Delhi

Since I only had one day in Delhi, I went into full-on hectic tourist sightseeing mode. Normally, when I visit a city, I'll have picked out in advance a few places and museums that I want to see and then spend the rest of the time exploring various neighbourhoods. It seemed clear to me that that approach would not work here, especially in so short a time frame. I had done almost no research on the city and was somewhat daunted by it. So I put myself in the hands of Delhi Tourism's full day sightseeing tour - 6 monuments in 9 hours, making our way between them by coach.

In many ways it was awful. I got no sense of the city. The guide was terrible and I know almost no more now about Delhi and its monuments than when the tour started. Being propelled from place to place is exhausting and we only had about 45 minutes in each place, which was not really enough time to appreciate much of anything properly. We saw far more than one can reasonably take in in a day. When I looked over my photos a couple of days later, I came across images of places I absolutely do not remember seeing! Keeping up with a large group is troublesome and at one point, in the busiest place, I got separated from them just as we were due back on the bus and was terrified that I would be left behind.

OK. That's the negative side out the way. There was plenty about the trip that made it worth doing. Although having to keep up with the group was a drag, I did meet one charming and bright guy, Nimish, with whom I chatted most of the day and, on account of him, had a much better time then I would have otherwise.

And then, of course, were the monuments themselves. That we saw so much can also be appreciated in a glass-half-full way. The first place we visited, the fairly modern (1939) Lakshmi Narayan Temple left me completely cold. Next up was the Lotus Temple, which is a Bahai House of Worship. That was splendid. To get to the temple itself you have to walk through the gardens which, though not nearly as impressive as the Bahai Gardens in Haifa, were lovely nonetheless with the neat, manicured and green lawns and trees in stark contrast with anything I'd seen in Kathmandu in the previous two months. The temple itself reminded me more of a space ship than a lotus flower though:

I can appreciate that the inside of the Temple would be a lovely place to worship (except for the constant stream of tourists). Although extremely plain, the cavernous space reminded me of a cathedral and filled me with a similar sense of contemplative awe.

Next up was the Qutub Minar, a 72.5m high victory tower in the Afghani style that was begun in the twelfth century. It's an imposing monument, set among the ruins of buildings that were evidently once equally impressive but about which I can tell you nothing. Although I have photos of the whole Minar, I've chosen instead to show you a picture of the detail of some of the carving around the pillar:

After a much needed lunch break, the tour continued to the Red Fort. It's a vast place, with several beautiful and imposing buildings, built by Shahjahan, who also commissioned the Taj Mahal. Unfortunately the crowds, heat and frustrations of the tour as described above, plus the sightseeing-fatigue that was beginning to kick in, all got the better of me and I really didn't enjoy my time there nor appreciate what is supposedly the most impressive place in Delhi.

Moving on the Rajghat, a monument that marks the site where Gandhi was cremated. It was a calm and peaceful place, much appreciated after the Red Fort. I enjoyed myself there more than I had expected and it went some way to restoring my spirits.

The last stop was Humayun's Tomb and by that time I was so exhausted that I almost didn't even get off the bus. But knowing that the end was in sight, as well as my deep-rooted fear of missing out on something worthwhile, gave me a final boost of energy. And thank goodness for that, because Humayun's Tomb is absolutely wonderful, by far the best place we saw all day. Built in the 16th century by the widow of the third Mughal king for her husband, it is supposedly a prototype of the Taj Mahal. Set in beautiful and peaceful gardens, the Tomb as a whole is simply magnificent:

The detail close up is just a inspiring, especially for someone with such a fondness for Islamic geometric designs:

Exhausted, I collapsed back at the hotel in the early evening and remained there the rest of the night. As busy as my Delhi excursion had been, I had an even more intense sightseeing experience lined up in Agra for the next day. That was so excellent that it'll take me four posts to cover it all, but for those you'll have to wait.