Home to many legends and having earned the title of being the holiest city, Varanasi has been the home to Hindu pilgrims for ages. It is believed that one who is graced to die on the land of Varanasi would attain salvation and freedom from the cycle of birth and rebirth.

“Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together”.

Mark Twain

Megha Sapre is a 22-year-old aspiring poet and travel writer who loves traveling across the cities and states of India with a soft corner for the hills and mountains. A media student with a keen interest in the field of advertising and marketing, she also loves the field of art and humanitarian studies. Let’s explore with her the city that gave birth to Hinduism. 

Day 1 and 2 

Starting their journey from Mumbai, they traveled all the way to Varanasi in their car. It took them 3 days to reach their destination while taking a few small halts in between for food and tea and a few majors for spending the night. They crossed Indore and Bhopal the next day after they started their travel and stayed at Hotel Vardaan in Sagar for the night. Leaving early the next morning for Varanasi, they reached there by the 3rd day. 

Day 3

Megha was traveling with her whole family and her adorable pet on this impromptu trip. Upon reaching Varanasi they stayed at the Hotel Uday Palace for their 1-day excursion. After some rest and a change of clothes; they visited the Sarnath Temple, which is world-renowned. Not to mention, it is the place where Buddha preached his first sermon after enlightenment, just 10 km away, Varanasi has been a symbol of the Hindu renaissance. They hired a tourist cab to commute locally and the driver also took them to all the tourist places.

However, next on their list were the Birla Temple and the  Banaras Hindu University (BHU). The Birla temple is located inside the campus of BHU and is famous for its modern architecture, and gets its name from the Birla family that led its construction. And as for the Banaras Hindu University itself, it is the largest residential university in Asia. SankatMochan Hanuman Mandir is also one of the prominent temple; dedicated to the Hindu god Hanuman. 

Megha recalls attending Ganga Aarti as her most interesting experience. The aarti takes place at dusk every day at Dashashwamedh ghat in honor of the river Ganga. They booked a personal boat to see Manikarnika ghat and  Dashashwamedh ghat. However, people are not allowed to step at these ghats, since these are the holy cremation places, but visitors are allowed to see them from a distance. 

Ending her eventful day by shopping the famous Banarasi sarees at local vendors in Varanasi, Megha and her family left the next day for home. 

Mindful suggestions

Our traveler suggests hiring a local guide or a cab to travel locally because the roads are confusing and there is a lot of traffic. You might get little help from local people so plan your trip prior. She also highly recommends shopping at local stores rather than commercial ones, for two reasons. One being that they will charge you a lot, and the second is that it is always good to support local businesses. She also had quite a problem finding pet-friendly hotels, so keep that in mind, if you plan to travel with your pets.

So this was the exciting and authentic story of Megha Sapre exploring Varanasi. 

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