18 Mar 2025
Roobaroo Walks tour was amazing. We booked both City of Good Life and Essential tours. From wandering the labyrinth of Old Town (better keep up it's truly a Medevil maze) and often stopping at shops for exotic tastes of local favs and chats and sometimes hugs with the lovely residents to floating on the Ganga and learning the Varanasi's deep connection to the sacred river that all of life and death revolves around. Our guide Anupam, left us with a deep deep understanding of the City... far beyond a laundry list of dates and historic incidents. In fact, Rooobaroo masterfully conveyed that it is not time and larger-than-life figures that matter to Varanasi but the timelessness of faith and the rhythm of life that is at the core of this ancient world. A chance wander for a photograph was the occasion for us to eat fruit from a 500 year old tree under which the Hindu God Hanuman appeared and inspired Tulsi Das ji to bring the story of Rama to the masses... and - if you're lucky - you'll get to see the local guys wrestling in the siltly soil that Ganga brings each year. We were very lucky to find Roobaroo and can't recommend them enough.