Time to show the map of my wanderings from December 22, 2025, to January 10, 2026 - the black, dark blue and pink lines:
My visarun trip on the 20s of December 2025: 1200 km from Rajasthan through Varanasi (the yellow pin) to a Nepalese border town (the black line). The thing is that, despite having a one-year Indian visa, I can't stay longer than 90 days in this country, and have to make visaruns. Thus, the Indian government sends me abroad to spend money on foreign services. For example, I paid 30$ for a 2-week Nepalese visa just to stay there for one night. Dozens of thousands of foreigners do the same - they go from India to Nepal, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia just to get another 90-day Indian stamp. Crazy...
The dark blue line on the map: me going from Nepal through Varanasi to Kolkata (the purple pin) to meet my friend Toni.
2 weeks later, on January 9, we took a train from Kolkata to Varanasi (the pink line), and here we are.
After having flu, I am back taking images of the streets and the riverside of this amazing ancient city, and let me start sharing my photo achievements.
That's the riverfront of old Varanasi, the ghats.
The ghats mean the riverbank stairs you can see in the images. This staircase land stretches for four kilometers or so along the Ganges River. But the old town isn't limited to the riverfront - there are hundreds of narrow cobblestone lanes leading to the inner parts of the old quarters.
Tourism is an important part of the life of these streets, yet Varanasi is quite authentic. Probably, because this city has been catering for travelers for two millennia or so.
Varanasi has been a pilgrimage destination for ages - it is believed to be a city of Shiva, and dying/being cremated here grants spiritual liberation.
There are a good number of foreigners here in January 2026 - European-looking people + Japanese and Koreans.
But local visitors absolutely prevail over us - foreigners are just a tiny drop in the sea of Indian tourists.
Only one corner's services are tailored for foreigners (Bangali Tola area), but in the rest, Varanasi as a tourist destination works exclusively for local visitors.
Inner tourism has significantly grown since I visited the place in 2014.
Once a quiet river with few splashes of paddles can be heard, the Ganges rattles with the motors of an army of tour boats in 2026.
But crowds of local visitors make the whole experience in Varanasi less touristy for a foreigner.
Because you feel it's just how the city has been living for 2000 years - a center of pilgrimage serving for thousands of Hindu believers.
Yes, many Indians come to Varanasi simply to admire the ancient city and take images for their social media. But for most, a trip to Varanasi is a religious experience.
Bathing in the Ganga River is part of it.
Daily in the evening, they perform religious songs on the ghats (Ganga Aarti), and that's another way to practice Hinduism.
They also have places where they cremate the deceased on the ghats.
Many visitors come to see how another loop of rebirth starts through the flames of fire.
Varanasi is also about art. Architecture, traditional sculpture, and murals in shrines and temples.
As well as modern art inspired by Hindu traditions and New Age graffiti.
There are thousands of paintings on the walls in the lanes of Varanasi.
There are also hordes of dogs, macaques, and mice in Varanasi, many goats and cows live here in narrow lanes and on the stairs, leading to the sacred river...
Stay tuned, I'll tell about everything in detail in the next posts!
The photos were taken with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 on January 15, 2026 (but the khaki dogs the burning fires on January 16, but the orange shrine on a 24mm), in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.