Doors, Wall Art and Ghats...Varanasi December 2019

We had booked till Mughal Sarai. The train was on time. We bargained with the autos to drop us off at Shivala. They started with Rs.400. We striked the deal at Rs. 200. We shared it with another couple. We had booked Ratnakar Palace Guest House through Goibibo. The payment was done in full. However, they refused to give us a room saying the guy that managed online bookings have quit. Goibibo shifted us to Dynasty Guest House. Got a room on 4th floor. Negotiated with Goibibo and got a refund for the next 2 days booking. We booked Ganges View Guest House at Dasaswamedh Ghat for the next 2 days. Post freshening up, we went to the Sankat Mochan Temple, the only temple we visited this time. In the evening, we went to Dasaswamedh for the evening arti. While coming back we discovered a small cafe Indian Club Cafe and had dinner there. They make some great food there. Their pizzas have a brown bread taste. Awesome in taste and at Rs.99 only. From Dasaswamedh to Shivala, we came by Auto. It took Rs.10 per person.

Early morning we shifted to Ganges View. We then had breakfast at the Dirty Chai Cafe. Not worth it. Expensive and the food was not that tasty. This morning we walked by the Ghats from Dasaswamedh to Panch Ganga. The weather was very cold. We also visited the Alamgir Masjid. One has to climb up a good number of stairs to reach there. You can also go up till the roof if you talk to the Maulana. Locals said he charges Rs.100. We are not sure since we did not go. It was foggy and we could hardly have a view from there. We also walked through the very famous small lanes and bylanes of Varanasi. Spotted so many colourful doors on our way. We also found a guy who was selling Rudraaksh in it's fruit form. By evening we were back at Dasaswamedh for the Arti.
After the Arti, we did some shopping and then had our dinner at the Indian Club Cafe.

Today we had breakfast the Sushi Cafe which is very near to our hotel. We had Paratha. The food was excellent. Today we decided to walk towards Assi Ghat. On this day we spotted some awesome wall arts and kids playing with kites. We also did a bit of shopping at Assi Ghat. As usual in the evening we were back at Dasaswamedh for the Arti. The dinner was at Sushi Cafe. We had Chicken Ramen.

The last day of our trip. Our train was at 8.30 pm from Mughalsarai but due to fog it was rescheduled to 12.30 am and later it actually departed at 2.05 am. We slept a bit late and then packed our bags and kept it with the hotel. The temperature was around 4 degree celsius. It was freezing but we did not want to waste it. Varanasi holds a very special place in our hearts and we wanted to soak in as much as we could. We casually strolled through the lanes and sat idly at the ghats for hours. We just let the time pass by. And then we watched the Ganga Arti for the last time in this trip. We then had dinner at the Indian Club Cafe and picked our luggage from the hotel. We left Varanasi at 8.30 pm and reached Mughalsarai at 9.30 pm.