Kashmir's City Life - Srinigar

Mosque

Popular outdoor snack

Large puris and sweet served throughout the day.

View from Pari Mahal

Military Presence

Tulip Garden - fortunately the tulips came out two weeks early

Shikaris on Dal Lake

Boy  on a shikari trying to convince us to let him photograph us

Boys pedalling towards us to sell jewelry.

Apparently the seaweed has a lot of uses.

View of Dal Lake from a houseboat.

We don't know where the time went but we were left with only one full day in Srinigar and it wasn't enough.  In one day, we saw the Jama Mosque, Shalimar Gardens (nothing too impressive), the surprisingly beautiful tulip gardens, stunning views of Srinigar from Pari Mahal, a shikara ride on Dal lake and shopping at Lal Chowk. There are more gardens, temples and others sights to visit, perhaps another time.. My aunt went to Amarnath last year and she referred us to her contact  that made all arrangements for their pilgrimage.  Ishwaq (09906413361) took very good care of us in Srinigar. I wanted to do more shopping and also visit one of the factories where they make shawls and carpets but we ran out of time.

We stayed at  Hotel Broadway in Srinigar and did not opt for a houseboat.   We did later see what a houseboat looked like and we were glad we stayed at a hotel.  Broadway was comfortable, their breakfast was mediocre but they had a hip eatery called Cafe Arabica which had a variety of food options.  The Lalit is another option but is more expensive.

I was a little obsessed with taking people pictures, especially  of school children and women with their colourful garb, I'll share some of them in the next post.