[itinerant]

Originally Posted by shashanka

Great idea, itinerant!

I can right away suggest a hotel (The Picadilly) in Lucknow on the NH25A. This hotel is one where I have stayed before and I find it convenient and with decent standards (Cleartrip). NH25A connects Kanpur and Lucknow and the Picadilly is located well before the real congestion of Lucknow starts and is very close to the airport as well (2.8 km).

Dear Shashanka, thank you so much for your suggestion. I am going to check the hotel online right away. Thanks.

[arnab.i@gmail.c]

Just spent a couple days in the city of Nawabs and I had an excellent overdose of culture, food and travel. I am from Calcutta, India and it so happened that one morning we just thought of driving to Agra with a stop over in Lucknow. Later the trip became more like a day-trip to Agra and have all the fun at Lucknow.

Broadly my travel to Lucknow was posted here:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ml#post5652747 (Delhi-Kolkata by Road | NH2 (now called NH19) in full detail)

In summary we reached Lucknow on 4 wheels and 18 hours of continuous driving (with few mini stops) via Sasaram, Durganti and Purvanchal EW.

So we reached Lucknow (in style):


Starting point of Purvanchal ExpressWay


Purvanchal ExpressWay


Purvanchal ExpressWay (near Exit)


Purvanchal ExpressWay Exit

We had some trouble in the vehicle where a truck bruised the right rear fender causing it to dent so much that the body was biting into the rubber of the tire causing it to cut every time the shock absorber was compressed. I really had a headache with the dreadful sound.

While my Wife was finding a place to stay, while we were driving in, she called Mr Mishra of Indraprastha Inn and he said "arey yaha bohot mechanic hain madam. Aap aayiye to sahi". It sounded like too good of an assurance to be true. Having no other option we drove in here. To my surprise, as soon as we reached Indraprastha Inn (Gomti Nagar), Mr Mishra sent a couple of his men to look for a garage nearby who would complete the work in a day. We told him we wanted to see the Taj Mahal so cant spend much time on the car, but we wanted it to be healed. Half an hour later one of his men had found a garage some 100m from the hotel and took me there. There I met VermaJi who promised the work and delivered me on time. When I received my car it looked like nothing has happened. And all this happened while I was sightseeing in Lucknow and savoring the best of the mouth watering delicacies:


My vehicle damage and after repairs at Raj Garage (Gomti Nagar)

After reaching Lucknow the first thing we did was to see the Bhulbhulaiya. We took an ad-hoc auto and booked him for the rest of the day. The bhulbhulaiya was part of Bara Imambara a historic and fantastic work of art. We entered with a ticket of Rs 50 each and a guide of Rs 350 took us exclusively through the Imambara (mosque), the Labyrinth (Bhulbhlaiya) and the Bowli (a well used by the rest of the building as a source of water and also as a place to keep watch on incoming visitors).


Bara Imambara Main Gate (Outside)


Rumi Darwaza


Bara Imambara Gate


Bara Imambara Inside


Bara Imambara Mosque


Inside Bhulbhulaiya


Old Lucknow from the terrace of Bara Imambara


Clock tower from the terrace of Bara Imambara


Our guide (Babar) after the tour inside the Labyrinth

The next pictures are from the Dilkhush Kothi and garden. The kothi was a palace used by the British rule and later became a part and an Archeological monument. The place is free from most of the tourists. Here are some pictures:











The next day we viewed the Residency, Its an immensely vast place with multiple archeological buildings and a museum. Its frequently visited but we did not find any crowd, perhaps because we went there early. Here are a few pictures of the residency.