I’ve been in Delhi for over a week now, while Ghighi flew back to France to attend a wedding. To start this post, I want to make two thank yous for places that have made the time here much easier.
Firstly, the hotel I’m staying at – the Smyle Inn. Well located in the backpacker area of Pahar Ganj, they’re reasonably priced, friendly, and in a city of tiny alleys and busy streets they have the rarity of secure parking for the motorbikes. They’ve also helped a lot with maps and tourist information about the city. Highly recommended.
Secondly, Kaulson Racing Products. One of the few places in India to deal with large capacity motorcycles, they also cater to overlanders. They’ve got a full workshop (and also restore and export old Vespas), with friendly mechanics on hand, or you can just use their space to do your own work, as I did. They can source spares and particularly tyres in difficult-to-find Western sizes. A good place to get your servicing done on the road.
We started our time in Delhi with a walk around the old town, towards Jama Masjid and the Red Fort.
The Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in India. Built by Shah Jahan, who also built the Taj Mahal and the Agra and Red Forts, it is built in typical Mughal style with red sandstone.
You can climb one of the 40 metre high minarets and get a view of the city – or at least as much as you can with the thick smog limiting visibility. The extensive walls of the Red Fort are visible a few kilometres away.
Walking through the streets and markets of Old Delhi, the locals go about their business, buying their daily food and other supplies.
The imposing red sandstone of the Red Fort, like Agra Fort, served both military and royal functions under the Mughal Empire. The palace areas with their gardens are laid out geometrically, in Persian style. The British also added their own colonial buildings and barracks after they took control of India.
Many features and motifs are repeated from the other famous Mughal buildings. Often the details are more impressive than the building itself.
Traditionally, all mosques must face Mecca – however here that would have meant that the Emperor’s personal mosque was out of alignment with the rest of the gardens and buildings. The solution? Build the outside in line with the grounds, and have the inner walls at a different angle.
Aside from a few busy days of servicing the bikes and recovering from the occasional bout of ‘Delhi Belly’, there are plenty of other things to see in the city. The Lotus temple, in the south of the city, is the seat of Ba’hai worship in India. The shape and style of the construction reminded me in many ways of the Sydney Opera House.
Humayun’s Tomb is another Mughal monument, and is in many ways the precursor to the Taj Mahal – the visual similarity is immediately apparent. Fortunately it is far less crowded than the Taj, allowing you to really explore through at your leisure.
Akshardhan is the largest Hindu mandir in the world, and although it has classical styling, was only built a few decades ago. After the world’s most intrusive security check (all bags and electronics devices put in cloakroom, metal detector, full body patdown – seriously, I’ve had less security on international flights!), it turns out to be essentially ‘Hindu Disneyland’ – aside from the temple itself, there are animatronics displays, a boat ride through Hindu dioramas, etc. The building itself is intricately detailed and quite impressive, but the overall effect is greatly diminished by the over-the-top security, and the age of the building. As there’s no cameras inside, I could only get this one shot from the Metro station.
The India gate is a war memorial for the more than 82,000 soldiers killed between 1914-1921 as part of the British Indian Army. Reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe, it has a similar function, with an undying flame and the Indian tomb of the unknown soldier at its base. Local kids were using the fountain off to one side to cool off in the heat.
Aside from that, it’s been wandering around the streets of Delhi, experiencing the sights, sounds (car horns), and smells (oh god, the smells).
Finally ready to leave the big city behind, we stuck north towards Kashmir and the Himalayas.
