Page 5 - India 20 Day Sample Itinerary

DAY 02 ARRIVE DELHI Arrive Delhi, India. After completing immigration and custom formalities you will be met by your guide who will and escort you to a waiting vehicle for your transfer to the Leela Palace New Delhi. Your guide will be holding a sign marked ‘Your Name’. At the Leela Palace New Delhi reservations for a Deluxe room have been confirmed for the following 2 nights. The 260 room Leela Palace New Delhi is located in the exclusive Diplomatic Enclave. The hotel is in close proximity to the Presidential Palace, Prime Minister's office, ministries, embassies, central business districts and historical monuments. Delhi is made up of about 15 cities, spanning the period from the 11th to 20th centuries. There is little left of the early cities. Old Delhi (Shahjahanabad) and New Delhi, the two most recent cities and the heart of modern Delhi, are relatively intact. Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan in 1650 switched the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi. Shah Jehan possessing an exquisite talent, especially in architecture, created the seventh city and in the process brought about Delhi's glorious renaissance. The Red Fort (Lal Qila) is Shah Jehan's symbol of power and elegance, built behind red sandstone walls. Its main gate (Lahore Gate) faces Chandni Chowk, the perpetually congested avenue heading west from the Red Fort, is filled with twisting lanes, small streets and crowded bazaars. If you peer through a portico you may see a man getting shaved, silver being weighed, or any other conceivable form of intense commerce. In 1911 King George V announced the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. The King's architects, Lutyens and Baker, set in motion the design and construction of Delhi's eight city - New Delhi. Lutyens designed an "Imperial City" having palatial-sized buildings set amid broad tree-lined avenues punctuated by Moghul style gardens, complete with fountains and shallow pools. It took 20 years to complete this immense undertaking only to have the British pack up and relinquish the subcontinent in 1947.