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…as the locals say, which simply means that there is no other city equal to Lahore. As our Pakistani government guide book says “No doubt Lahore is at least equal to Delhi and Agra if not better”. 🙂
After one month’s hard cycling in the heat and dust of Pakistan, we arrived at our final destination in the country: Lahore, the second largest city after Karachi.
Lahore is considered as the cultural capital of Pakistan. It is famous for its culinary delights, films, fashions, foggy winters, pollution, wide tree lined colonial thoroughfares which put London to shame, clever folks, and tricky people.
Our first impressions of Lahore were rather favourable – riding in with our police escort we had rather dreaded the congested streets and traffic (as we had experienced in Karachi). We were pleasantly surprised to find that the main thoroughfares that lead into the city were wide, clearly organised with modern traffic arrangements (underpasses, lights, roundabouts), and there were few horse carts and rickshaws which typically create traffic mayhem. In fact one could easily forget on these streets (lined with grand government buildings from colonial times, as well as modern 5 star luxury hotel blocks and large botanical gardens), that this was a third world country!!
We spent two rest days in Lahore, taking in the sites and sampling the delights the city had to offer:
Minar-e-Pakistan
This grand tower marks the place where the historic resolution for the creation of Pakistan was passed in 1940. Around the minar there is a huge park with a funfair and crowds enjoying the festive atmosphere.
Sikh’s Enclave
Called as such since only the Sikh visitors are allowed to enter – however they made an exception for us as honorary guests and allowed us to wander around. Here is the tomb of Guru Arjun, the fifth Guru, who made Amritsar the rendezvous of the Sikhs and compiled the Sikh holy book (Adi Granth).
Lahore Fort
Built by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1566, the fort is a unique ensemble of buildings of the whole Mughal reign in Lahore (until1700). The magnificient Alamgiri Gate, the entrance to the fort leads the visitors into an amazing array of palaces, pavillions, and religious buildings, as well as government offices and audience halls for the rulers. We visited the site both during the day and at night, when it is floodlit and looks like a magical scene out of Arabian Nights.
Gwalmandi Food Street
Lahore is also known as the ‘food capital’ of Pakistan, with the largest variety of cuisines and dishes, from all regions of the country as well as some Lahore specialties. People from Lahore are also famous for their love of food – so Nic blended in straightaway!! :p
Most famous eating places in Lahore are located in what is known as the ‘food street’ – packed with locals and tourists 24 hours, all seasons, serving all varieties of restaurant and fast food. Here we had a fantastic evening, sampling green tea (made with milk, and was disturbingly, rather ‘pink’!), an amazing mountain of chicken kebabs (the waiter double checked our order when we placed it, since he thought we were ordering too much!!).
Jahangir’s Tomb
The tomb of the famous Moghul emperor (1637) is surrounded by a vast garden. It is built of red sandstone, with inlay of white marble which at first glance looks like painted concrete! Near his tomb is the tomb of Empress Nur Jahan (‘Light of the World’) and her brother Asif Jah. Sadly all buildings were vandalised during the Sikh era which meant that all precious stones and reliefs were pillaged to be used in the construction of the Sikh’s holy Golden Temple in Amritsar (today in India).
Badshahi Mosque
The second biggest mosque in the Muslim world, is the most magnificent landmark of Lahore, where 10,000 people can pray in the courtyard at any one time. It is in the traditional Mughal style (also seen in all the Mughal forts in the region as well as the Taj Mahal) – the locals were rather amused when we said it looked rather Russian!!
Lahore Museum
The oldest and largest museum of Pakistan houses an impressive array of exhibits, ranging from stone age tools to exquisitely carved Gandhara sculptures and the world famous Fasting Buddha, and the Greek goddess Athena. There was so much to see we didn’t realise closing time had passed, and the guards were courteously keeping the museum open until we had finished our tour!!
Outside the museum is the famous Zamzama or Kim’s Gun. It is fixed in a small pool of water around which Rudyard Kipling (Kim) played as a child while his father was the curator of the museum. The gun was used in several battles, before being left in the possession of Ranjit Singh who used it on many occasions for establishing his Sikh kingdom.
