This post is part of a series on ‘Walks in India‘.
Place: Shimla
Highlights: Traffic Free Mall Road, Celebrations during festival days, Wooded sections, Restaurants.
Season: In Summer. March to June
Time of the day: Any time of the day is good.
Distance: Approximately 3kms
Difficulty: Easy
Map. This is an interactive map of the walk. Zoom in or out to get the desired perspective. For a more concise map with the important locations marked, click here.
The Walk.
Shimla’s Mall Road is closed for traffic, making it a pleasant walk with no pollution and noise from vehicles. The Road is usually full of tourists from the plains walking up and down in lookout of things to do or just searching for a quiet bench to sit on. It has an easy going, festive air.
Begin the walk at the eastern end of Mall Road, near Oberoi Clark Hotel. It is good to start with an empty stomach, which would help you in stuffing up variety of eatables all along the way. If you are feeling lazy, you can find a bench as soon as you start, just above Clark Hotel where you get good vies of Shimla’s valley. It takes less than five minutes of walking to find a few dozen option to eat and drink – it could be a coffee, light snack, ice cream or a full meal. But don’t get tempted, there is lot more to come. Just take a cup of take-away coffee and continue walking.
It is only in Shimla that you can use a lift to move from one road to other. Cart road runs parallel to the mall a hundred feet below it. The city corporation runs a lift between the roads near Combermere Hotel. Take it to Cart road and come back just for the fun of it.
A five minute walk from the lift, you will reach the ridge – the highest point in the walk. Climb up the ridge using the steps leading to it from the road. If you are there in the evening on a good day, you might be lucky to see some dance, song or other cultural performances from local artists. Gaitey Theater on the ridge is one of the charming Raj era buildings in Shimla that has still survived.
Just ahead of the ridge is scandal point where tourists love to hangout. There isn’t much to do though, just sit and watch the world go by, which is what everyone else would be doing. The walk further gets easier, since you go downhill on a gentle slope. Within five minutes of walk, you see an India Coffee House to your left. Walk-in for a snack and spend some time here. If you are hungry and it is lunch time, just next to it is Devico’s Restaurant which has good views of the valley.
Buildings start disappearing after India Coffee House and give way to wooded sections. You will find vendors along the road selling exotic fruits like litchi, apricot and plums. Pack some fruits and continue down the road. You will see less and less people as you walk, and some stretches of the roads have no buildings. Find a bench here and spend time quietly munching the fruits. Walking a little more will take you to the western end of mall road, where the walk ends.
++ More about Shimla on paintedstork.com
* A Day in Shimla
* Touts in Shimla
This post is part of a series on ‘Walks in India‘.
Place: Old City, Jaipur
Highlights: Royal Cenotaphs, Jaipur City Palace, Hawa Mahal, Old City(Pink City)
Season: October to February, when it is not hot.
Time of the day: Evening – 9.30am to 1pm
Distance: Approximately 4kms
Difficulty: Easy
Map. This is an interactive map of the walk. Zoom in to get a closer look. Click on the blue markers to identify of each location.
View Walks in India – Old City, Jaipur in a larger map
Map of places to see and walking in Jaipur
The Walk.
The Walk begins from Royal Cenotaphs at Gaitor, just outside the old city. The fine marble structures host cenotaphs of kings of Jaipur and their descendants, starting with Sawai Jai Singh II from mid 18th century. The cenotaphs located amidst a few leafy ficus trees have interesting marble carvings of Krishna and other mythological characters. You can also look up to the views of Nahargarh Fort from here.
Get into Old City when you are done with Gaitor. It is a zig-zag of narrow roads here. If you loose your way, just ask for Hawa Mahal, and it should not be hard to find someone to help you. The long way is likely to be uneventful, but you would see a few temples and many old structures where you may feel like stopping briefly. Once you get near Hawa Mahal, you get a good feel of the ‘Pink City’, as Jaipur is called. All the buildings on the main road are painted in the same shade of pink and every shop looks the same as its neighbour. It is a busy area with shops selling every possible thing, most of them looking ancient. Many buildings in the Old City look very old, and some of them dilapidated. But these buildings have the ancient Rajasthani architecture with arches and chhatris(umbrellas), giving them a charming old-time feel.
Get into Hawa Mahal and peek through its tiny windows. Hawa Mahal was the place where the queens would spend their time watching the streets. To get best views of Hawa Mahal, climb the building opposite to it, which can give you a perspective from a good height.
Walk along the lanes behind Hawa Mahal to get to City Palace. The large enclosure of City Palace is full of old buildings, where pigeons keep fluttering in large groups. The big City Palace can keep you occupied for more than an hour. Get in and see the Diwan-I-Khas, Diwan-I-Aam, huge silver vessels, arts and crafts gallery, arms museum and four seasons gates. The Palace has a restaurant where you can break the walk for a cup of coffee or some snacks.
Just a little ahead of City Palace is Jantar Mantar, a collection of astronomical instruments built by Maharajah Jai Singh II. Make sure you hire a guide here to be able to understand the significance of each of these structures.
Further, continue walking on the market streets of Old City at Tripolia Bazar. You will see a narrow and tall tower called Swargasuli or Iswari Minar Swarga Sal. Climb the tower through its dark ramp with little ventilation, which might make you feel a little claustrophobic. It is one of the tallest structures in Old City, and gives you an uninterrupted view on all sides. You can easily spot Hawa Mahal, City Palace and other nearby landmarks, and Nahargarh Fort at a distance.
Walk westwards on Chandpol Road and reach Chandpol gate, which is one of the major entrances to the walled old city. You can see the restored walls of the Old City here. The walk ends at Chandpol.
This post is part of a series on ‘Walks in India‘.
Place: Varanasi
Highlights: Boat ride, Life on the Ghats, Burning Ghats, Ganga Aarti, Kashi Vishwanath Temple
Season: October to March, when it is not hot.
Time of the day: Morning 6 to 9 or evening 4 to 7.
Distance: Approximately 3kms
Difficulty: Easy
Map. This is an interactive map of the walk. Zoom in to get a closer look. Click on the blue markers to identify of each location.
View Walks in India – Ghats of Varanasi in a larger map
Map of places to see and walking on the ghats of Varanasi
The Walk.
Varanasi is known as the oldest living city. A lot of places and structures you see along the ghats are indeed very old. Do the walk in morning hours to witness the sunrise from a boat on the Ganges. The evening hours see more activity on the ghats, and you can conclude your walk by attending the Ganga Aarti at 6pm.
Start early in the morning from Dasawamedh Ghat and hire a boat to take you all the way south to Assi Ghat. Watch the sky turn from dark to crimson at sunrise as the boat takes you over the river.
Get down from the boat at Assi Ghat and start walking back along the river towards Dasaswamedh Ghat. See the life go by as you walk through the ghats. The people and the activities you see can vary a lot depending on the time of the day. Prabhu Ghat is where you find washermen washing clothes and drying them on the banks. Harischandra Ghat, close to Dasaswamedh is where the dead bodies are burned. Kedar ghat has steep steps leading to a brick-red and white striped temple. Munshi ghat has attractive ancient buildings, and view point from atop that fort gives a nice view of the the area along the ghats where the boats are stationed.
Through other ghats, you can witness many other things, like water buffaloes bathing in the river, mynas pecking food grains given by pilgrims, people making offerings to sun god, mendicants meditating, pilgrims taking holy dip, just to name a few. Kedar Ghat and Tulsi Ghat are some of the other ghats that you pass through during the walk. Activities in the ghats are endless and you keep seeing new things each time you return. There are many chai shops and a few juice centers on the way where you can fill yourself, provided you are not very hygiene conscious.
Most pilgrims tend to congregate near Dasaswamedh Ghat, which is close to Kashi Vishwanath Temple. You can spend some time here watching people in pooja, performing shraddha karma or other rituals. Further ahead is Manikarnika Ghat, another burning ghat where the dead are cremated. Come back to Dasaswamedh from Manikarnika and walk away from the river for a visit to Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
You can end the morning walk at Dasaswamedh Ghat with breakfast in one of the many restaurants in the lane leading into the town. If it is evening, sit at Dasaswamedh and witness a session of Ganga Aarti, which lasts till 7pm.
++ More about Varanasi on paintedstork.com
* Perceptions of Varanasi
* Seeing the ghats
* Ganga Aarti – worshiping in the Ganges at Varanasi
* Life on the ghats
* Images of Varanasi
* Varanasi Information