Marine Drive & Nariman Point, Mumbai
About
Marine Drive - popularly known as the Queen's
Necklace is the most popular tourist spot
giving an enchanting view of the sun set over
the Arabian Sea. It glitters in the night
with its beautifully lighted promenade along
the shore. Marine Drive was built on reclaimed
land in 1920, and is one of the most famous
promenades of the city. From Malabar Hill,
past Chowpatty, onto the elite business centre
of Nariman Point, the road glitters with streetlights
at night. The curve of the road resembles
a glowing pearl string. Marine Drive located
in the central Mumbai, on land reclaimed from
the sea, is Mumbai's most famous thoroughfare.
Recently it has come to known as Netaji Subhashchandra
Bose Road with Nariman Point on one end to
Babulnath, at the foot of Walkeshwar on the
other. This expanse of sand and sea is the
place where pleasure seekers come to relax
after dusk in the cool sea breeze. One can
see the statues of Lokmanya Tilak and Vithalbhai
Patel. There is a huge line of stalls on the
beach, selling 'Bhelpuri', 'Kulfi' and 'Paan'.
There are also shooting galleries, snake charmers,
monkey trainers, balloon sellers and even
masseurs. Recently they have added a park
called Nana-Nani Park for elderly people.
The 'Queen's Necklace', as it is also called,
emerged as a magnificent avenue and has seen
the changing of its glittering streetlights
from 'diamonds' (white light) to 'Gold' (yellow
lights).
Busy Shores
Along the shoreline are hundreds of tetra
pods, ungainly concrete structures which check
the fury of the choppy tides during monsoon.
The road is one of the busiest in Mumbai with
vehicular traffic zipping continuously through
out the day. If you're feeling energetic,
a stroll down Marine Drive is possibly the
best way to discover the Mumbai Shaher. This
is a windswept promenade, flanked by the sea
and a row of art deco buildings. It is one
of Mumbai's busiest roads, an important artery
for the heavy suburban traffic heading downtown.
Also see Nariman Point
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