|
Day 0 – Mon 10 Jan
We meet at Heathrow Terminal 4 at 17:45 to check in for Jet Airways flight 9W121 at 20:50, arriving at Delhi....
Day 1 – Tue 11 Jan
... at 10:40 and are taken to our hotel. After checking in and freshening up we take a tour of some of the sights of British interest in Old Delhi including a visit to St James’ Church, commissioned by Colonel James Skinner in 1836 and the oldest church in Delhi. It survived the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and is still in use today. We will also visit the Red Fort with its memories of the end of the Mughal Empire. In the evening we’re taken to a nearby restaurant to celebrate the start of the tour.
Day 2 – Wed 12 Jan
This morning we take a coach tour of New Delhi, capital city of the Republic of India, designed by the English architects Edwin Lutyens and Samuel Baker. We will drive along Kingsway (now the Rajpath) and stop at India Gate. After lunch at a suitable colonial-era venue, we will visit Rashtrapati Bhavan, originally the Viceroy’s Palace and now the President of India’s official residence. It is truly an impressive building.
Day 3 – Thu 13 Jan
Today we take a 2-hour flight from Delhi to Bagdogra in West Bengal, arriving at 12:15. From there we’re taken north to Darjeeling on the Hill Cart road, arriving at our hotel, The Elgin, in time for high tea.
Day 4 – Fri 14 Jan
The day is free in Darjeeling – a classic British hill station, built to create a home-from-home for British residents in India. There’s lots to do in Darjeeling – catch the steam-hauled train to Ghum and back, visit the Tibetan Refugee Centre, the bazaars, the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, the Zoo with its conservation programme for snow leopards, catch up with emails, send postcards, or just look at the stunning view – we can help you decide.
Day 5 – Sat 15 Jan
This area of India is famous for its tea and, since the East India Company introduced it from China in the mid 1800s, India has become the largest producer of tea in the world. So on the way down from Darjeeling we visit a local tea estate where we’re shown how tea is grown and processed. Afterwards we continue back down to the Cindrella Hotel, Siliguri. In the late afternoon we assemble for our steam-hauled dining train on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Enjoy a three-course meal as we blast up through the forest to Rangtong.
Day 6 – Sun 16 Jan
Our coach takes us to New Jalpaiguri railway station for the 10-hour train journey to Calcutta. The journey shows the full contrast of India, starting with the rich farmland of North Bengal, crossing the River Ganges twice, and finishing with some of the slum suburbs of Calcutta. After arrival in Calcutta, we’re taken to a central city hotel, our base for the next two nights.
Day 7 – Mon 17 Jan
We start the day with a chartered tram ride through the city – this gives a great insight into the way this lively city works, with its teeming streets and colourful bazaars, from the relative calm of the tram. We then drive to Barrackpore, formerly the country estate of the Governor-generals and Viceroys of India. A visit will be made to the grave of Lady Charlotte Canning, the first Vicereine, and to Flagstaff House, now used by the Governors of West Bengal as their out-of-town residence. It is at Flagstaff House that many of the statues of past Viceroys have been relocated, keeping watch over an empire long since past. Before returning to the hotel, we look at the atmospheric South Park Street Cemetery, a poignant reminder of the uncertainty of life under the British Raj.
|
