Haphazard sleep due to remnants of jetlag, despite our handful of days in Holland. -We're off to visit the heavily touted Red Fort--old Mughal palace grounds and fort in Old Delhi, using the metro--which is fabulously useful in this ultra-dense sprawl of 20+million people and incessantly honking vehicles of all sizes and shapes. We exit into the thick of the old city, an indescribable seething mass of humanity, which eventually carries us down the main artery of Chandni Chowk and across a chaotic intersection to the fort. It is massive, and there is considerable work being done all over the extensive compound, so many of the buildings are off-limits. Some highlights are Diwan-i-am, the emperor's hall for giving audiences, with its monumental sandstone columns and marble throne with a backdrop of inlaid stonework, and the emperor's private apartment, with its beautiful stone screenwork. There are surprisingly few tourists, especially after the hordes we waded through to get to the fort. After leaving, we drop in at the great mosque Jama Masjid, whose outside walls are literally draped with all manner of bazaars. We were fascinated to watch the actual building of a bike-rickshaw, the endless repairs points for flat tires, amidst garish carriages with Hindu gods, being repainted in the middle of the street. Food and snack stands galore as we moved closer in to the main drag of Chandni Chowk, where we continued to explore alleys where jewelers work with meticulous precision as the waves of humanity undulate by. This is also wedding sari central, with mesmerizing colors spilling out of impossibly cramped spaces, piles of removed shoes at the entrances. The traffic is intense and would inspire headaches in even a saint, the noise and the heat mingling boisterously with the smells of hot oil, cows and the hordes of street dogs who seem oblivious to the pulsating chaos around them. Occasionally we are fortunate enough to stake out a spot to just watch life happening around us. We have some (a lot, actually!) difficulty in finding the metro station back and walk in circles as each person indicates a different(?) way to get there. In the end, it's sheer luck that we decide to head in an unlikely and self-chosen direction, and someone laughs when we again ask and they simply point across the park.
The following day we make a short side-trip to see the Ba'hai Lotus temple which is closeish to our hotel, although we do have to endure the ten minutes of prayer and chanting inside, despite just having been told that we needn't stay if we don't have the time. From this temple it's back on the metro to a stop close to Hamuyan's tomb. We take an auto-rickshaw which zooms noisily through the traffic and arrives at a real gem. This is thought to be a precursor to the Taj Mahal, built in the mid 16th century at the behest of the emperor Humayun's Persian wife, Haji Begum, thus showing off some lovely combinations of Persian and Mughal architecture. The main tomb is imposingly, with steep staircases that lead to a huge platform at the center of which lies Humayun's actual tomb. It is said that his favorite barber was also given the honor of being buried in this complex, as his proximity to the emperor's neck with a razor apparently made him a man worthy of great trust. Humayun's wife is also buried on these grounds.
Later in the day we trekked across town to catch a glimpse of a new, immense Hindu temple Akshardham, but ran out of time to go in, as the distances and lines were terrifically long. Presumably there will be lots of opportunities to check out equally imposing sights in the upcoming weeks. In the evening we headed out once again to walk the Rajpath down through the garishly lit government buildings all the way down to India Gate, which was lit up with the colors of the Indian flag. There is a festival atmosphere, with strings of ice cream vendor carts, sweets and snacks, small cars and bikes to ride around on, complete with blinding flashing and pulsing lights. There are lots and lots of people out enjoying a stroll and some diversion in the more amenable evening temperatures, we even make our way to a restaurant in the more ritzy and green embassy area, although not without the help of Google maps! We know we've foregone countless other places to visit in Delhi, but we're focusing on putting together a doable itinerary, with the help of a local travel agency, and trust that whatever we've missed will be favorably supplanted with experiences in the rest of the country. Next, Darjeeling--of tea fame!
Check out the links for pictures of Delhi. https://photos.app.goo.gl/3No9kyzTnkAbRV1
https://photos.app.goo.gl/MybayJdbZFNpw8TK7
The following day we make a short side-trip to see the Ba'hai Lotus temple which is closeish to our hotel, although we do have to endure the ten minutes of prayer and chanting inside, despite just having been told that we needn't stay if we don't have the time. From this temple it's back on the metro to a stop close to Hamuyan's tomb. We take an auto-rickshaw which zooms noisily through the traffic and arrives at a real gem. This is thought to be a precursor to the Taj Mahal, built in the mid 16th century at the behest of the emperor Humayun's Persian wife, Haji Begum, thus showing off some lovely combinations of Persian and Mughal architecture. The main tomb is imposingly, with steep staircases that lead to a huge platform at the center of which lies Humayun's actual tomb. It is said that his favorite barber was also given the honor of being buried in this complex, as his proximity to the emperor's neck with a razor apparently made him a man worthy of great trust. Humayun's wife is also buried on these grounds.
Later in the day we trekked across town to catch a glimpse of a new, immense Hindu temple Akshardham, but ran out of time to go in, as the distances and lines were terrifically long. Presumably there will be lots of opportunities to check out equally imposing sights in the upcoming weeks. In the evening we headed out once again to walk the Rajpath down through the garishly lit government buildings all the way down to India Gate, which was lit up with the colors of the Indian flag. There is a festival atmosphere, with strings of ice cream vendor carts, sweets and snacks, small cars and bikes to ride around on, complete with blinding flashing and pulsing lights. There are lots and lots of people out enjoying a stroll and some diversion in the more amenable evening temperatures, we even make our way to a restaurant in the more ritzy and green embassy area, although not without the help of Google maps! We know we've foregone countless other places to visit in Delhi, but we're focusing on putting together a doable itinerary, with the help of a local travel agency, and trust that whatever we've missed will be favorably supplanted with experiences in the rest of the country. Next, Darjeeling--of tea fame!
Check out the links for pictures of Delhi. https://photos.app.goo.gl/3No9kyzTnkAbRV1
https://photos.app.goo.gl/MybayJdbZFNpw8TK7
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