Hyderabad Journals, Part 1!

Hello Readers! Well, I really shouldn't call myself a 'Travel Blogger', because I travel once or mostly twice a year. But, whenever I do, I ALWAYS make sure it's up on the blog! Writing about travel is my second favourite thing to do, the first being writing fiction! So, after 1.5 years of travel slump, (I know, Oh My God, how did I survive without travelling so long!), I finally visited Hyderabad! It was a short four-day trip with family. Basically, in those four days, I slept for 2 days (hotel room, flights, cabs, name it) because I don't get to sleep when I'm not on vacation. So, tip: When on vacation, SLEEP!

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So, what to expect from my recent travel posts?

1. 3 Posts in total, 2 posts about the places & 1 post about hotel, food & tips!

2. LOADS of photos. (Few of mine.)

3. Probably a few (or many) rants!

So, I hope you're ready!

On Day 1 & Day 4, I was lazying around in the comfy hotel bedroom. So, here goes my adventurous touristy travel journal on Day 2! On this day, I covered all the places located in Hyderabad city. I went to 5 main places namely, Salar Jung Museum, Chowmahalla Pallace, Charminar, Golconda Fort & Hussain Sagar lake! Here we go. I hope you enjoy the trip!

Salar Jung Museum:

Salar Jung museum is one of the largest museums in the world & it really was because it took forever for me to explore all of it! There are so many forms of art stored there that you cannot leave the place unsatisfied. You'll find statues, paintings, artefacts, carvings, sculptures, ceramics, manuscripts, carpets & the list goes on... What is more impressive is that this collection ranges from 2nd century B.C. to 20th century A.D.  & is collected from all over the world. Amazed? So was I!

As for the history, this gallery is dedicated to the family of Salar Jung. It was a family tradition to acquire precious art objects, which then so wonderfully transformed into such a beautiful museum preserving all that the royal family believed & storing art, more than everything else!

You can check out more about Salar Jung Museum on their official website.

Innovative Walking Sticks!
There was an entire room to display such different types of walking sticks. The purpose is not just to use it as a walking aid, but also to serve as a decorative accessory & defensive weapon. The above are the ones I loved! In the form of a skull, faces of dogs and lastly footwear. This exquisite collection was one different aspect that I found in the Salar Jung museum.

Manuscripts & seals.
 There were many rooms wherein manuscripts & books were kept which were in various different languages, hardly legible. There were also many books about medicine which was surprising. Medical knowledge written in Sanskrit.

Wine glasses.
There was a lot of collection of silverware & other cutlery from the SalarJung family. Most of it was everyday items, but these glasses caught my eye & hence, here they are!

For the love of Game of Thrones!!
I think there were many rooms wherein weapons were kept; there were SO MANY! Swords, shields, knives, armors!! There was a 6 ft 5 inches statue of a soldier, which if you ask me, felt a lot like Jamie Lannister! It was in a protected glass though, so I couldn't take a good enough picture! But, both of us, my brother & I just loved these sections!

Chowmahalla Palace:

This might sound cliche, but I don't care. I LOVE palaces! I love the feeling of royalty, huge doors, never-ending hallways, fancy chandeliers, embroidered carpets, vastness of gardens & just a fairy tale life! I absolutely love it. Who wouldn't? Every time I have visited a palace, I get lost in the grandiosity of it & am never able to stop thinking about the kind of lifestyle Kings & Queens must’ve had. Apart from all the stress about fighting wars, of course.

Still, end note, I love palaces!

So, Chowmahalla Palace consists of 4 palaces that belonged to the Nizams of Hyderabad. It has since been meticulously restored. This was one of my favourites in the entire trip. It reminded me of the time I had visited Mysore Palace & I was just as mesmerized, even more! 

You can check out more about Chowmahalla Palace on their official website.

The Throne.

his is the throne where the King used to sit. I mean, look at it! White marble everywhere carved so beautifully with chandeliers hanging around the large hall. I'm just glad that this history & culture is preserved, because at times like these, we actually value it. 

This is one of my favourite images! I had even kept it as my mobile wallpaper, to be honest! The strong pillar with beautiful carvings that are hard to understand. I think that's how a woman should be; strong, beautiful & hard to understand. Okay, that was off-topic.

Pin this image & make me popular!

Charminar:

Char means four and minar means pillar. So, you can see from the architecturally magnificent structure, how Charminar stands. When we visited, it was being reconstructed or something on those lines. And as it is located in a very busy area, we couldn’t stop there, but surely took a few clicks on route!
Its architecture is again fabulous, which is one of reasons why we wanted to see it for ourselves!

Golcondo Fort:

Golconda fort was among another one of my favourites. After palaces, FORTS are my second favourite places to be. I can almost hear my brother roll his eyes at this, that's because I hate to climb all the way up, but I still love the feeling of being on a fort. It somehow makes me feel braver, in a way, because of its history perhaps. And, even though the climb is tough, the view is worth everything!

I was running short on time, so I decided to start climbing the fort. I did not ask for a guide, because I’m never sure about their stories or authenticity. But, it’d have been fun to know some secret ways in & out the fort or something exciting! There are simple stairs which you need to climb, nothing too adventurous on this one, unless if there are any secret pathways.

Anyway, have a look!

Mom & Dad!

That’s my younger brother, Ashwin! (He loves trekking.)

View from Top!
You can see the sidelines of the fort on the bottom & then there's the view of Hyderabad city above!

I promise I wasn't wearing black all the time.. Just like 78% of the time.

Group Photo!

In the entire trip, we took only 2 good group selfies. You're blessed with one of them, thank you!

Hussain Sagar Lake:

This one is another amazing place & not to be missed! You'd think it's just another lake, but I assure you that you MUST visit it anyway! It is huge! It is spread across an area of 5.7 square kilometres. Ignoring the traffic on the street behind, if you spend some time here, it feels really peaceful! I love lakes & oceans & beaches too. So obviously I had to love this one!

I read this on wiki & thought of sharing, because it's so touching! Hussain Sagar is a heart-shaped lake. The King at the time built it for people's drinking facility & this was an act out of love! So, that was some impressive story!

Day View.

Night View.

Love Hyderabad!
This was the selfie point, so obviously it was really crowded. The letters in red are written in Devnagri saying 'Love' followed by 'HYD'.

I had to take this one!

So, I think I started at the museum around 11:30 AM & covered everything up to the lake by 7 PM! The hotel was really far away from the main city area which is why it took around one to 1.5 hours to reach the city. This was the main problem due to which I couldn't stay at every place as much as I wanted to. And we couldn't cover all the places as well, due to time constraints. But, whichever chosen places we visited were really worth it & I enjoyed this day the most!!

Have you visited Hyderabad? Which among the above are your favourites or any others? Tell me in the comments below!
Stay tuned & I'll post about my experience at Ramoji Film City next Wednesday!!