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Published: September 6th 2010
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Delhi was my "gate of India", a huge city with many interesting places for sightseeing, although I could only spent a couple of days and covered only part of them. Distances in the map always seemed to me very close but they were at least 20 min auto (tuc-tuc) ride... maybe it was my small-scale map. Inevitably, and even though I was not wearing a cap and shorts with white socks, I had a tourist-like looking for the auto drivers and I felt like having a neon sign over my head saying "tourist, tourist". I heard a continuous
"beep-beep" and a
"hello!" behind me all the time... and I felt a little hassled at the beginning, but later I got used to it and just ignored it.
The first place I visited became also one of my favorite places in Delhi: Lotus Temple.
Lotus Temple looks like a beautiful white lotus flower and was built with the purpose of being a gathering place where people of different religions may worship God. It looks really awesome from outside and, although there is nothing inside but chairs, it is very nice to be inside too, of course not because of the chairs,
but because of the deep meditation and faith of hundreds of praying people that sit on them; all of us praying at the same time, each of us doing it in a different way.
Another place that I enjoyed very much was the Chandni Chowk market in Old Delhi. You can find everything in this street: electronics, wedding cards, toilets, flower shops... typists, tailors and hairdressers working on the streetside... and food vendors everywhere. This is an unique place for the senses, especially for the smell: one step and smells like coconut and suddenly like orange juice, one more step and smells like jasmine flowers, and one more and feel a deep-fried smell, then coffee... . All this with an intricate tangle of wires over your head, and lots of autos, cycle rickshaws and motorbikes around you. However I did not feel the "tourist neon sign" at all here... everyone was busy with their jobs.
Close to Chandni Chowk is the Jama Masjid, the greatest mosque in India. I did not enjoyed it much... why? hmmm, I was all the time thinking about my sport shoes... I left them in the care of nobody at the entrance among
other dozens of shoes... and kept thinking
what about if somebody takes them! hmmm... I should have left my old flip-flops instead. Anyway, I almost forgot about it when I saw the panoramic views over both the Old and New Delhi from the top of one of the minaretes. That was very cool, and yes... my shoes were there when I went down,
wheeeu... . Not far from Jama Masjid there is another important monument in Delhi: the Red Fort. This is a World Heritage Site. It was the private palace of the Emperor royal family and have also some buildings for public audiences, etc.... It is a nice place and I liked it very much, although a couple of days later I realized it is not as beautiful as the Agra Fort (below).
Many places in Delhi were "under construction" in these days since the city is getting ready for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Delhi has one of the most impressive and functional international airports I have been and other brand new infrastructures like the Delhi Metro transit system, much better and simple than many subway systems in American or European cities. Other places in the city are
being renovated like Connaught Place, a big round square in the center of New Delhi, famous for its shops and restaurants. Definitely, Delhi is a city of contrasts: New Delhi with its wide and long green avenues, embassies and gardened memorials like the India Gate; and Old Delhi, with its narrow streets and markets, that actually I enjoyed more. I could not visit some of the most famous places in Delhi like Humayun's tomb, Raj Ghat (the memorial of Mahatma Ghandi) or Qutub Minar, but it is always good to leave something for a next visit... .
From Delhi I took a train to Agra, the second vertex of the Golden Triangle. I only had one day and I wanted to see the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort. I reached Agra in the evening with the idea of seeing the Taj at sunrise. However, the next morning was cloudy and there was no sunrise but anyway, for me it was the same: Taj Mahal is, without any doubt, one of the most beautiful sights in the world; no matter how many times you have seen it in pictures, it is incredibly beautiful. I spent two hours there, taking
pictures and more pictures, walking around, surrounding it. It is a work of art. After the Taj, I visited the Agra Fort, from where I was surprised to get so beautiful views to the Taj again. Later I learnt that the emperor who built the Taj was imprisoned in the Agra Fort by his own son for the final eight years of his life. From the Fort he could see the monument he built for his wife and went he died, his body was taken there, where he finally was buried.
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