A French Girl and her Travels: Maharashtra

Friday, 30 December 2016

Saint Peter's Church in Mumbai, India

Hi,

As it's still the holiday season, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to talk to you about a church. So here is Saint Peter's Church in the suburb of Bandra West in Mumbai.

To be honest when I came to India, I did not expect to see as many churches and very beautiful ones to crown it all ! I was sure expecting to see a lot of temples, gurdwaras and mosques but I never thought I would see so many churches !

Not every states have a lot of churches but we can find a lot especially in Goa (I haven't been to Goa yet), Maharashtra and Kerala. Christianism is actually the third biggest religion in India.

Like France, India is a secular country, but we can say that for every indian no matter in which god(s) they believe, faith and religion are really important and a huge part of their life.

One day, I was taking a stroll in Bandra in Mumbai, I was actually taking pictures of street art on Chapel Road. Then I wanted to go back to the train station by walking and I came upon the massive Church of Saint Peter. I then decided to go inside.

The church is really huge and beautiful inside and outside. It's a Jesuit parish, you can visit the website of the church over here to have more informations about it. I am not really a religious person, but I have to say that I've never been in so many churches than during my time in India.

So I just sat a little bit, I think any religious place is a good place to think, so that's what I did. A mass then started so I even stayed during the mass. It's a great experience to participate to a mass in India, I really enjoyed it !

If you have the time, you should also definitely visit Mount Mary Church which is not very far, and which is a very lovely church.

How to go to Saint Peter's Church in Mumbai :

- You can take the Mumbai local train till Bandra's stop, then go to the west side and take a rickshaw (5/10 minutes depending on traffic),

- You can also walk from the station to the church, it's a 20 minutes walk. I really like to walk so that's what I did.

- If you're in the south of Mumbai, you can also take a cab, an ola or an uber.

Wednesday, 7 December 2016

One Day in Mumbai's Metro

While I was staying in Mumbai, I joined the community "Mumbai Instagrammers", you can find them on Instagram over here, or on Facebook over there. It's a group of people which enjoy photography. Anybody can join : amateurs and professionals. They organize Photowalks and Instameets allover Mumbai.

I joined this group because first of all I am very fond of photography. Then I thought it would be a great opportunity to discover new places (probably places where I would have never been by myself) and meet new people !

The first Instameet I joined was this one. It was organised by the "Mumbai Instagrammers" group and the Metro itself, it was called "Majhi Metro Festival" and you can find more info by clicking here if you are interested. It was actually a contest, the theme of this year for Majhi Metro 2016 Festival was "My Metro. My Story" where artists were asked to share their version of the Metro story. I took more than 700 pictures that day and these ones are my submissions.

I didn't win but I am really happy that I had the opportunity to join this Instameet because it is usually not allowed to take pictures inside of the metro, platforms, etc... Besides it was a Sunday, so mostly families were travelling that day, it gave me the chance to take great portraits.

Enough talk now. I hope you'll like my pictures and please follow me on Instagram by clicking right here, so you won't miss any of my shots in the future.