New Delhi
After a direct flight from Milan, we arrived in New Delhi in the evening. The adventure began immediately with at the baggage belt, which did not deliver my backpack! Being a newbie traveler, I hadn’t thought of bringing a bag with at least one change of clothes. I had mistakenly picked up only a pair of clean underwear. Alessandro would have taken care of the rest giving me shorts and t-shirts for the first days…
We took a taxi to the hotel (I still remember it was Alka hotel). The taxi was a half ramshackle. Ale was trying to insert the seat belt into the slot… but it didn’t work. So, he spent the entire time holding the belt with his hand. Don’t even ask me why. Only he knew what he was thinking.
From the airport, you can already breathe the pulsing life of this beautiful country. There were a lot of people around even though it was late in the evening; the traffic was congested: cars, mopeds and rickshaws that honked repeatedly to signal their “right” of way. And then cows on the street! (but today you won’t find any of them).
New Delhi is divided into two parts. One, the city with its clean and modern-designed neighborhoods, and Old DeIhi, with its main points of interest: the Red Fort, built at the time of Moghuls; Qutb Minar, a tower built to proclaim the spread of Islam to India; and Jama Masjid, the largest Indian mosque, which was erected at the Shah Jahan’s behest, the same ruler who built the Taj Mahal.
Do not miss the Chandni Chowk, the main street of Old Delhi with a busy bazaar both by day and night. The Gandhi Darshan, with the Gandhi Memorial Museum, is truly touching: a little-known exhibition of paintings and photographs telling the Mahatma’s life and deeds. The museum also holds some relics, including the bamboo stick that Gandhi used during the salt march in Gujarat and the bullet that killed him.
Agra and the magnificent Taj Mahal
With a night train from Varanasi, we arrived in Agra, famous Taj Mahal, considered one of the most remarkable beauties of Muslim architecture in India.
The Indian poet Tagore defined the magnificent mausoleum as “a tear of marble, firm on the cheek of time”. The majestic structure was built by the emperor Shah Jahan as a funeral home to commemorate his beloved wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal, who died after giving birth to their fourteenth child. The magnetism of the place is partly due to the legend that surrounds it.
The construction of the Taj Mahal began in 1631 and was completed 22 years later. Probably more than a thousand elephants were used to drag the heavy marbles.
Legend has it that all the workers involved in the titanic endeavor had their hands amputated at the end of the construction because Shah Jahan wanted the work never to be repeated.
On the right bank of the Yamuna river there is the Red Fort, built between 1565 and 1573. Shah Jahan embellished it with royal palaces, an audience hall and a mosque. A truly stunning construction.
From Agra, we headed to Jaipur, and we recommend making two stops along the way.
Fatehpur Sikri (1 hour from Agra) is an abandoned city built entirely in red sandstone by the great Moghul Akbar as his residence. It was abandoned a few years later due to lack of water. With its richly sculpted palaces and buildings, it is an unparalleled architectural gem.
The second stop is Galta, also known as the temple of the monkeys. For us this place for something like magic, second only to Varanasi (link). Set in a gorge, the magnificent temple is dedicated to the Sun God, on top of which there’s a gushing spring of water that is collected in three tanks for bathing and ablutions. One of them is reserved for men, one for women and the third one is for monkeys (actually macaques) which are sacred animals in this place.
Even today, it is believed that bathing in the water of the natural springs purifies all sins.
Its location, the beauty of the buildings, its mystical and spiritual atmosphere, the bright colors of the women’s saris left to dry in the sun against the backdrop of the green waters of pools, is one of the most incredible memories of our trip.
We were among the very few tourists to visit the temple and Ale, with its “nordic” look draw a lot of curiosity among the locals: some parents in fact asked him to caress their children or take a picture with them. During our visit, a “guru” who ran the local yoga community asked us to stay with them for dinner and spend the night at the site. Perhaps we were still young, or maybe a little wary because of the thousand recommendations we had read about this country, so we kindly rejected. What a pity. Today we would have accepted the invitation.
Jaipur: the pink city
It is the capital of the state of Rajasthan and home to rich carpet and jewelry merchants. The must-sees are certainly the Hawa Mahal, the “palace of the winds” with a beautiful pink sandstone façade with a total of 953 niches that allowed the noblewomen to witness the busy life in Jaipur; and the City Palace, where the different rooms show brocade dresses and fabrics with the members of the royal family embroidered on them, as well as weapons, carpets and paintings. And the beautiful Amber Fort, located on a hill just outside Jaipur. Following the tradition of the ancient maharajas, you can climb on the back of peaceful elephants along a panoramic road.
The beauty of this place will leave you breathless, thanks to its temples dedicated to Goddess Kali and God Ganesh, the audience hall decorated with precious carpets, the amusement halls, Jai Singh’s personal apartments and his harem.
