When we woke up for our first full day in Delhi we started off with a difficult decision to end our trip early. As the COVID-19 outbreak got worse at home we became more and more worried that severe travel restrictions in the US would make it impossible for us to get home. We started the process early in the morning, but knowing the flights would take time to arrange there was nothing to do but make the most of our day.
We started off with a walk near the hotel before we met our guide and driver once again. The first stop was the Sri Bangla Sahib Gurudwalla, a Sikh temple not far from our hotel. Our guide was Sikh as well, and I really felt it showed through in his tour. He helped me put on a full turban, and told us all about the details of the Sikh religion as we toured the beautiful temple.
Next up was the Jama Masjid, one of the largest mosques in India. We had a relatively quick walk around the complex and its alcoves. The architecture here was once again quite different than the other sights we had seen thus far. The combination of red sandstone, white marble, and black marble inlay was very striking. The crowds here were also pretty this, so we felt like we had the place to ourselves.
We then hopped in an electric rickshaw and took a spin through the markets of Old Delhi, Chandni Chowk. We spent about 45 minutes weaving our way through heavy pedestrian, rickshaw, animal, and bike traffic as we took in a few different parts of the market. Each street had it’s own focus, so the wares kept changing around us as we puttered along. We also stopped mid way through to visit a spice market where we picked up some tea for home. The guide said that this was the tour of the “real India,” and it certainly felt that way.
After leaving the market, the rickshaw took us back towards the car, and on to the next sights. By this time it was becoming more and more clear that the country was closing down around us. The government had announced the closer of all cultural sights, including the Taj Mahal. Thankfully, we also found out that we were booked on a flight out of Delhi the next morning that would take us back home. With that settled we felt like we could relax a bit, but unfortunately there wasn’t much more that was still open.
We drove by a couple of the big sights including the Red Fort and the Lotus Temple. The guide took us by a co-op that made Kashmiri carpets where we watched a demonstration of how they were made. We were enjoying our cup of tea when we found out why this whole demonstration had been set up and had to turn down a hard sales pitch. We just don’t need an expensive carpet in the house.
We eventually had a late lunch and then headed back to our hotel for some rest. We did venture out one more time for a walk around Connaught Place, but it was only a short adventure before we came back and got some rest in preparation for our very early flight.
Our trip to India was unfortunately cut far to short. At the time we both felt robbed by COVID-19 and the fact that we had to cut our big adventure so short. We never even made it to the Maldives! But at the end of the day we are extremely thankful that everyone made it through safely and that we made it to the wedding we came for. We will just have to come back another time to get the full experience.