Lahore

 Lahore 

We were on our way to our first stop on the schedule. 

The road we were following cut through a wholesale fruit and vegetable market It was early morning and te place was heaving. Loads were being transferred from seller to buyers by porters. Tuktuks were loaded hgh with produce to be taken away to a grocers or a retail market stall.

There was a thick smog covering the city, just as it had the day before when we arrived. Visibility was low. I didn't like to think that some of what I was going to eat might have sat out here in the market in all that pollution.

It was a colourful dight but it was noisy and progress along the road was slow with tuktuks, motorbikes and porters weaving their way through the traffic. 

Thick smog.

A porter carrying a load.

We crossed a bridge over the river, conjested with traffic plus tuktuks and horses pulling trailers laden with fruit and vegetables from the market. We reached our destination to discover that it was closed. We knew it was going to be a challenging day to keep to a schedule. It was a public holiday to commenorate Muhammad Iqbal, the national poet. So being a public holiday, some places would be closed. Added to that, the military were holding a parade so whole areas where they would be parading plus marshalling areas at the start and dispersal areas at the end of the route meant that some sights were inaccessible or would need long detours to get around the parade route.

There was now a new issue with which to contend. the museum was closed as the pollution levels were too high. There were staff there but they were not letting anyone into the building. We threaded our way back across the bridge and through the market.

We stopped outside the Masti Gate into the Lahore Fort, one of twelve gates in and out of the fort. It was undergoing repairs but my guide checked the opening times by phone. It too was closed due to the parade. The parade wasn't going all the way around, just past one section. Rather than open the rest but fence one part off, they had closed the whole fort.

Opposite is the Mariyam Zamani Begum Mosque. It is a 17th century mosque alough it is set in a market area and there are few views of the outside of the structure. 

There are some well  preserved decoration on the roof and under the domes...

...a nd along the walls of the prayer hall...

...with some fine plaster work.

The Dehli Gate.

Inside the Dehli Gate looking back at the interior facade of the gate which is a lot less impressive.

                                                 

the roads inside are narrow. This one was particularly noticeable because it so so empty.

The side streets are even narrower. 

We stopped at the Shah Hamdan Mosque, another 17th century building.

One of the minarets.

 view of the main facade inside the mosque.

It has some beautiful decorations...

...but those more exposed to the weather have not survived so well.

We exited the Dehli Gate and walked through the market. There was the usual fruit and vegetabes but also a livestock section. It had chickens in cages, goats tied up nearby and free range geese. There was also a man selling sparrows. People buy them to release them to make themselves feel good by freeing an animal. The seller claims that he catches them. I suspect that he has trained them to fly home so he can spend his tine in the market rather than trying to catch birds.

We stopped for a walk down Food Street. From the roof top restaurant, there is a view over the Badshahi Mosque.

One of the minarets of the Badshahi Mosque. Desopite being a mosque which are usually open 24 hours to the public, it was closed duw to the parade.

The pollution was so bad hat the main building was barely visible.

Next door was the entrance to the tomb of Muhammad Iqbal.

Another view of the entrance.

A view of the roof top restaurant next door. On the other side of the restaurant waswhere dancing took place and a brothel. It apperas in several books.

We were late for our next stop. We were dropped off and dodged the traffic to enter the Bhati Gate and walked along the road through the old city. We stopped at a private museum, the Fakir Khana Museum.

                                                 

Inside the courtyard of the museum.

Another view of the courtyard and the entrance from the main road.

Inside the museum. It holds some valuable pieces dating back hundred years, miniature paintings with gold trim, a stencil of the Timur home, made at the time of hs death, one of the oldest Korans, pottery, and porcelain so delicate that it seems weightless.