Varanasi

Varanasi is the holiest of the holy Indian cities! To get there was quite difficult, from the Bandhavgarh National Park we needed 48 hours... the distance wouldn't be a lot, but our journey was exactly during the Indian Diwali festival (like Christmas for us) and the buses and trains were full... From Tala we took 3 buses, all of them more than full, people were sitting on the roofs, to get to Rewa, the closest bigger town. There we wanted to take a nightbus to Varanasi, but unfortunately this was impossible. These buses exist, but they were too crowded, people jumped in and out of the windows even before the bus came to its stand in the bus station! Other buses were canceled, so we had no other choice than looking for a hotel to stay somewhere overnight. After looking for a long time we finally found a place and there we stayed till the next day late in the afternoon. Then we took a bus to Satna, from where we had a ticket in a night train to Varanasi. We arrived there on time, but for the train we could wait for ages... instead of leaving at 19.30 pm, it came finally at 2:30 and all the time we had to wait somewhere (in an uncomfortable sitting area) in the station, because they postponed it many times...
Well, instead of arriving in Varanasi at 4.40 am the next morning, we got there at 12.40, 8 hours delayed!

The old town of Varanasi is nice, especially along the banks of the Ganges which are full of Ghats (steps). The streets inside the old town are so small that only bicycles and motorbikes can pass, so it's quiet. However it's very dirty, sometimes smells bad and it's also full of cows...
In 2 Ghats along the river they burn dead people in a big fire. After a small ceremony they burn the body and at the end the rest of it they throw into the river. It's possible to see this event from very close, but it's not allowed to make photos. The river is useful for everything, during the whole day people take baths, clean the body and teeth, wash clothes and dry them afterwards on the steps, drink holy water, ceremonies, etc.


Fredi made a good job as captain on a boat to go along the ghats. From the boat we had a nice view towards the steps and the temples and palaces on the river bank. People go inside the river and prey next to it.


Sunrise on the Ganges river, many people are already on the way to the river, for example they put candles inside, and many tourists take a boat ride.



One day we went to the fort on the other side of the river. Except a nice view from the walls there's only a museum which has some not really old things which are in a quite bad condition; broken, full of dust, poor labellings, etc.


The old town with its narrow streets, full of people and cows.


On a half day trip we went to Sarnath, the place where Buddha hold his first speech after his enlightenment. Except a few ruins of monasteries and temples it doesn't have more to show, only a small museum.