In Lucknow I met my Malaysian friend Sheng and we started our traveling. ;)))) We were gonna travel to Varanasi, Agra and Delhi.
Lucknow, the capital of the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is a modern city that can boast of having magnificent historical monuments. Situated at the banks of river Gomti, tributary of the Ganga, Lucknow is known for its gardens, parks and unique archaeological monuments. Famous as the city of Nawabs, Lucknow has retained its charm as a bastion of culinary and cultural delights. The people of this city are known for their exquisite charm, courtesy and flair of the Urdu language. Lucknow is also famous for its exclusive 'chikan' embroidered dress materials.
First we had a time in Lucknow, that is why we visited the most important places of the city, so to say “tourist places of interest”, but the funny thing that we hadn’t met any tourist in this city ;))) haha may be not season ;))) But may be tourism is not so developed there, because people around us very –very curious about us, to friendly, to many attention, so may be they don’t have a lot of tourists ;)))
First my impression was not good, because I was looking for hotels and there were long process, all hotels were booked, somewhere they didn’t want to take foreigner.And also it seems to be a city but it is like big busy village, but very nice city, there are a lot places to visit.
By words of my friend Ritesh in Lucknow they have perfect, very tasty non-vegetable food, so different variety of chicken, mutton, beef. He likes to come to Lucknow even just to eat good food ;)))
Where I stayed:
Kukreja Group Hotels (Hotel Mandakini Merzbaan), very nice hotel, very simple at the same time very good in vicing, very good people work there ;))) At any time possible to order food ;))) I had room without AC, it costed 500 Rs that was very good price, in other hotels rooms of this price were already booked.
Possible to check out even later then 12 pm.
The same chain of hotels there is in Delhi, jaipur, Kanpur, Agra, Hyderabad, so if you want to go somewhere and don't know where to stay try this hotel ;)))
What we visited:
We went to the center of the city and started from the most popular place in Lucknow - Chota Imambara and there a lot of places of interests that possible to visit, they all close to each other ;)))
- Picture gallery, Clock Tower;
- Shahi hammam Chota Imambara;
- Bara Imambara - Labyrinth;
- Bouli & Ruma gate
It was shooting of TV show, these women were cooking something ;))) hehe I like this photo, it is so colorful ;)))
Labyrinth Bara Imambara
It was built in 1784 by Asaf-ud-Daula as a famine relief project. The central hall of the Imambara, 50 metres long and 15 metres high, is one of the largest vaulted galleries in the world and the roof has been put together with interlocking bricks without using a beam or a girder.
This is the labyrinth Bara Imambara. Here it is better to take a guide in order not to get lost ;)))
On this photo we are near the labyrinth Bara Imambara
This was very funny ;)))) we asked to take a photo of us and one may was staying with us ;))) he understood that we want to take a photo with him too ;))) haha
Rumi Darwaza gate is one of the most impressive gateways not only in Lucknow or India but also the whole world. The gateway lays Northwest of Bada Imambara. It is interesting to note that Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula, like the Bada Imambara, also commissioned Rumi Darwaza. Both were commissioned under the 'Food for Work' program initiated by the Nawab to bring respite to the city populace that was suffering from famine.
Chota Imambada
Chota Imambara is the landmark of Lucknow. This monument is also known as Husseinabad Imambara in Lucknow as this place was the office of the erstwhile Husseinabad trust that owned the city once. Chota Imambara is an imposing monument located in the Old City area of Lucknow close to Chowk.
hehe so funny, yes, this city of cows, they are everywhere, I was surprised that they don't sleep till late night, walking and walking, chewing some garbage ;))) hehe they are all so big ;))))
Where did we eat:
We followed Lonely Planet and went to one place named "Muman & Royal Cafe" (Mahatma Gandi Road), near this place, on this road there are a lot of place with cafes, restaurants and stores with clothes ;))) So you will find something for you ;))) This is popular family restaurant, there are a lot of dishes, tasty food ;))) The only thing that I regret is that we didn't try their spicy snach - Chaat - they serve it at the front of the restaurant - it mixed chaat served in aloo (potato) basket, looks very good, suppose that it should be tasty ;))) Definitely try it ;)))
