Category: Two Families Combine
-
Day 21: Jaipur Day II, Part I: Amber Fort
The Muslim Mughals were not the only Indian royalty with extreme wealth and an interest in building monumental architecture. Our second day in Jaipur began with a visit to the fortress built by the Hindu Rajput Amer dynasty during their alliance with the Mughal Emperors: the Amber Fort (also known…
-
Day 20 – Part II: Jaipur
Once we left Fatepur Sikri, we had a 4.5 hour drive to the third point in the so-called Golden Triangle of North India, the “pink city” of Jaipur. Jaipur is part of what was once part of the Mewar Kingdom (now India’s modern state of Rajasthan), once one of the…
-
Day 20 – Fatehpur Sikri – India’s Ghost City
We did not drive directly to Jaipur once we left Agra. About 22 miles west of Agra lies the abandoned remains of Fatehupur Sikri, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In its full glory in 1585, English traveler Ralph Fitch called it one of India’s “two very great cities, either of…
-
Day 19 – Agra, Part II
Agra is built on the flat plains near the desert about 140 miles southeast of Delhi on the banks of the Yamuna River. It is an ancient city that is mentioned in the legends of Krishna. It was reestablished as a city during the Lodhi Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate…
-
Day 19: Agra, Part I
From the day we agreed to take a week to travel to North India, like almost every other traveler to India, I wanted to see the Taj Mahal. For context, I admit that, when visiting Italy, I almost did not go to the Leaning Tower of Pisa or to the…
-
Day 18: Dehli, Part III
The totally open main level of our hotel in Delhi featured both the reception area (in the front) and the dining room (in the back). The dining area was decorated with large murals on the walls describing the history of Delhi. One of my favourites was the description of Delhi at the…
-
Day 18: Delhi Part II
Even with my limited knowledge of Indian history, I was aware that a Muslim dynasty ruled Hindu India for many years from Delhi. But I always wondered what was the difference, if any, between the Mughals of India and the Mongols of Mongolia, whose leader Gengis Khan conquered much of the…
-
Day 18: Delhi, Part 1
Our departure from the Delhi airport was delayed while we waited for our baggage to come off the baggage carousel (my least favorite part of checking baggage). My bag was the second to come off the baggage carousel. Even though we had checked in at the same time in Kerala, Kingston’s bag…
-
New Delhi history
Mumbai is the largest city in India by population but its geographic location on islands along the western coast limits it to a 169 square mile area. A new city, New Mumbai, was built on the mainland across the inlet from Mumbai to allow for further growth. Delhi, in north central India,…
-
Day 17: Kerala to New Delhi
The time had come to say goodbye to beautiful temperate Kerala. Even though this was August monsoon season in Kerala, we only experienced the rainy afternoon journey up the mountain to Periyar and the occasional nighttime cloudburst in Munnar. Otherwise we had clear to lightly cloudy days. Our last breakfast buffet…
Ginger Without Borders 