stevens designed a functional building that is nothing short of monumental, combining the neoGothic style of the early Victorian era with elements derived from traditional Indian architecture. Richly ornamented, with every detail precisely rendered, this magnificent behemoth is under threat today from the damage done by smog and acid rain. From a purely practical point of view, the train station remains as important today as it once was to British colonial administrators. Over 1,000 trains pass through the station daily, carrying an average of 3 million passengers.
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December 29th, 2008travelRead More >No Comments


Unforgetable Vienna: by the Danube River

Located in the very heart of Europe, Vienna is both a lively modern metropolis and a destination known for its cafes, historic areas, beautiful parks, elegant squares and romantic courtyards.

Vienna means cafe culture, music and wine. Where else can one so happily spend all day sitting in a cafe, reading a magazine, sipping a Viennese coffee or drinking a glass or two of wine?

Roman Vindobona, founded in the year 15 CE, was completely destroyed by the Germanic migrations of the fourth and fifth centuries. With the Roman legions long gone, only a small settlement remained. The name Vindobona is likely a version of the Celtic “Vedunia”, which means “torrent”, a reference to the settlement’s position on the banks of the famous Danube River.

Vienna was a city of dubious repute at the end of the twelfth century. Its ruler, Duke Leopold V, was complicit in the abduction of the English king, Richard Lionheart, on his way home from the Crusades. The two noblemen had butted heads during the Third Crusade.

Forced to stop in Vienna, Richard was recognised and jailed. An enormous ransom was paid for his freedom, roughly twenty five tons of silver, a huge sum for those days. The duke used the silver to start a mint, the vast profits from which enabled him to expand the city and build new fortification walls. Although Emperor Henry VI had given his blessing to the duke’s illegal activities, the pope had not, and in 1194 Leopold V was excommunicated.

The first version of Vienna’s cathedral was completed in 1147 as a small parish church, and was far too large for the tiny population of Vienna at that time. The city would not become important for another decade, after it was named capital of the Duchy of Austria. A hundred years later, the original church was replaced by one built in the Romanesque style. Its facade, known as the Roman Towers, was preserved when construction of a Gothic church began in 1340.

In 1359, Duke Rudolf IV placed the cornerstone for the soaring Gothic nave, which was completed in 1474. Vienna’s early dukes had not been successful in elevating the town to a bishop’s see, which was necessary for St. Stephen’s to be declared a cathedral; it had always been simply a church within the diocese of Passau. It did not become the seat of a bishop, and thus formally a cathedral, until 1469. St. Stephen’s has undergone many changes since then. As tastes changed, the interior and exterior were upgraded to reflect the times. Recent restoration has uncovered traces of older versions of Vienna’s beloved “Steffl”, as the church is known locally.

The sixteenth century was very much focused on rebuilding Vienna’s fortifications, which had been damaged during the Turkish siege of 1529. Work was not quite finished when the Turks returned in 1684. They were stopped just outside Vienna, the gateway to Europe, and never got that far again. Bombardment from Turkish positions in what is today the Wienerwald (“Vienna Woods”) left the city badly damaged in the wake of the Turkish retreat.

Rebuilding Vienna brought a large number of baroque architects to the city. The most outstanding constructions from that era are noble and royal residences, including the Schonbrunn, Liechtenstein, Schwarzenberg and Belvedere Palaces.
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December 28th, 2008travelRead More >No Comments


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