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Jaisalmer Fort
Jaisalmer’s unique fort is a living urban centre, with about 3000 people residing within its walls. It’s honeycombed with narrow, winding lanes, lined with houses and temples – along with a large number of handicraft shops, guesthouses and restaurants. You enter the fort from the e
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Khusru Bagh
This intriguing park, surrounded by huge walls, contains four highly impressive Mughal tombs . One is that of Prince Khusru , the eldest son of Emperor Jehangir, who tried to assassinate his father but was blinded and imprisoned, finally dying in 1622. If Khusru’s coup had succeede
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Viceregal Lodge
The official summer residence of the British viceroys was completed in 1888 and the Indian subcontinent was ruled from here for half of every year from then till WWII. Henry Irwins grey-sandstone creation resembles a cross between Harry Potters Hogwarts and a Scottish baronial cast
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Har
Har-ki-Pairi (The Footstep of God) is where Vishnu is said to have dropped some divine nectar and left behind a footprint. Every evening hundreds of worshippers gather for the ganga aarti (river worship ceremony). Officials in blue uniforms collect donations and, as the sun sets, b
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Arunachaleshwar Temple
This 10-hectare temple is one of the largest in India. Its oldest parts date back to the 9th century and the site was a place of worship long before that. Four huge, unpainted white gopurams mark the entrances, with the main, eastern one rising 13 storeys and an astonishing 66m. Du
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Marble Palace
This resplendent 1835 raja’s mansion is overstuffed with dusty statues of thinkers and dancing girls, much Victoriana, ample Belgian glassware and fine if bedraggled paintings, including supposedly original works by Murillo, Joshua Reynolds and Rubens. Napoleons beat Wellingtons th
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Jai Vilas Palace & Scindia Museum
The museum occupies some 35 rooms of the Scindias’ opulent Jai Vilas Palace, built by Maharaja Jayajirao in 1874 using prisoners from the fort. The convicts were rewarded with the 12-year job of weaving the hall carpet, one of the largest in Asia.Supposedly, eight elephants were su
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San Thome Cathedral
This soaring Roman Catholic cathedral, a stones throw from the beach, was founded by the Portuguese in the 16th century, then rebuilt in neo-Gothic style in 1896, and is said to mark the final resting place of St Thomas the Apostle. Its believed Doubting Thomas brought Christianity
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Bibi
Built by Aurangzeb’s son Azam Khan in 1679 as a mausoleum for his mother Rabia-ud-Daurani, Bibi-qa-Maqbara is widely known as the poor man’s Taj. With its four minarets flanking a central onion-domed mausoleum, the white structure certainly does bear a striking resemblance to Agra’
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Shree Chhatrapati Shahu Museum
‘Bizarre’ takes on a whole new meaning at this ‘new’ palace, an Indo-Saracenic behemoth designed by British architect ‘Mad’ Charles Mant for the Kolhapur kings in 1884. The madcap museum features countless trophies from the kings’ trigger-happy jungle safaris, including walking sti
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Qutb Minar Complex
In a city awash with ancient ruins, the Qutb Minar complex is something special. The first monuments here were erected by the sultans of Mehrauli, and subsequent rulers expanded on their work, hiring the finest craftsmen and artisans to create an exclamation mark in stone to record
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Qutb Shahi Tombs
These 21 magnificent domed granite tombs, with almost as many mosques, sit serenely in landscaped gardens about 2km northwest of Golconda Fort, where many of their occupants spent large parts of their lives. Seven of the eight Qutb Shahi rulers were buried here, as well as family m
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Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai
Mumbai’s most famous landmark, this stunning hotel is a fairy-tale blend of Islamic and Renaissance styles, and India’s second-most photographed monument. It was built in 1903 by the Parsi industrialist JN Tata, supposedly after he was refused entry to one of the European hotels on
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Old City
The heart of the old city is known as Chandi Bazaar (Silver Market; which it is, among other things) and it contains heaving markets and three beautiful Jain temples. The larger two, Shantinath Mandir and Adinath Mandir , dedicated to the 16th and first tirthankars (great Jain teac
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Gwalior Fort
Perched majestically on top of a 3km-long plateau overlooking Gwalior, this 8th-century hilltop fort is an imposing, eye-catching sight, with the circular towers of the dominating Man Singh Palace ringed with turquoise tiles. Much of the fort is now occupied by the prestigious priv
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French Quarter
Pocketed away just behind the seafront is a series of cobbled streets, white-and-mustard buildings in various states of romantic dishevelment, and a slight sense of Gallic glory gone by, otherwise known as the French Quarter. A do-it-yourself heritage walk could start at the French
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Kalighat Temple
This ancient Kali temple is Kolkata’s holiest spot for Hindus and possibly the source of the city’s name. Today’s version is a 1809 rebuild with floral- and peacock-motif tiles that look more Victorian than Indian. More interesting than the architecture are the jostling pilgrim que
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Man Singh Palace
This imperial-style palace is one of the more unusually decorated monuments you’ll see in India: the outer walls include a frieze of yellow ducks! These – and mosaic tiling of elephants, tigers and crocodiles in blue, yellow and green – give it its alternative identity of Chit Mand
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International Roerich Memorial Trust
This fascinating memorial and museum complex 1km above the castle focuses on the former home of Russian painter, writer and Inner Asian explorer Nicholas Roerich and his wife Elena. They settled here in 1928 and stayed until his death in 1947. The couples semi-mystical aesthetico-o
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Kapaleeshwarar Temple
The Mylapore neighbourhood is one of Chennais most characterful and traditional; it predated colonial Madras by several centuries. The Kapaleeshwarar Temple is Chennais most active and impressive temple, believed to have been built after the Portuguese destroyed the seaside origina
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