10 Top Tourist Attractions in India(2)

5-Harmandir Sahib 

The Harmandir Sahib, better known as the Golden Temple is the main tourist attraction in Amritsar, and the most important religious place to the Sikhs. Construction of the temple was begun by Guru Ram Dast in the 16th century. In the 19th century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh the upper floors of the temple were covered with gold. It’s a stunning temple, and always full of thousands of pilgrims from all over India, excited to be at a place that they usually only see on television.

4-Jaisalmer 

Located in Rajasthan’s remote westernmost corner close to the border with Pakistan, Jaisalmer is the quintessential desert town. The yellow sandstone walls of the “Golden City” rise from the Thar desert like a scene from the Arabian Nights while the Jaisalmer Fort crowns the city. Uncontrolled commercialism has dampened the romantic vision of Jaisalmer, but even with all the touts and tour buses, it remains one of the most popular tourist attractions in India.

3-Ajanta Caves 

The Ajanta Caves are rock-cut cave monuments dating from the 2th century BC. The magnificent Ajanta caves were abandoned around 650 AD and forgotten until 1819, when a British hunting party stumbled upon them. Their isolation contributed to the fine state of preservation in which some of their paintings remain to this day. The well preserved murals depict everything from battlefields to sailing ships, city streets and teeming animal-filled forests to snow-capped mountains. The city of Aurangabad is the gateway to the Ajanta Caves as well as the equally spectacular Ellora Caves.

2 -Varanasi 

 

Situated on the banks of the River Ganges, Varanasi is sacred to Hindus, Buddhists and Jains and also one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. In many ways Varanasi epitomizes the very best and worst aspects of India, and it can be a little overwhelming. The scene of pilgrims doing their devotions in the River Ganges at sunrise set against the backdrop of the centuries old temples is probably one of the most impressive sights in the world.

1-Taj Mahal 

The Taj Mahal in Agra is an immense mausoleum of white marble, built between 1632 and 1653 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife. Called “a teardrop on the cheek of eternity” it is one of the masterpieces of Mughal architecture, and one of the great tourist attractions in India. Besides the white domed marble mausoleum the Taj Mahal includes several other beautiful buildings, reflecting pools, and extensive ornamental gardens with flowering trees and bushes.

TOUR IN GREECE

The Great Pyramid of Menkaure at Giza

The Pyramids of Egypt

An Overview of the Giza Plateau in Egypt

10 Top Tourist Attractions in India(1)

India is the world’s seventh-largest country stretching from the high mountains of the Himalayas to the tropical greenery of Kerala, and from the sacred Ganges to the sands of the Thar desert. Its more than one billion inhabitants are divided into two thousand ethnic groups and speak over 200 different languages.
Conform its size and population, India has an almost endless variety of cultures, landscapes, monuments and places to explore. From the ancient ruins, fascinating religious structures, exotic cities and diverse landscape there is an endless collection of tourist attractions in India that will never cease to awe and fascinate the visitor.

10-Kerala backwaters 

The Kerala backwaters are a chain of lagoons and lakes lying parallel to the Arabian Sea coast in the Kerala state. The Kerala backwaters are home to many unique species of aquatic life including crabs, frogs and mudskippers, water birds and animals such as otters and turtles. Today, houseboat tourism is the most popular tourist activity in the backwaters, with several large Kettuvallams (traditional rice boats, now converted into floating hotels)ply the waterways.
 

9-Lake Palace

The Lake Palace in Lake Pichola in the city of Udaipur was built as a royal summer palace in the 18th century. Today it is a luxury 5 Star hotel, operating under the “Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces”. The Lake Palace hotel operates a boat which transports guests to the hotel from a jetty at the City Palace on the east bank of Lake Pichola. The palace became famous in 1983 when it was featured in the James Bond film Octopussy, as the home of titular character.

8Virupaksha Temple

The Virupaksha Temple in the city of Hampi started out as a small shrine and grew into a large complex under the Vijayanagara rulers. It is believed that this temple has been functioning uninterruptedly ever since the small shrine was built in the 7th century AD which makes it one of the oldest functioning Hindu temples in India.

7-Palolem

Palolem is the most southerly of Goa’s developed beaches and also one of the most beautiful. It is a natural bay surrounded by lofty headlands on either sides, resulting in a calm, idyllic sea with a gently sloping bed. For those who believe a beach cannot be paradise without a decent selection of cheap restaurants and good hotels, a dose of nightlife and plenty of like-minded people Palolem is the place to be.

6-Kanha National Park

Kanha National Park is among the most beautiful wildlife reserves in Asia and one of best places to catch a glimpse of a tiger in India. The lush sal and bamboo forests, grassy meadows and ravines of Kanha provided inspiration to Rudyard Kipling for his famous novel “Jungle Book” and make this one of the top attractions in India.

TOUR IN GREECE

The Great Pyramid of Menkaure at Giza

The Pyramids of Egypt

An Overview of the Giza Plateau in Egypt

Taj Mahal , Agra , India

Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is probably the most famous building in the world. Its picture has covered many magazines and travel brochures, and everyone has probably seen a picture of it, but nothing really compares to the real thing - the Taj Mahal looks a lot better in reality than on a picture.

Minaret

Even those who come to see the Taj with high expectations never fail to be overwhelmed by its beauty.
The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan to enshrine the body of his wife, Arjumand Bann Begum (Mumtaz Mahal) after she died in 1630 at Burhanpur in South India. The construction started in 1632 and was completed in 1653. The workforce of some 20,000 included craftsmen from Italy, Persia and Turkey. It is built by the bank of the Yamuna river not very far from the Agra Fort.
The whole structure is more than 55 meters high built in white and yellow marble. The Taj Mahal is flanked by two smaller red stone buildings, one a mosque and the other a rest house. Outside the walls surrounding the tomb, you'll be harassed by many hawkers, but the Taj and the surrounding gardens are haggler free, so even with the huge crowds visiting the mausoleum, it is a relaxing place. Most people spend several hours around the Taj or in the gardens, which are well maintained. The garden has a geometrical structure, and is believed to symbolize paradise.
To enter the mausoleum, you need to put a cloth around your feet like for any temple in India. You can rent it for a small fee just before the stairs leading to the tomb. If you want to go barefoot, you will certainly burn your feet on a sunny day due to the marble heating up under the Indian sun. Inside the mausoleum it is surprisingly chilly. The interiors are rather dark, and on first sight there's not much to see, but if you take a closer look you will see all the fine marble carvings decorated with many precious and semiprecious stones of any color (sapphire, topaz, coral,...) . If you're accompanied by a guide, he will certainly show you that a lot of the interior decorations are made of transparent marble. In the middle of the room inside the Taj, a screen of carved marble surrounds the cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, also built exclusively in marble, with (calligraphy and other) inlay work.

TOUR IN GREECE

The Great Pyramid of Menkaure at Giza 

The Pyramids of Egypt

An Overview of the Giza Plateau in Egypt

Taj Mahal - Closeup 

Main Gateway 

know India

The Republic of India, located in the south of Asia and comprising most of the Indian subcontinent, is the second most populous country in the world and is the world's largest democracy with over one billion people and more than one hundred distinct languages.
The Indian economy is the fourth-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity.
The name India is derived from Sindhu, the local name for the river Indus.
The country is called Bharat (pronounced as bhaarat; after the wise and pious King Bharata of ancient times) among Indians.
India borders Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan on land, with Sri Lanka and the Maldives just across the Indian mainland in the Indian Ocean.
Bharat Ganarajya National motto: "Satyameva Jayate" (Sanskrit: Truth Alone Triumphs) Official language; Hindi (+17 other nat. lang.)
Capital; New Delhi Largest City; Mumbai (Bombay) President; APJ Abdul Kalam Prime Minister; Atal Behari Vajpayee Area; 3,287,590 km² Population; 1,049,700,118 Independence; - Date From the British Empire August 15, 1947 Currency; Indian Rupee (INR) Time zone; UTC +5.30 National anthem; Jana-Gana-Mana National song; Vande Mataram National game; Hockey? Cricket Internet TLD; .IN Phone Calling Code; 91
History
The Indus Valley civilisation (also called the Sindhu-Sarasvati Tradition) is one of the oldest cultural traditions in the world, that goes back to at least 3000 BC.
The rock art tradition of India has been traced to 40000 BC in the art in Bhimbetaka in Central India and other sites.
According to the Aryan invasion theory, Aryan tribes from the northwest of India invaded about 1500 BC, and their merger with the earlier inhabitants created the classical Vedic culture.
Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkic in the 12th were followed by incursions by European traders beginning in the late 15th century.
It is noteworthy that the above-mentioned Aryan Invasion Theory is now being widely challenged with the use of modern & scientific tools such as satellite imagery from NASA.
Events mentioned in the Vedic texts have been astronomically calculated to date back to the 5th millennium BC.
By subjugating the Mughal empire in the 19th century, the British Empire had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands.
Mostly non-violent resistance to British colonialism under Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru led to independence in 1947.
The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan.
Pakistan occupied two non-contiguous areas, and a civil war between West and East Pakistan in 1971, in which India eventually intervened, resulted in the sedition of East Pakistan to form the separate nation of Bangladesh.
Fundamental concerns in India include the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, massive overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife, all this despite impressive gains in economic investment and output.
Politics
India is a Union of states with an increasingly federal structure.
Officially it is declared as The Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic of India.
India has as head of state a president, whose duties are largely ceremonial.
The president and vice president are elected indirectly for 5-year terms by a special electoral college.
Their terms are staggered, and the vice president does not automatically become president following the death or removal from office of the president.
Executive power is centred in the Council of Ministers (cabinet), led by the prime minister.
The president appoints the prime minister, who is designated by legislators of the political party or coalition commanding a parliamentary majority.
The president then appoints subordinate ministers on the advice of the prime minister.
India's bicameral parliament consists of the upper house called 'The Council of States' (Rajya Sabha) and the lower House called 'The House of the People' (Lok Sabha), both of which were established by the Constitution of India.
The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha.
The legislatures of the states and union territories elect 233 members to the Rajya Sabha, and the president appoints another 12.
The elected members of the Rajya Sabha serve 6-year terms, with one-third up for election every 2 years.
The Lok Sabha consists of 545 members; 543 are directly elected to 5-year terms.
The other two are appointed by the president.
States and territories
India is subdivided into 28 states, 6 union territories and the national capital territory of Delhi:
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Pondicherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal.
Geography

   
Located on the Indian subcontinent, India consists roughly of three major parts; in the north the massive Himalayas mountain range (with the highest point being the Kanchenjunga at 8,598 m) and the Indo-Gangetic plain (with deserts in the western end), and in the south the extensive Deccan plateau.
The latter is part of a large peninsula in between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west, with both being part of the greater Indian Ocean.
India is home to several major rivers such as the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Yamuna, the Godavari and the Krishna.
A small part of the upper course of the name-giving Indus lies within Indian territory.
The Indian climate varies from tropical monsoons in the south to more temperate climate in the north.
Economy
India's economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of support services, including software.
In fact, India's software exports alone are around $10 billion(2003).
However, a quarter of the population is still too poor to be able to afford an adequate diet.
India's international payments position remained strong in 2001 with adequate foreign exchange reserves, and moderately depreciating nominal exchange rates.
As measured by GDP in US Dollars, India's 2002 output of $481 billion ranked it 12th in the world.
As measured by GDP on Purchasing Power Parity basis, India's 2002 figure of $2.66 trillion makes it the fourth largest in the world.
Growth in manufacturing output has slowed, and electricity shortages continue in many regions.
India has large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language; India is a major exporter of software services and software workers.
Demographics
India is the second-most populous country in the world, with only China having a larger population.
Language, religion, and caste are major determinants of social and political organisation within the highly diverse Indian population today.
Hindi, in the Devanagari script, is the only official federal language and individual states and territories have adopted 17 other co-official languages.
These are the Dravidian languages of Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu, and the Indo-Aryan languages of Bengali, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Nepali, Konkani and the classical language of Sanskrit.
Many other languages belonging to both groups are spoken as well.
English, though only an associate or 'link' language, is still widely in use in law and government, particularly in the higher echelons.
Although 83% of the people are Hindus, India is home to the world's second largest Muslim population.
Other smaller religious minorities include Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, jews and Parsis.
The caste system once reflected Indian occupational and religiously defined hierarchies.
Traditionally, there were four broad categories of castes (varnas), though they consisted of thousands of castes and subcastes, whose relative status varied from region to region.
The caste system was an important social factor for most Indians till the early 1900's.
The embracement of the lower castes into the mainstream community was brought about by Mahatma Gandhi who called them "Harijans" (people of God).
Presently, India has tough laws against discrimination on the basis of caste.
There is a policy for the socio-economic upliftment of the erstwhile lower castes, by the provision of free education till graduation, reservation of admission seats in institutions for higher education, a 50% quota in government jobs and faster promotions.
However, caste remains a significant factor in the political life of the country as well as in some social customs such as marriage.
Culture
Indian culture is an expression of the numerous and successive waves of influences in the subcontinent with the Northern part of India being subjected to this more than the South.
What follows constitutes just a small sample of a vast tradition.
In music, two important forms are the Carnatic and the Hindustani, the former from South India, a much purer form and the latter from North India deriving a lot from Muslim influences.
In literature, oral and written forms prevail.
Apart from the Vedas which are a sacred form of knowledge, there are other works such as the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharatha, treatises such as Vaastu Shastra in Architecture and Town planning and Artha Shastra in political science.
Urdu poetry is an example of a linguistic synthesis.
The literature of the Sangam period in Tamil is renowned.
Many dance forms exist in India - Bharata Natyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Kathakali, etc., mostly they have a narrative form, telling stories.
Other forms such as street theatre and puppetry are also found.
Festivals can also be included as part of Indian culture because they are a way of life in India.
There are many of them -Diwali, Vijayadasami, Pongal, etc., they are not only religion-based but also include those glorifying important stages in a person's life, seasonal cycles, etc.
Indian science was advanced in ancient times - Aryabhatta and Bhaskara were important scientists who studied planetary motion.
The Arabic numerals are actually an Indian contribution.
Traditional dresses in India include the Sari (Saree), Salwar Kameez, Dhoti and Kurta.
In cuisine, rice and wheat form the staple diet.
Some popular dishes include Thali- a full fledged meal, Dosa, Idli and Chapati.
Movies are an integral part of everyday life in India, most notably the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu for their commercial bases, and Bengali and Malayalam for its artistic leanings.
Though each region has a specific culture, in recent times there is a growing tendency to merge boundaries and imbibe aspects from other regions.
Also, with increasing globalization, and due to the liberalisation of the Indian economy in the early 90's, there has been influence of Western culture.
So there is Indi-pop in music , Hinglish or Tanglish- English flavoured with terms from local language used most prominently in fields such as advertising, pizzas with indigenous spices, experimental dance and theatre forms, and so on.
The invasion of cable TV has spawned an entirely new popular culture.
Apart from these historical and context specific forms, what an Indian sees as important in Indian culture are abstract qualities such as hospitality, family values, acceptance and toleration of differences, resilience and co-existence.
Sports
As far as sports are concerned, though not India's national sport, cricket is a very popular game today and India's size has made it the game's financial powerhouse.
Some other popular sports - hockey, tennis, chess. (Chess is supposed to have originated in India).
Some traditional indigenous games -kabaddi, gilli-danda.