Aurangabad - Ellora Cave tour

Pretty much the only reason that we came to Aurangabad was to see the Ellora caves.  For the first time on this trip, we decided to do a tour.  Our bus came to pick us up at our hotel, and took us to Daulatabad Fort on the way to the Ellora Caves.

One really cool part of this fort was when the tour guide led us through some dark tunnels. 

He explained that these tunnels were designed to be narrow, winding and dark in order to slow down potential enemies that had entered the fort before the draw bridge had been raised.  If you let yourself trail behind the group (with the flashlight), which I intentionally did, it really was pitch black in there and all you could hear everywhere around you was the screeching of thousands of bats.  Pretty darn cool.

After making our way through the fort, it was time to head to Ellora.  Unlike many temples and monuments that I have seen in my life, these caves are carved out solid rock. 

 Mount Kailasa (one of the many caves) is twice the size of the Parthenon.  In its creation, over 200,000 tonnes of rock was removed from this single temple.  It took over 7000 workers 150 years to complete.

For an above view of Mt.Kailash click on this link