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 :)

First Chapter of my Journey, Jaamgarh and Meergarh

This is my first real traveling post so i thought that why shouldn't I begin my traveling journey with my hometown. A lot of people don't know about District Bahawal Nagar and they certainly dont know that Bahwal Nagar District is one of the biggest districts of Punjab province in Pakistan. Well I should tell you that it is my home town and i love it.

2 years back I visited its one of the most beautiful and deserted historical places Forts of Jaamgarh and Meergarh. Infact these are the series of forts including Fort Abbas , Fort Meergarh , Fort Jaamgarh , Fort Marot etc. A lot of people don't even know their names.

These places are about 100-110 kms away from the Bahawal Nagar city. On my way to these forts I didn't see much population and specially any civilization around the forts.

But i did find a small friend. It collided with us and we gave him water and first aid :p

There is only one road which leads to these forts.

I must say that it was one lonely road in a lonely desert.

Believe me it is hot there so don't make a mistake like me and use sunscreen lotion :p

After a long journey we reached our destination and we had the first glimpse of Fort of Jaamgarh. Such a big structure in the middle of  unforgiving desert.

Jaam Garh Fort

Due to lack of government's attention it is converted into ruins but it is worth seeing.

I was sad to see its condition. Years of extreme weather has taken its toll on its walls but still its walls tell their own stories.

After visiting Jaamgarh I headed towards my next destination and after about 10-15 km I reached there.

Meergarh is a bigger and more beautiful fort than Jaamgarh.

Meer Garh Fort

Due to lack of attention it is also converted into ruins but it still looks beautiful. By seeing its marvellous buliding you can imagine how beautiful it used to be.

I don't know why but I sent a lot of time in this fort. I had a plan to see other forts of Marot and Mojgarh but I was tired and  it was a long trip. So after visiting these forts I decided to travel back to home.

I hope you have enjoyed this article.