Saturday, May 2, 2009

Sufdarjungs Tomb

After settling in to big city living, finding our local markets and all the other essential things needed to survive, we started to have a look around at the other trappings New Delhi has on offer. Our first tourist type outing was to Safdarjung's Tomb (still my favorite out of the tombs in New Delhi). Safdarjung's tomb is modest in comparison to most and that's was makes it such a nice place to visit. It is understated in it's appearance and is a lovely place to just wander around an imagine how life must have been here 2-300 years ago. The tomb is beautiful with a lovely expansive surrounding garden.

After arriving at the Tomb we were greeted by one of the local tourist guides. He offered to take us around and give an overview of the tomb and it's surrounds, for a small fee of course. This happens at most of India's major tourist attractions of historical significance. You arrive and are then pounced on by guides, both legitimate and not. Thankfully the good ones are relatively easy to identify as they carry a government issued identity card which lets you know who and what they are.

The tomb was built in 1754 and is representative of the many Mughal tombs (albeit smaller than most) built during their reign. The tomb is significant as it was the last tomb built by the Mughal's prior to the British securing their stranglehold on the subcontinent.

The tomb is located very close to work so we often drive by it and it always looks fantastic with lovely surrounding gardens. If your coming to Delhi then Sufdarjung is a must see.

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