Indescribable
As we discussed at dinner this evening, our day today was nearly indescribable. Our reduced-size group moved from south India to the north. We left our luxury resort at 4 a.m. to fly north into the very serious air pollution of Delhi. Donning our face masks, we proceeded to a tour of some of the city’s sightseeing highlights.
Delhi is a city that very much shows it’s history as a British-occupied area, with broad, tree-lined avenues lined with gated and guarded villas. The old city is distinctly India, while New Delhi seems European. But India is a country that has a vast mixture of cultures, and it’s ancient history has been influenced by Hindu and Muslim rulers, among both. Today we visited two prominent Muslim sites, the Jama Masjid and the Red Fort.
Situated in Old Delhi, the Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in India. It can hold 25,000 people for prayer within it’s walls. Since today was Friday, the mosque was full of people who had just finished prayers. We took off our shoes, and the women in our group donned long robes. (With our face masks, we looked as though we were headed into surgery!). The mosque doesn’t show heavy ornamentation, but has beautiful marble and architectural detail. This mosque was attended by the Mughal emperors from the mid-1600s to 1857. By the way, “tik-tok” in the photo means social media use is prohibited in the mosque.
We also visited the Red Fort, a vast military and residential complex for the Mughal rulers. It is difficult to get a sense of the immensity of this site, but it has within its 1.5 miles of walls are palaces, religious sites and government buildings, all used to rule India between the 1600s and the time of the British Raj. The decorative details are beautiful, with lovely tile designs and graceful grillwork carved out of granite.
But perhaps the most interesting time of our day was spent on a rickshaw ride through the Old Delhi bazaar. That’s the indescribable part. That sights and sounds are overwhelming, the traffic is insane, the there is no such thing as personal space.
Tomorrow we’re on to Agra for a visits to, among other things, the Taj Mahal.
Delhi is a city that very much shows it’s history as a British-occupied area, with broad, tree-lined avenues lined with gated and guarded villas. The old city is distinctly India, while New Delhi seems European. But India is a country that has a vast mixture of cultures, and it’s ancient history has been influenced by Hindu and Muslim rulers, among both. Today we visited two prominent Muslim sites, the Jama Masjid and the Red Fort.
Situated in Old Delhi, the Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in India. It can hold 25,000 people for prayer within it’s walls. Since today was Friday, the mosque was full of people who had just finished prayers. We took off our shoes, and the women in our group donned long robes. (With our face masks, we looked as though we were headed into surgery!). The mosque doesn’t show heavy ornamentation, but has beautiful marble and architectural detail. This mosque was attended by the Mughal emperors from the mid-1600s to 1857. By the way, “tik-tok” in the photo means social media use is prohibited in the mosque.
We also visited the Red Fort, a vast military and residential complex for the Mughal rulers. It is difficult to get a sense of the immensity of this site, but it has within its 1.5 miles of walls are palaces, religious sites and government buildings, all used to rule India between the 1600s and the time of the British Raj. The decorative details are beautiful, with lovely tile designs and graceful grillwork carved out of granite.
But perhaps the most interesting time of our day was spent on a rickshaw ride through the Old Delhi bazaar. That’s the indescribable part. That sights and sounds are overwhelming, the traffic is insane, the there is no such thing as personal space.
Tomorrow we’re on to Agra for a visits to, among other things, the Taj Mahal.
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