We arrived at 6 a.m. at Khajuraho train station. We were approached by the hotel commissioners, so we had to be patient.
Khajuraho Temples
We take a taxi and arrive in the city centre. We stay in Surya, it is a quite big and fresh building (for India) with a great backyard, the rooms have bathroom and we take them with fan (there are with air conditioning, in the entrance of the air they have grass to refresh the air), at night there is no light. They have a generator but not enough power.
Garden Surya Hotel
Khajuraho is a small town of forty thousand inhabitants, in 2013 they were building an airport. It is famous for its erotic temples that are still in very good condition in different parts of the city. The main ones are together in one enclosure, they are the temples of the west. They are made of sandstone and represent daily scenes, figures from Hindu mythology and erotic scenes. Essential visit.
West Khajuraho Temples
Khajuraho Temples
Detail Khajuraho Temples
Khajuraho Temples
It is curious because it is the only city in India where most of the commissioners speak Spanish or Italian, they say they learn it because most of the tourists come from these countries.
Khajuraho Temples
We take a shower and go to have breakfast at Zen, it has a very cool Buddhist garden, although the owner is a bit tricky, Javi and Bea rent him a motorbike, he tells us that in the afternoon he wants to show us his farm and that we can taste his wine.
Joaquin and I rent bikes at the hostel. The first temples we visit are the ones in the west, they are the best preserved and you have to pay an entrance fee. It's worth going in.
Khajuraho Temples
Detail Khajuraho Temples
All the temples are built on elevated platforms to facilitate the walk around the temple that the faithful do before praying. They are dedicated to different gods, Shiva, Surya, Vishnu or Kali. Outside the enclosure is the Matangueswara Temple. Its reliefs are very curious and worth looking at in detail. They are of incredible beauty.
Khajuraho Temples
Khajuraho Temples
Khajuraho Temples
Man in the Temples
We take the bikes and go to the eastern temples, they are three Hindus and three Jains. We find the one of the rent of the motorcycle, which is getting heavy. Some children soothe the heat by drawing water from the well. The women and children always do the hardest work, in rural areas the water is obtained from wells and then transferred in carafes. The most precarious agricultural work is also done by them. In the city there is a huge lake, Shivsagar, with several gath access, people bathe and wash their clothes.
East Temples
Khajuraho
Khajuraho Temples
We eat at our hostel. They are working on a part of the garden and again it is the women who carry the bricks. It is very hot. We booked a car with a driver at the hostel to visit the Bandhavgarh National Park tomorrow.
Children playing
The afternoon is falling and we visit the temples in the south. There are peddlers in all the temples, they chase you till the entrance, they have learnt expressions like "ñaca ñaca la cigala". What a laugh.
South temples
A man tries to explain the history of the temples to us by a small commission. We advance a few more kilometers and visit Chaturbhuj Temple, the ruins of Beejamandal until we reach the Temple of Shiva near the airport road and return.
South temples
Woman drawing water from the well
Detail south temples
We have dinner in front of the hostel in a local restaurant, we eat tahli, delicious, the best we have tasted so far.
Accommodation: Surya 350 rupees double room with bathroom with fan, with view to the garden.
Entrance fee to west temple complex: Rs.500 per pax.
Train from Agra to Khajuraho: Rs.400 per pax.
Bike hire: Rs.20 per bike all day
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