India's Golden Triangle - Delhi

After my very short stay in Kolkata in 2006, I wanted to return to India. I thought I would start with the tourist trail so booked this holiday with Great Rail Journeys and travelled to India with my mum. There were 38 of us on the trip -a very pleasant company, including our tour manager, Tricia Longbottom. The trip exceeded expectations. I took over 800 photos - mainly snaps so will do separate posts for each stage in our journey. Don't worry, I will only have a selection of the photos here.

We arrived in Delhi on Sunday 14th November and had free time. On Monday the tour started in earnest. We met Shankar, our guide for the rest of the trip. First stop was Jama Masjib - India's largest mosque. I am glad I didn't pay the 200 rupees to take my camera in, as this location was a disappointment with nothing much to see. I would have rather had the opportunity to walk around the nearby market. Although we did take a rickshaw ride it was very quick and our rickshaw man seemed to want to return as quickly as possible. It was the camel festival while we were there and we passed a lot of camels (and goats for sacrificing on Eid) on the way to the mosque.










A quick stop at Gandhi's memorial. There were a large number of schoolchildren at the site. We then went on to Humayun's Tomb and I managed to snap the cute squirrel.







There were always hawkers when we stopped. Shankar's advice was sound - ignore them completely and no hassle. You only needed to glance at the product and the hassle would start. Gazing into the distance worked a treat. Shankar would then show the products while we were on the coach and we could purchase then. This meant we tended to get the better price. We also had to go to the usual emporiums for carpets, gems and textiles. The first one was for carpets where we did get a much needed cup of tea.



We were supposed to see the Red Fort in Delhi but Shankar suggested we go to an alternative sight as we would be visiting the Amber fort in Jaipur. I was very glad to view his alternative suggestion, The Qutb tower ,as it made a great impression on me. I could have stayed here most of the day rather than the 20 minutes at the end of the day. Definitely one to return to.






We stayed at The Claridges in Delhi. It was comfortable but noisy. Unfortunately, there is no general hotel restaurant as they rely on the small coffee restaurant. This meant breakfast was chaotic with all the people trying to find a table. The hotel provided a packed breakfast for our early trip to Shimla. This food was wasted as there was a very good breakfast provided on the Shatabdi Express. The sandwiches and crisps provided by the hotel was mainly given away by the group. So on to the next post - Shimla.