Fort Road Food Street

Another article of Lahore. I think i am in love with this city :P
Food street is the whole street just for food. It includes restaurants and hotels where you can enjoy the traditional foods of Lahore.
Well there are two food streets in Lahore. One is near Anarkali bazar which is quite old and the other one is near Lahore Fort, the one that I am going to write about.
On the Gate of Food Street two big artificial lions welcome you.

1.2 km long this V-shaped food street was specially redesigned to fulfill the traditional look of Desi Food points. Some of the buildings there are about 100 years old. Many of them were renovated.

It is built along side the wall of Badshahi Mosque. At night this place is worth seeing. It is attached with Lahore Fort through Roshni Gate which is open for visitors all day and night.
Architectures and interior designs has put special efforts to enhance the environment with historical masterpieces and lighting.

Food street also has a central sitting place which is surrounded by the backs of all restaurants.

The Fort Road food street has become the most interesting place for food lovers. Daily hundreds of people enjoy dining here with amazing outdoor dining experience. You can enjoy all types of traditional dish.
Some of the restaurants like Fort View or Cocos have the amazing view of Lahore Fort from their roofs. You can also dine on their roofs. These roofs give you the finest scenery around.

I personally dined at Cocos and they lived up to my expectations.

I highly recommend that after dining , people don't forget to enjoy a walk inside the Lahore Fort. Entrance through Roshni gate to enjoy the mesmerizing atmosphere in front of Lahore Fort , Badshahi Mosque and Baradari.
Average cost of dining per person is around 850 PKR. In food week you get special discounts on all the restaurants.
Frankly don't worry about which point to select among numerous. Every point has something good to offer :)
Hope you liked this place :)

Sheesh Mahal

Sheesh Mahal is the most fascinating place I found in whole Lahore fort. So i decided to write an whole article for it.
Sheesh Mahal which literally means 'Crystal Palace' is among the 21 monuments that were built by successive Mughal emperors inside Lahore Fort, and forms the jewel in the Fort's crown.

As we all know Sheesh Mahal was constructed by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. It is called Sheesh Mahal (Crystal Palace) due to its pietra dura decorations and intricate mirror-work inlaid into the white marble walls and ceilings creating gleaming effect. Sometimes it is also called "Hall of mirrors" because its main hall is full of mirrors.

The facade which consists of five marble arches opens into the courtyard. The engrailed spandrels and bases  are inlaid with precious stones.

The courtyard of Sheesh Mahal is very big and it has number of water pathways. It also contains a small  central pond which has a platform

Another important structure present in its courtyard is Naulakha Pavilion which is a prominent white marble personal chamber with a curvilinear roof.

It was also built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a small summer house. But this small summer house cost around 900,000 rupees when it was built which was an exorbitant amount at that time. It is called Naulakha because in Urdu language this word means 9 lakh (0.9 million) rupees.
It cost that much because it was decorated with precious metals and stones.

I hope you liked this trip :)

Lahore Fort

Well Lahore Fort is not a hidden place or something which anybody has not visited. But there are some places in the fort which some people haven't visited due to the huge size of fort. So here we go.
This is the biggest fort i have seen in my life. Covering an area of around 20 hectares, this is probably the most charming fort of Pakistan.
It cannot be said with certainty when the Lahore Fort was originally constructed or by whom, since this information is lost to history, possibly forever.
Its basic structure was constructed by Emperor Akbar between 1556 - 1605 and was regularly upgraded by subsequent Mughal, Sikh and British rulers.
The succeeding emperors have all contributed to the styling of the fort; thus you can see different architectural ideas incorporated in Lahore Fort. Also known as 'Shahi Qila" among locales, the main attractions inside the fort are Sheesh Mahal, Alamgiri Gate, Naulakha pavillion and Moti Masjid.
Only some people know that there are thirteen gates of the Lahore Fort located within the Walled City of Lahore.

Walled City of Lahore

Well it has 2 main gates one is known as Alamgiri Gate build by Emperor Aurangzeb that opens towards Badshahi Masjid and other older one is known as Masjidi Gate which opens towards Masti Gate area of Walled city and it was built by Emperor Akbar.
Currently Alamgiri Gate is used as primary entrance while Masti Gate is permanently closed.

Alamgiri Gate

This Lahore fort in its present shape suggest a lot toward its having served as a residential or palace fort and never meant to be purely a military fort.

There are two Hall of audiences. One is for common people called Diwan-e-aam which dominates the center of the north periphery of the garden and carries the focus of all activity, with the marble jharoka or throne gallery projecting from its rear wall.

And the other Hall of audience is called Diwan-e-khas which is for royal audiences and it is much smaller than Diwan-e-aam. It was built by Wazir Khan for private audiences.

Its whole construction is in chaste white marble.
And it is beautifully built :)

There are a lot of gardens in the fort to satisfy the taste of gardens of Mughals.
You can see garden in front of Diwan-e-aam , within the quadrangle of Jahangir , around Diwan-e-khas etc.

The most interesting thing I have seen in this fort is probably Sheesh mahal which literally means 'Crystal Palace'. I will whole article that beautiful and breath taking place :)
You can say it is jewel in the Fort's crown.

The fort is clearly divide into two sections; first the administrative section, which is well connected with the main entrances and comprises larger garden areas and Diwan-e-khas for royal audiences. The second - a private and concealed residential section. It also contains Sheesh Mahal and spacious bedrooms and small gardens.
Here you can see some of the most fascinating architectural beauty.

Some of the old structures of fort are still very beautiful and give you the glimpse of the past.

Hope you liked this trip :)

Badshahi Masjid

Well I am writing this article specially for my foreigner bodies. As we all have visited Badshahi Masjid so it is not necessary for me to tell you about its location or any unnecessary details.
I will write all those details which a lot of Pakistanis don't know.
So here we go.
Badshahi Masjid or Royal Mosque is one of the Lahore's best known landmarks and a major tourist attraction located in the heart of Lahore. The Badshahi Masjid is the largest mosque in the world of its own kind. It has no parallel in beauty and elegance. There is no doubt that the Aurangzeb was well-known for his piety, was fulfilling an urge in order to pay the most impressive tribute to ALLAH in the form of a grand Badshahi masjid; which was made after taking inspiration from the Jamia Mosques of Delhi and Agra. Mosque is even more massive than those mosques.
About the entrance of mosque that we see today wasn't a part of original mosque which was built in 1671.

The Government of Pakistan established a small museum inside the Main Gateway Entrance of the Mosque. It contains relics of the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) , his cousin Hazrat Ali and his daughter Hazrat Fatima. Some other relics are also present related to Hazrat Imam Husain etc

Badshahi Masjid is capable of 5,000 worshipers in its main prayer hall and a further 95,000 in its courtyard and porticoes. An interesting fact is that it remained the largest mosque in the world for about 313 years which is quite a lot of time.

Just to give you the idea of its size these are some fun facts:
* The four minarets of Badshahi Masjid are 4.2m taller than those of the Taj Mahal.
* The main platform of Taj Mahal can fit inside the courtyard of Badshahi Mosque.
* It has the largest courtyard in the world.
* Badshahi Masjid is the second largest mosque of South Asia next to Faisal Mosque which is also in Pakistan.
* It is also the fifth Largest mosque of the world.

As I said earlier this mosque was made after taking inspiration from the Jamia masjid of Delhi and Agra thats why it has close resemblance with them.
Badshahi Masjid's main prayer hall is the most beautiful place of the whole mosque.
Its design was inspired by Islamic, Persian, Central Asian and Indian influences.

The interior of the Main prayer Hall is richly embellished with stucco tracery, fresco work and inlaid marble.

The detailed work is one of the most beautiful and preserved works I have ever seen anywhere.

The exterior is decorated with stone carving as well as marble inlay in red sandstone, specially of lotiform motifs in bold releif.

Detail of white marble inlay in red sandstone.

Hope you people liked this article. I liked this trip a lot.
and also leave a comment :)