A PASSAGE TO SPIRITUAL INDIA

Continue flying on your airline to Delhi. Lunch and Dinner on the plane. You arrive late night at the Delhi International Airport. We meet you outside the customs and transfer you to the hotel, where we stay three nights at the deluxe centrally located ITC Maurya hotel.

 

This afternoon we will begin our sightseeing of the Old City to see the Qutub Minar built in 1210, drive by India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhawan (President’s House), and other government official buildings built with wide boulevards, epitomizing the spirit of the British Raj. Briefing and cocktails followed by Welcome Gala Dinner at the hotel.

Today we drive southeast witnessing the mass of people moving about or selling goods along the highways, dressed in the most colorful clothes imaginable. We arrive in Agra where we stay two nights at the deluxe ITC Mughal hotel. This afternoon we will visit Agra Fort built by the great Moghul emperor Akbar and augmented by successive emperors until the last one Aurangzeb, who imprisoned his old father Shah Jahan here. From there you can catch a fabulous view of the TAJ MAHAL across River Yamuna, lit up by the setting sun. Special dinner arrangement for the evening at the hotel. 

This morning, we drive west to stop first at the former capital of the great Mughal emperor Akbar, Fatehpur Sikri, now a ghost city. We visit the Royal Palace, Jodha Bai’s Palace and Birbal’s Mansion. Lunch enroute. Late afternoon we will arrive in the beautiful pink city to stay at the super – deluxe Raj Palace hotel, formally a residence of the Maharaja’s family members. 

Today we drive northeast to stop first in Amber, the ancient Capital of Maharajas of Jaipur, where we begin the sightseeing of the Amber Fort, swaying up to the top of the hill on the back of an elephant. We visit the Palace Complex, with its lofty Hall of Public Audience, the dazzling Seesh Mahal – private chamber of former Kings and queens, and Sukh Mahal, where the marble rooms were cooled by water cascading through fine perforation in the center of the wall- an early and very efficient system of air -conditioning. Afternoon is at leisure. Overnight at the hotel. 

This morning we will board the flight to Varanasi. This afternoon we will visit Sarnath where Lord Buddha is believed to have given his first sermon. Late this afternoon, we will take a boat ride on the River Ganges. To see one of the most colorful open-air ceremonies, known as ‘Aarti’ is performed every sunset, on banks of the holy river, by Hindu priests chanting and ringing bells. Dinner at the hotel.

Early this morning, we go down to the banks of the River Ganges to visit one of the Ghats. A Ghat is a platform, built of stone, on the waterfront. We will see priests performing pooja (offerings), people practicing meditation or yoga, and some pilgrims who come for their morning prayers. We take a domestic flight to Khajuraho. We will arrive at Khajuraho in afternoon, where we will stay one night. This afternoon we visit the Khajuraho temples in the western Group, which are the most spectacular in the world. Left in their original state. Dinner at the hotel. Overnight at the hotel.

Khajuraho temples are famous worldwide for their forthright eroticism of sculptures which were erected between the 10th and 12th centuries, and abandoned since then. The artisans used incredible skills to carve the buff colored sandstones to show exquisite details of ornaments and hairstyles, down to manicured nails of gods and goddesses and to make them stand out in a three- dimensional high – relief form.

we visit The Eastern Group temples. This afternoon, we take a domestic airline flight to Delhi. We transfer you to the Delhi International Airport for the flight on airline of your choice back to U.S.A., arriving home the next day.