Breakfast at the hotel
Later Proceed for the sightseeing tour of Old Delhi
Old Delhi-Begin your day with an exploration starting in Old Delhi, visiting the Jama Masjid, the royal mosque built by the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan in 1656. It is one of the largest and most beautiful mosques in the world and is constructed in red sandstone and white marble. The main prayer hall has a seating capacity of more than 20,000 worshippers.
Combined with old Delhi Tour on a tricycle rickshaw
In the Indian metropolis of Delhi, where fast-paced, cell-phone toting characters out of Monsoon Wedding live side by side with barefoot rickshaw wallahs cycling past roaming cows in the road, you will visit the largest spice market in all of Asia, the bustling Khari Baoli bazaar. At once, all your senses will be over-stimulated to an amplified level. Open air shops on both sides of the road displayed sackcloth bags filled with pungent spices, bushels of fragrant flowers, nuts and sticky dried fruits, mountains of bright orange turmeric, mouth-watering sweets, gallons of gooey ghee And enough tea to steep the Indian ocean. The intense combination of indiscernible aromas oscillated our insides between gagging nausea and voracious hunger.
Carried along by the throngs of merchants corralled on the sidewalks, you will watch businessmen from all over India testing quality with a sniff and marking a deal with a head waggle.
Shopkeepers weighing out goods the old-fashioned way, with iron weights on a balance scale. In the street, thin men carried burlap sacks bigger and heavier than their own bodies, loading them onto hand drawn wooden carts. Whether you need 5 grams or 500 kilos, goods are sold in bulk at rock-bottom wholesale prices. We walked away with precious clear gift boxes filled with delicate red saffron strands from Kashmir. This is the ideal place to look at some of the spices used to make masala chai, and their medicinal properties.
Drive Pass Red Fort – The largest of old Delhi’s monuments is the Lal Quila, or the Red Fort, the thick red sandstone walls of which, bulging with turrets and bastions, have withstood the vagaries of time, and nature. The Lal Quila rises above a wide dry moat, in the northeast corner of the original city of Shahjahanabad. Its walls extend upto two kilometre, and vary in height from 18 metres on the river side to 33 metres on the city side.
Lunch at Lodi the Garden Restaurant – Delhi
After Lunch proceed for the sightseeing tour of New Delhi
Visit the 12th century Qutab Minar, gracefully hand-carved for its entire height of 234ft, and the iron pillar, which has withstood the ravages of time and not rusted even after 1500 years. Visit the mausoleum of emperor Humayun – a forerunner of the Mughal style of architecture and the imposing modern Lakshminarayan temple. Drive past the India Gate (war memorial dedicated to the lives of laid down by the Indian soldiers), the president’s residence – formerly the Viceroy’s Palace, parliament House and the Secretariat buildings, – an interesting blend of the Victorian and 20th century architecture
After sightseeing return back to the hotel
Meal Included: Breakfast + Lunch
Overnight: Hotel
