New and Old

Day 3:

Delhi

Following a refreshing nights sleep and breakfast we were ready for some serious site seeing.
Today we had two cities for the price of one. The colourful street life, beautiful parks and varied architectural styles were mesmorising. We visited the Raj Ghat, where Mahatma Gandhi’s mortal remains were cremated, the Jama Masjid – India’s largest mosque – and the commercial area of Chandni Chowk.
In New Delhi we went to the mausoleum of emperor Humayun, a forerunner to Mughal architecture with its focus on domes and symmetry. Then onto the white-marble Sikh temple, Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, built where the eighth Sikh guru, Harkrishan Dev, stayed before his death in 1664. The six-year-old boy guru helped many victims of Delhi’s cholera and smallpox epidemic, which eventually killed him. The waters of the gurdwara (Sikh temple) tank are said to have healing powers and still attract Sikh pilgrims today. I won’t be taking a taste of the water!
Finally we visited the UNESCO-listed 12th-century Qutub Minar minaret, which lies south of Delhi. At 71-metres high it is the tallest brick-built minaret in the world.