Delhi monuments, sights, streets

We’ve been in Delhi for a week now. We’ve learned some things and still have much to learn.  We know how to use the metro, rented a car one day to take us to several interesting monuments, tombs and temples, have walked around downtown a bit, have fought off many people trying to sell us something or get us into a shop where they will get a cut if we buy something.  We are unfortunately learning that not all the helpful tips we are offered are true.  We found a metro station that we like. It’s one station past the big interchange station at Connaught Place. It’s quiet and clean and there are no crowds. We can remember it because it sounds like ‘Barak Obama.’ The name of this station is Barakhambra road. We used it twice before and recognized the entrance.  So when a fellow tried to direct us to a shop, I said, “No, we are just going to the metro.” and I pointed towards the station. He said “The metro is not that way. It’s back this way.”  We knew he was lying just to get us to turn back and we kept going towards the metro. I believe at times people offering to help us just want to be helpful, but many times they are hoping to gain something by “helping” us.

After being here for a few days we knew enough to tell a driver where we wanted to go.  I should have done more research ahead of time, but as you know we have been busy for weeks or months and I didn’t do that. So on Saturday I made a list of 4 places I thought we would like to see that weren’t too far apart.  We let the driver decide which order was best. I’m not sure what criteria he used.  I was able to follow where we were on my map.

 

Our first stop was the beautiful and relatively new Lotus Temple. I’d seen several beautiful photos of this temple, but unfortunately the day we were there was overcast and a bit hazy, so my photos were less impressive.

This is a B’Hai temple. There were many visitors, which we lined up with to take off our shoes and drop them at the shoe check, then joined the line to enter the temple. Apparently they don’t want any shoes inside, so carrying them with you is not an option. Even though it was Saturday, there were many school groups at the the places we visited. On our way out a group of mostly women slipped between me and Jim and then one of them asked if she could get a picture with me.  I think my white hair is quite an unusual sight.  I don’t think I’ve seen any Indian women with white hair. Or maybe it’s my race.  Anyway here is the picture. I think for the first picture he took they were all smiling, but he couldn’t find the button on my camera, so by the time he shot this one, they weren’t smiling anymore.

Our next destination was the 5-yr old Swaminarayan Akshardham temple.  Unfortunately they don’t allow any cameras into this site, so we left our phones and cameras in the car.  I reached for my camera several times, while we were there, but of course got no pictures. You’ll have to look it up on the web. One of my favorite parts of this one was the elephant frieze around the plinth.

Next we went to the tomb of Humayun and some of his court. It was completed in 1571 and was the first tomb in India in this style. About a hundred years later the Taj Mahal was built in a similar style. This tomb has undergone much restoration and is still being restored.

Here’s another shot.  We don’t see a lot of green here.  India has a rainy season in the summer when they get a lot of rain, but we are here in the middle of the dry season.  The weather is very pleasant, and we don’t need to worry about rain at all, so I’m not complaining about the lack of green grass.

Our driver next took us to the India Gate monument commemorating India’s fallen soldiers. It may remind you of another famous monument.

The flowers here were in pots and were beautiful.

Our next and last stop this day was the Lodi Gardens, with ruins of several tombs.

Here’s a detail of the stone carving.

At all of these sights and throughout the city we see stray dogs.  Most of them seem to be sleeping.

One more shot of the tomb above.

We have seen more wildlife here than anywhere else on this trip. We’ve seen horses, oxen and an elephant on the streets, and many, many chipmunks. We have seen many large birds and heard smaller ones. And I even got a few pictures of some monkeys we saw in the city yesterday.  I’ll try to post those later. I didn’t identify any of these birds, because I didn’t see this poster till we were on our way out of the park.

I have many more pictures, but that’s enough for today.

Thanks for stopping by.