My 7 day trip to Delhi and Agra (Episode 3: The Old City)
After a tiring first day of travelling starting from dawn till nightfall, we all took a good night’s rest and I remember that I fell asleep the moment I landed on the bed.
My mom woke me up after a long struggle by 7 in the morning. Had a good morning coffee that was a complimentary given by our hotel. We gotta get dressed and leave the hotel by 9 so this gives us just 2 hours to bath and get ready. The agenda that we had was to visit the real old Delhi and some of the attractions which included the renowned Red Fort, Jama Masjid and some of the local markets there. Don’t worry, I’ll walk you 🚶🏻through each and every aspect of the 2nd day of my trip!
Had a hefty and delicious breakfast and was ready to tackle the scorching heat of Delhi. Everyone says, ‘Have breakfast like a king’. Well, I did feel like a King to be frank.
We did take the leave from the hotel sharp at 9 as determined in the itinerary. That’s a good start, right?
We reached the “Laal Kila” or known as the Red Fort by 10 and hence we had plethora of time to explore the vast quarters of the Fort. Little did we know about the Delhi’s climate! 🥵 The sun was shining bright ☀️ that we were exhausted after just walking for 10 minutes.
This fort was actually built by Shah Jahan when he shifted his capital from Agra to Shajahanabad a.k.a Present Delhi. How lucky were those kings who changed the city name to their own names.
To our very aid, there were multiple museums which were air conditioned explaining and detailing about history of all the states in India. These museums acted like a break from the heat waves that we were encountering while exploring the red fort. I like history too hence this is like the proverb , ‘one shot, two birds’. I get to cool down my body and learn some history. Best in both worlds!
After lavishly spending our time on the huge 250 acres of red fort, we decided to take leave from the fort and go to the Jama Masjid which was about a kilometre far from the Laal Kila. To get there, we hired an Electronic rickshaw to get us to the Masjid just to experience how the ride would be. I’ll be very honest here, it was kinda giving rollercoaster vibes - full of thrill. There was literally no gap between the rickshaw we rode on and the city bus and it was scratching its surface.
It was right in the middle of the day when we reached the Mosque and it was crazy hot since we gotta remove the footwear to enter the masjid.
This was also built by Shah Jahan. You see the minars on the sides of the mosque? Well, we climbed on one of the those and it was definitely not very easy. It was more than 200 steep stairs with very little ventilation. We hoped to see the great view of the old Delhi and there were already 10 people dumped in the little space. And there were people coming behind us as well. It was not a worthy climb to be honest. But if you’re adventurous, you may try climbing it. I remember myself rushing back to the entry barefooted 🐾 to get back into my slippers coz it was so damn hot!
On the way out of the mosque, there were hundreds of mini stalls selling EVERYTHING. Right from food to accessories to clothes and much more that you can imagine.
Well, I got my Air Jordan sneakers from there and guess the price? It’s just 300 rupees! I know, it won’t be as good and comfortable as the real ones since they are freakin’ 18,000 rupees!!! I mean, who spends that much money on a shoe anyway? Well, very few people do but still. Here’s a photo of that too:
After this, we got the afternoon and the evening in our hands and we are hyped up to explore. The next single thing on our itinerary was Akshar Dham, which is a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. But it has much more to offer than that. Myself who is not that into visiting temples had no expectations on how it would be. I was astonished to be honest.
The temple’s entry is free but there are shows that you NEED to see. And the shows are priced and quite expensive though. Intelligent tactics. The shows are not at all boring. They have these animated dolls which look exactly like real life people! And there is this boat ride which you can go to which represents how India’s history and it’s people have evolved over time which was my favourite one.
Since mobile phones, cameras or any sort of electronics items are not allowed inside the temple premises, I won’t be able to gift you with my stunning snapshots. Well, I give you much more than that. An Instagram reel which I loved of this huge temple
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CteE2xFtcf2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Medium still doesn’t support embedding Instagram reels into the blog. 🤥They have to bring out this feature. Don’t leave right now, read the whole thing and watch that reel! :)
I would definitely recommend y’all to visit this place even when you don’t like spiritual places. You will miss out on a lot if you don’t visit. Trust me.
The final touch of the day? It started drizzling 🌧️ at the end of the day and we ran swiftly to our car in order not to get wet. We don’t want to catch a cold while we are on a holiday, right? Thankfully none of us did.
Anyways, it was a good day and I don’t know how much miles I’ve walked that day. It was worth the walk though. That’s it for today and stay tuned for next week. 🥳
Please do leave your comments and help me improve! ;)
