Patan Durbar Square

First thing this morning we booked our three day, two night trek starting tomorrow. It will be good to get out of this dusty city for a couple of days.

Afterwards we headed to Patan Durbar Square which is in a district called Lalitpur City, one of three Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu Valley and another UNESCO World Heritage Site. As you walk around the City there are absolutely loads of temples everywhere and then there is the square itself which has tons of history. We visited the museum which explained lots about the history of the square but also of the Buddhist and Hindu religions which was really interesting.

This photo is the entrance to Vishwanath Temple which is dedicated to god Shiva. It was built in 1627 during the reign of Siddhinarasimha Malla. The roof supports are decorated with erotic carvings similar to imagery widespread in Shiva temples in India. The temple is guarded by these two stone elephants in the front entrance. On the other side of the temple is the sculpture of a bull, Shiva’s vehicle.

We decided to go to a wood fire pizza place recommended to us for dinner tonight. It was mayhem trying to get in as it was packed and we had to wait about an hour but it was good pizza! Trek tomorrow.

Haiku
Shiva Vishnu Ganesh Buddha
Preserved Displayed
Boddhisattva revealed