Palace on Steps Hotel Varanasi

A 90 minute plane flight and 40 minute cab ride later, Benji, Rachel, Fuj and I arrived at our Palace on Ganges hotel in the Holy Hindu City of Varanasi - on the Banks of the Ganges River aka "Mother Ganga" aka "Mother Ganja" aka "River of Ganja"...We're ...

... . We didn't oblige him, just had a winge and a complain and then made our own way to the hotel by foot, which turned out to be a mistake as Varanasi in the summer is one of the most humid and hot places in India. Arriving at the hotel ...

... do Gangy) a podle mnozstvi komarich mrtvolek na zdi jsme usoudili, ze bude asi nejlepsi hned vytahnout moskytieru. Varanasi je nejsvatejsim mistem Hinduistu, nachazi se zde vice nez 700 chramu a kaplicek, prevazne hinduistickych (zasvecenych bohu ...

... or the stairs of the ghat. Let's remember, cows walk freely everywhere. Two ghats are used as cremation spots. Most Varanasi residents will be cremated here and other Indians may choose these ghats as it is considered very auspicious to be cremated ...

... hour train ride to the east, from Himachal Pradesh into Uttar Pradesh. We arrived at 7:30 AM  in Varanasi, Holy City of Shiva. We were met by Mulu a hotel guide, from the hotel Rashmi palace on the river. He met us at our train coach with my ...

... meet us there on Dec 16. The flight to Varanasi only took 1.5 hours. Papu the local guide and his driver greeted us at Varanasi airport with garlands of flowers. Varanasi airport is small but very modern. It took us 1 hour to reach Varanasi from ...

... ; “Nooooooooo.” Of course not; the driver would get 2-5 and a good caning. We get to the hotel, except we don’t.  Varanasi is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, which means that it’s not designed for ...

... that I would leave the station, go to the Taj Hotel in the new part of Varanasi (rather than going back to my hotel in old Varanasi), spend the night and figure out a way to fly to Bagdogra (the closest airport to Darjeeling). My biggest concern was ...

... out the life that hangs out on her ghats! Due to the recent bomb scares around India & most recently around Delhi, Varanasi has been under high security this week to keep a watchful eye on the Durga Puja and Ramlila festivities. The Vishwanath ...

... spiritually important.  We did discover some magic there, outside of the dogdy discomforts of our hotel.  Life centres around the lake and its ghats - steps down into the water - on which we watched people being blessed by Brahmins, real or ...

... 's worth of dirty, skinny kids begging and collecting bottles at the train station. By the way, there's nothing like the Varanasi train station- cows were sleeping in the waiting area when we arrived! In town the ubiquitous cows block ...

... is freezing as aircon is set so low, but the beds were dead comfy and we slept most of the way. Arrived in Varanasi, which has been permanently inhabited for over 6,000 years, about an hour ahead of schedule though actually nobody would confirm the right ...

... to try to get to Varanasi seemed to lead us in the wrong direction. But, 30+ hours later we are here in Varanasi and what a crazy, strange, disorienting city it is. Varanasi's principal attraction is the string of ghats that line the Ganges. The ghats ...

... us so far, leaving us to head into the oldtown bazaar alleyways on foot. Perhaps even more than some of the Rajasthan cities, Varanasi has a huge amount of cows navigating the same streets we were. Due to this i wouldn't exactly say that street hygiene ...

... oldest cities on the globe. Its origins are traced back to 1200 BC. Mark Twain wrote more than 100 years ago about Varanasi (earlier called Benares), “Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old ...

... sun rise over the various slums built along the track, whilst listening to the rest of the train snore. Arriving in Varanasi, Donna made a friend within 20 seconds, a nice French girl (never thought I would get to use that phrase ... ...

... quirky caretaker came out of nowhere and unlocked the gate for us. The site is the most tranquil we’ve encountered in Varanasi yet, with neither tourists nor locals present with us. When its gate swung open we kind of understood why. Inside we ...

... , and most people treat it as an illegal substance, due to the 'holiness' of the city. ironically, most hindus in varanasi worship shiva, apparently a practise that involves smoking hashish and eating opium, both of which are openly sold to hindus. a lot ...

... some other natural medical advice. He then took me for a paddleboat ride on the lake where we got a close up look at the hotel and the palace from the water. Normally you can’t get a boat after 7pm so it was really lucky that I had the experience. ...

... asked about the river behind it, the holy river Yamuna.  If you’ll recall it converges with the Ganges at Varanasi.  This would be a logical casting site. ...