Naive Traveler : City of Nawabs - Lucknow

Naive Traveler : City of Nawabs - Lucknow

Lucknow Charbagh Station.

Lucknow is known as The City of Nawabs the royal ruler of the city which gave it culinary & cultural identity like the way of talking I noticed while interacting with the people. The place is beautiful and has many things which can attract tourists to visit this city but I don’t find it tourist friendly as I observed in the other cities I visited like Agra,Jaipur, Dehradun,etc. As we came out of the station, there were no tourist autos or taxis available for city sightseeing thus left you unaware of what to do.
If we haven’t researched about the places and things to eat we couldn’t explore the city the way we did.

Rahim Ki Nihari-Kulcha

With our knowledge of places to visit and to eat, we first hire a bus bust to the Chowk area where we found Rahim’s Hotel for famous RAHIM KI NIHARI-KULCHA. Nihari is a breakfast non-vegetarian dish available in both Buffalo & Goat meat. Its taste was totally different from what I have tested it in Delhi and the Kulcha was heavenly, soft from inside and crusty from outside. Unlike Delhi it is not spicy and the meat was so soft that it melted into the mouth.

Asafi Mosque

Bara Imambara Hall From Inside

One of Bhool Bhulaiyya Path

Baoli from Inside

Bara Imambara from Outside

Rumi Darwaza

Then we took rickshaw the favorite ride of the place and also cheap which took us to Rumi Darwaza which takes us to Bara Imambara. Bara Imambara has grave of Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula and his mother along with the relics of their time including the throne he used to sit. Bara Imambara is the largest structure in the world without any pillars. The complex also housed Asifi Mosque, Bhool Bhulaiyya (Labyrinth – at terrace of Bara Imambara) and Baoli (water tank). The place is Shia Shrine which is used for Muharram Mourning along with Chota Imambara which we visited next on Tonga. 

Chota Imambara

Chota Imambara

Satkhanda

Clock Tower 

Between Bara Imambara and Chota Imambara lies a four storey Tower Satkhanada and the Clock Tower. Locals usually play and sit around that area. We then go to Gomati Ghat and Gomti River Front. Another places which one can see was far from the area so we decided to spend our evening in Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal a much talked about Park built by Mayawati for its corruption during her tenure which housed her own statues also. If we left the controversy related to this place, it has become a great city attraction. Janeshwar Mishra Park build by Akhilesh Yadav is our next destination which is a great destination too.

Gomti Ghat

Ambedkar Park 

Ambedkar Park 

Elephants of Ambedkar Park

Mayawati & Kashiram Statues

Lake In Janeshwar Mishra Park

Janeshwar Mishra Statue

Gate of Janeshwar Mishra Park

After spending our evening there we have time till 11.15 (our train time) to try famous dishes of the area. We first went to Hasratganj to Ram Asarey famous for Malai Ki Gilori which didn’t impress me at all. Bajpai ki kachodi which is a sober outlet opposite Ram Asarey and where only last plate of Puri-Sabji was available at the time we reached there has a great test. The sabji was out of this world and I have never tested anything like it before. Royal Café famous for Basket Chat is also a must try. It is also famous among many Bollywood celebs.

Kulfi,Kabab & Cafe

Next stop was Aminabad for world famous Tundey Kababi which is also a nice place but truthfully I didn’t like them much but admired their softness. Praksh Ki Kulfi ended our Lucknow journey. It was delicious we then headed to railway station and waited for our train to return back home.

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