Delhi was my last stop in India. From what I saw while planning the visit, I had commented to Yvon that I expected Delhi to be quite pretty. I said this because the city was dotted through with old Mughal tombs, dating to the 1500's, and I expected the city to be a pleasant blend of the very old with modern elements. While I did visit tombs, and while I saw modern buildings, I didn't find the city especially pleasant anywhere. Old Delhi lacked the grandeur of Mumbai or Kolkata, while the newer parts of the city were terrible for walking as most of the too-busy streets are surrounded by walls, so there are long, long walks with very little to see as a pedestrian. New Delhi is a planned city, and planned cities, like Brasilia or Canberra, are generally not that pleasant.
Photo List (Total 339 Photos)
Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
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Old Delhi (117 photos) - After spending a few days exploring more southern areas of the city and New Delhi, I was in need of more civilized streets and so set out to the older core of Delhi. Immediately on exiting the subway at the Lal Quila stop, I realized that Delhi would not provide the tonic I needed. The core of the city was busy, but not very historic and quite a dump. There were two major "sites" to see: the Red Fort and then the Jama Masjid, including it's minarets that one can go up for a view. This gallery starts at those sites, then wends its way through busy streets to the Naya Bazaar. I also took a side trip to see the Lothian Cemetery, and to approach the river at the Yamuna Ghat. Delhi holds itself away from the Yamuna River, and apart from crossing it on a bridge, it is very hard to get to for a view.
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Connaught Place and Area (64 photos) - I had chosen a quite-nice hotel for its proximity to New Delhi and a short walk to the subway, but in the end I did not care for the area around Connaught Place much, and resented the lack of a pedestrian entrance to my hotel (they had to have the car barrier lifted for me on the way in and out). Connaught Place looks nice on a map, a round park surrounded by a series of concentric circles housing planned two-storey classically designed shopping arcades. The reality for me is that there was just too much space for it to cohere, and though well served by subways, it remained very car-centric, especially the outer circle which was difficult to cross. Nonetheless, I had desserts here, sought out a chemist, and had supper out one night, so I kept going back.
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Gate of India and Area (96 photos) - When Calcutta stopped being the capital of India in 1911, New Delhi, to the south of the old city, was designed by Edwin Luytens as the new capital. The heart of this district is a long greenspace from the hexagonal India Gate Circle to the official residence of the President of India, the Rashtrapati Bhavan. They are connected by a long walkway with canals, called the Kartavya Path. I had naively expected to walk the path and see some of the government buildings at the other end, including the old and new Parliaments, but the whole area Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg was a police zone, barricaded off. The India Gate itself and the path were disappointing, too much space and no sense of boundaries. The traffic around the monument was absolutely terrible. This gallery includes the Gate and India and area, the National Art Gallery of Modern Art. On a separate visit, I saw several tombs that are just to the east of the India Gate, including Humayun's Tomb, the Sunder Nursery and the old fort named the Purana Quila, and these are also in this gallery.
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South Delhi (62 photos) - This gallery holds attractions from the south end of the city, which I suspect I did not fully enough explore. It has a few shots of the Khan Market, passes through the lovely Lodhi Garden, visits the Lodhi Arts District (murals on residential buildings), includes the Safdarjung Tomb, and also the Lotus Temple in the far south of the city. Also includes a few shots at the airport.
