[rknair]

My cousin and his family visited Hyderabad last weekend. Took them around the important tourist places. Posting these photos primarily for the folks who have not yet visited Hyderabad.

i) Golconda Fort and its surroundings

Erstwhile capital of the Qutb Shahi Dynasty which predated the Nizam's. This was considered to be an impregnable fort. This gives ample demonstration of the engineering marvels of the time - clever use of acoustics to communicate across great distances, natural air conditioning inside the rooms etc. Qutb Shahi were great builders; founded the city of Hyderabad and built Charminar.


Nagina Bagh, This was an old diamond market and Kohinoor and Hope Diamond were supposedly traded here. Now converted to a garden.
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Charminar's was inspired by this mosque's design and architecture. See the patterns in the minars.


Clever use of natural fortification, fort walls built around natural rocks.


Sunset from the top


View of the city from the top




ii) Chowmahalla Palace
The office residence of the Nizams of Hyderabad, the name means 4 palaces. First built in 1750 and further extended by the subsequent Nizams over the next 100 years, this was recently opened to the public.



Nizam's Throne.


A thing of beauty in the pool in the front of the palace.







Please await the next part....

[dhanushmenon]

very well covered and beautiful photographs. Have been a nice read. Thanks

[ukderebail]

Originally Posted by rknair

My cousin and his family visited Hyderabad last weekend. Took them around the important tourist places. Posting these photos primarily for the folks who have not yet visited Hyderabad

Cyberbad has some lovely monuments, i hope to see some more from your end. The photographs of the Golconda fort and Chowmahal palace are captured beautifully Mr Nair.

[rknair]

Read Part I here

iii) Charminar

Built in 1591 by Sultan Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah, Charminar is the most recognizable monument in Hyderabad. This was built in the center of the city at the intersection of two major highways passing through the city at that time to thank God for sparing the city from a terrible plague. Now with the modern developments, the monument is tucked away in the southern corner of the current city of Hyderabad surrounded by markets famous for its glass covered bangles, pearl jewelry, attars (perfumes) and embroidered clothes.

(Sorry about the picture quality here, I didn't have a tripod, so used the parked cars to support my camera with a long exposure setting.)





iv) Birla Mandir

Built by Birla Foundation, this magnificent edifice of pure white Rajasthani Marble stands on top of Naubath Pahad overlooking the Hussain Sagar Lake. A visit to this place will sure give you mental peace with its cool breeze, away from the huzzle and buzzle view of the city below. The view of the Hussian Sagar Lake from the top is indescribable. Unfortunately cameras are not allowed to the top, so could not capture that for you.



It has a amalgam of North Indian and South Indian Temple architecture with the main garbha griha in North Indian Lotus architecture


and the gopura in South Indian architecture.


The tall pillar you see on the left is the elevator for the aged and the infirm.


A beautiful scene on the backdrop..


Please await the next part..

[hurricanes]

Nice pictures Mr.Nair.

Did you also get a chance to visit Salargung Museum, Purani Haveli ? Waiting for your next update :-)

[rknair]

Originally Posted by dhanushmenon

very well covered and beautiful photographs. Have been a nice read. Thanks

Originally Posted by ukderebail

Cyberbad has some lovely monuments, i hope to see some more from your end. The photographs of the Golconda fort and Chowmahal palace are captured beautifully Mr Nair.

Thank you guys, your posts are a great encouragement for a newbie like me.

Originally Posted by hurricanes

Nice pictures Mr.Nair.

Did you also get a chance to visit Salargung Museum, Purani Haveli ? Waiting for your next update :-)

This time I couldn't cover Salar Jung & Purani Haveli. They visited Salar Jung Museum but I couldn't go with them. Camera is not allowed inside the museum anyway.

My next episode will come later today / early morning tomorrow.

[mobike008]

Those are some wonderful pictures of the Hyderabad's famous monuments and its always nice to relive our memories from these pictures

Incidentally, last weekend I visited Chowmullah palace to show to a relative visiting from Delhi, I must add she was impressed

If you dont mind, posting a few pictures from our visit to Chowmullah Palace (including a snap of the flower shot in the palace. Also, adding a couple of the Buddha statue in Tank Bund

[rknair]

Read also Part I and Part II.

Part III

v) Hussain Sagar

Hussian Sagar, a heart shaped artificial lake in the center of current city of Hyderabad-Secunderabad, was built in the 16th century during the rule of Ibrahim Qutb Shah. This lake surrounded by beautiful well light, tree covered roads - Tank Bund and NTR Marg on one side and the Necklace Road on the other is a favorite recreational spot for the residents of this city. As they say, beauty is only skin deep; this is also a major dump of chemical wastes from the industries. GHMC has setup many beautiful parks all around the lake some of the most famous are Lumbini Park, NTR Park, Sanjeevaiah Park and Indira Park.



vi) Buddha Statue
The tallest monolithic Buddha statue in the world stands in the center of the lake on a small island facing the Tank Bund Road. It is said that NT Rama Rao, the erstwhile Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh drew inspiration from the Statue of Liberty to set up this project in Hyderabad.


There is an unfortunate history about the statue. While the statue was taken for installation to the island, the boat capsized killing 10 workers. For 2 years, the statue lay in the bottom of Hussain Sagar after it was retrieved and installed in one piece. You can take a boat from Lumbini Park and Necklace Road and visit the island where the Buddha stands.



Some more stunning photographs of the buddha statue are posted by @mobike008.

I will conclude these glimpses with one more post but that will be a surprise...

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by rknair

Hussain Sagar

So far an excellent one.Thanks for sharing.Awaiting the surprise

[dhanushmenon]

Don't keep us waiting for long

[rknair]

Part IV

Read Part I, Part II and Part III...

Thanks everyone for waiting.

I will conclude this series with this post dedicating to one man's passion, ingenuity and hardwork.






Hey, why are all these photos of random objects here? What has this got to do with Hyderabad and a forum dedicated to automobiles and travel?

All the objects - Handbag, Doll House, Computer, WC - you see above are working models of automobiles designed by Mr Sudhakar and available for our viewing pleasure at Sudha Cars Museum in Hyderabad.

Mr Sudhakar, has a passion of designing wacky handmade automobiles and his creations frequently makes into the Newspaper headlines in Hyderabad editions. I have been reading about this museum for sometime and this is the first time I got to see his creations in person. Let us read what this is about in their own words.



The entrance to this museum is so unassuming that you will easily miss it. This world record holder - world's largest tricycle with a simple cloth banner reading Sudha Cars greets you here. You might as well think that it is an automobile workshop.



The exhibits are stored in 3 or 4 warehouses and I just wished they had decked up the exhibit halls better. The paints were coming off, there were cracks visible on the walls and the people employed to explain about the vehicles didn't have a passion towards the exhibits and that was a major put off.

Here are some more wacky creations.

Helmet


Fountain Pen


World Cup Special



Coffee Mug


Condom


Sports Series


Train


Saw a set of these beauties which he had restored in their full glory.








The next masterpiece in making.


Thank you for the encouragement and patience to go through the whole series. It was a pleasure for me to give you a glimpse of the beautiful city which adopted me. Hope you enjoyed it...

[dhanushmenon]

Amazing !!!
The twist of the tale at the end was a classic "Bye with a BANG!"

A very informative and nicely covered photologue of the city. If one had to search for a page which gives a complete outlook and places of interest in hyderabad in a nutshell, his search just ended here.

And to top it all, the info and aptly covered Sudha Cars was a master stroke. Thanks a lot for sharing the info. I never knew something lke this existed and in my next visit to hyderabad, this is in my wish list No 1

Thanks for sharing

[rknair]

Originally Posted by dhanushmenon

And to top it all, the info and aptly covered Sudha Cars was a master stroke.

Thankyou dhanush. This is one of the lesser known attractions of Hyderabad. I wanted to give this its due through my post.

Again there are lot more to see in the pearl city - Purani Haveli, Salar Jung Museum, Faluknuma Palace, Qutb Shahi Tombs from the bygone era and the modern attractions like Ramoji Film City, Shilparamam,Snow World, NTR gardens, Prasad Imax and the IT city of cyberabad which haven't been covered here.

[dhanushmenon]

Originally Posted by rknair

Again there are lot more to see in the pearl city - Purani Haveli, Salar Jung Museum, Faluknuma Palace, Qutb Shahi Tombs from the bygone era and the modern attractions like Ramoji Film City, Shilparamam,Snow World, NTR gardens, Prasad Imax and the IT city of cyberabad which haven't been covered here.

I have visited Hyderabad once. Not as a tourist but on work. I did visit some of the places mentioned by you. But majority remained untouched. Shall make it count the next time I'm there

[skdking]

Originally Posted by rknair

Thankyou dhanush. This is one of the lesser known attractions of Hyderabad. I wanted to give this its due through my post.

Again there are lot more to see in the pearl city - Purani Haveli, Salar Jung Museum, Faluknuma Palace, Qutb Shahi Tombs from the bygone era and the modern attractions like Ramoji Film City, Shilparamam,Snow World, NTR gardens, Prasad Imax and the IT city of cyberabad which haven't been covered here.

Hello there,

Am visiting H'Bad for holidays in Dec 2013 from 26th to 30th.

Am keen to see Purani Haveli, Salar Jung Museum, Faluknuma Palace, Qutb Shahi Tomb, Charminar, Chowmuhalla Palace, Lake etc.

I will stay in South H'Bad.

Can I be suggested an day-wise itinerary please?

Many thanks in advance.