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City with historic significance and becoming major economy contributor Srinagar, the capital city of J&K is very similar to other capital cities of the country. There is one side of the city that is getting influenced by modernization and social media platforms and then there is another side of the city that is still dwelling in the past and struggling with the adversities left behind by our elder generation. Struggles and harmony co-exist in this city and you get to experience both. In our observations, things are changing for good in Srinagar valley, as you observe education hoardings, hostels, PGs advertising IITs, NITs for the next generation to grow and contribute to society in a transformative way. It was a good sign that the education sector, which holds the key to bringing ever-lasting peace is now at the center of the city. Stay options When you are in Srinagar, as your base camp, you may opt for staying in a hotel ( mostly located near and around the city center), houseboats, or Airbnb as per your convenience. Generally, an option which is most explored is to keep 1N stay in houseboat, few days stay in a hotel and few days stay in other locations. We took a slightly different approach to stay in Airbnb throughout as we found houseboat stay a little discomforting. We are not particularly cozy in a closed, confined kind of stay. Let’s discover what we can do in Srinagar and how many days at least need to be spent in the city. Locations to cover It is advised that you keep at least two days for Srinagar, and you can split it in a way like if you reach early on the day of your landing you can cover the Shikhara ride on Day 0 ( it takes around one hour to complete the ride (basic ride) though you can extend it by shelling few more bucks). Also, you can cover the Hazrat Bal shrine which is second to Jama Masjid (oldest Masjid in Srinagar), however, its historic significance is second to none. You can visit it for its beautiful peaceful surroundings. One full day can be kept for Srinagar to cover the rest of the tourist spots and do some shopping as well. When it comes to tourist attractions, most of the tourist attractions are located in a 25-30km Dal lake semi-circle. You can start from one end of the lake and unravel all the locations in a single visit. All of the locations start opening up around 10:00 AM so you may be the first one to reach one of these locations if you are standing at the gate right at 10’o clock. The Dal Circle Most of the locations here are “Bagh” or Gardens and they were curated during Mughal times. The centerpiece of attraction in these locations is “Chinar” trees and their leaves are very similar to maple leaves. During December – January most of the “Chinar” trees shed off all their leaves and you can bring back some leaves for decorative purposes. If you enter from one side of the Lake, you can start with Nishat Bagh, which is seven layers of gardens beautifully maintained and curated. As soon as you are through the entry door, a royal feeling is imminent to take over. As you progress further in the garden, you respect the way the garden has been maintained over the years and how magnificently they stand just on the corner of Dal lake. Yes, it’s true, in winter garden will not be blooming with budding flowers, yet the garden aura can be expressed in contrasting colors which represents a very important phase of transformation. As you move out from Nishat Bagh, you can next visit the Shalimar Bagh / Botanical Gardens. They are very similar to Nishat Bagh and again very beautifully maintained. Given the time of the year, they all have very similar vibes, so you can pick and choose which gardens you want to cover. You may not find anything different here. All the gardens are spread across acres and if you are interested in spending some quality time in open spaces, there is nothing better than these gardens. Next, you can cover Chashme Shahi and Pari Bagh. Roads leading to Chashme shahi and in particular, Pari Bagh are breathtaking. If you are lucky, you may come across some amazing fauna and possibly some of the wild animals as well. We decided to go to Pari Bagh first and though the gardens are very well maintained, they had those old rocky formations of the wall and looked like a painting out of a history book. Views of the Srinagar valley were stand out of Pari Bagh. Area wise Pari Bagh is smaller than Nishat Bagh or others however “layered garden” architecture is common. On our return from Pari Bagh, we stopped at Chashme Shahi and the major difference here is the natural spring water around which this garden has been developed. You can drink natural spring water and it is said that it does have medicinal properties. For all the gardens that we have mentioned, there are a lot of stairs in all of them. So if you have elderly in the group, they may struggle with all of the walking engaged. If you have to pick with least stairs, we recommend Botanical gardens and Pari Bagh as one can enjoy enough at one level. The last stop in Dal lake circle is going to be Shankaracharya Temple, located on the hilltop and near the famous TV tower. Govt has created multiple viewpoints on the hill where you can stop and enjoy the valley from different locations. Due to very limited traffic police near temple premises, traffic jams are pretty common, so you have to keep a good buffer time. Another important thing here is you cannot take any mobile phones, cameras with you. So you have to keep them in your cars/vehicles or deposit them with security at the entrance of the premises. As Shankaracharya temple is located on the highest point of the hill, you will be greeted with 250 steps stone bases stairs. So be ready for your cardio exercise of the day. As soon as you reach the temple entrance and as you look down from your location, all this exercise will look worth it. You will then see Dal lake is not just a lake in a big circle, it has a snake-like tail and goes for miles. When you visit the prayer site of the temple and think about how this temple was built, you surely will experience goosebumps that it was built centuries ago when engineering was not at its prime. On the side exit of the temple, you have a small temple dedicated to Guru Shankracharya, where he meditated for years. It is a small cozy place and you keep wondering how is this possible to stay let alone meditate in this. With this, we have covered must-visit locations in Srinagar check out the food and local markets and other places from the following links: Gulmarg: Land from Frozen Pahalgam: Adventurous soul of Kashmir Sonamarg: Land of Golden Mountain Hidden gems of Kashmir Srinagar : Roti, Kapda aur aap Kashmir: Planning your trip Piousness of Kashmir

Shop till you drop and then reenergize with supercilious food options Now its time to cover local markets and food options If I recall from my last visit to Srinagar in 2008 only shopping center I knew was near Lal Chowk however on this visit there were so many stores and outlets that have popped up every here and there. A new market location – Polo view market has come up with all the brands that are available locally in metro cities are now available in Srinagar as well. However, when you are in Srinagar, the expectation is to shop for local products and something which is not available in our hometown. Luckily we went shopping on Sunday and we recommend that you do shopping on Sunday only. As on Sunday, all the brand shops are closed and these market locations that is Polo view and Laal Chowk have small vendors lined up in front of shops. You will get amazing clothes and that too at economical prices. The winter apparels we got from here are very cozy and warm. Apart from that, another clothes market which is open throughout like a Tibet market is very near to Laal Chowk and there are multiple souvenir shops in that market as well. Now if you are interested in buying electric blankets or something similar then again Laal Chowk is the place to be. Moving from shopping to food, Srinagar has so many utterly delicious food options. Do try one of these restaurants when you are in Srinagar. Shwarma Hut near Hazrat Bal is the most sought restaurant for students nearby, and it offers veg and nonveg options. We were taken aback by the sheer quantity of the food. Their one bowl of veg or nonveg is enough for 3 and 4 people. Yes, their quantity is the first thing you will notice but then you will be happy with the flavors they add to food. You will surely be licking your fingers. Krishna Vaishno Dhaba: One of the oldest restaurants in Srinagar and located near to the city center, it is the most visited restaurant in town. From its façade, you will not believe that how come this restaurant is so famous and when you are inside then you will see how chaos can be managed. Restaurants have sharing tables concept and the fastest food service we have come across. From the time you place the order to the time food is on the table you can count minutes on your fingers. You will be thinking that food will not be that good if the service is so quick, but this is where you will be proven wrong. You will be comparing and maybe keeping Krishna Dhaba higher on your list than most Dhabas in Murthal (Sonipat). I am sure you will be eating more than you thought when you made your first order. Mummy Please: Yup, you read it write, there is a restaurant in Srinagar by the same name and offers fast food from various outlets. We tried their veg burger and it was good though not at the same level you expect in Delhi or Mumbai however it was good to fulfill your fast food cravings. Some of the nonveg options which are very sought out are Ahdoos and Mughal Darbar. They were highly recommended to us by our guide and they both are very near to Polo View market. If you are a nonveg fan, you may want to try these restaurants to satisfy your taste buds. Finally, it's time to wrap up the Kashmir visit. We have tried to be as comprehensive as possible for you to make travel plans accordingly. Hope you have a good read. Enjoy your next trip to Kashmir. Till next time!! Adios!! Read more about Kashmir from following links: Gulmarg: Land from Frozen Pahalgam: Adventurous soul of Kashmir Sonamarg: Land of Golden Mountain Hidden gems of Kashmir The Srinagar Jewel Kashmir: Planning your trip Piousness of Kashmir

Things to consider on planning your visit to Kashmir Good now you are thinking about arrangements to be done for Kashmir and for the ones who have directly landed on this page, you may want to read the introduction and can read it from here. Directly jumping on the topic, Kashmir trip can be planned according to your expectations and seasons. If you are interested in snow (like us) best time to visit is in Jan-Feb, its highly unpredictable in December to experience snowfall. Some of the places will have fresh snow like Gulmarg and Sonamarg but same cannot be said for all the locations. Though everyone in Srinagar claims that general snow weather starts by Mid-December. As Srinagar valley have amazing tulip gardens, and it can be experienced in Mar-April season (preferably April) However, if you want to experience blossoms and greenery, plan your travel for June-July month (just before rainy season) and everything will be bright and colorful. Logistics arrangement: There are multiple hotels available from ultra-luxury like The Lalit Palace (which was Maharaja Hari Singh Palace before and now with Abdullah family (J&K ex chief minister)), Taj Vivanta among others to very basic hotels. In Srinagar standard hotels offer basic amenities like hot water, electric blankets at the least, but no harm in confirming. Do also confirm electricity backup as Srinagar experiences lot of outages. Then you have options in Airbnb as well to choose from. We opted for Airbnb and chose Valley Heritage. Valley heritage resort is nestled in local dwellings very near to Hazratbal and Nigeen lake, however there is struggle for electricity hence when city faces power cuts, you will face difficulties to keep room warm and to overcome this challenge they have paid bukhari’s available. For more details on you can read through the reviews of the property on Airbnb through this link Another option in Srinagar is to go for Houseboats. On the contrary from their Kerala counterparts, these houseboats do not move and rather stay in one location. As most commonly known to everyone that houseboats are in Dal lake, it gets crowded and you may not get tranquillity experience as expected. To find solace, prefer Nigeen lake houseboats as they are few in numbers, gives similar experience and if you are here in summers, you can go for a swim in the lake as well. On top of that, you can easily take a Shikara ride from Nigeen lake to Dal Lake, which we found more serene and relaxing. Mobile network: We were informed all postpaid networks work in Kashmir. In our observation apart from Jio Postpaid, no other network worked, not even Airtel postpaid or Jio prepaid. Jio postpaid works fine even in locations like Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Pahalgam and many others. Taxi / Local Transport: If you are travelling within Srinagar, you will find autos and taxis available from multiple locations (hotel receptions can provide you sources details to hire a vehicle and it depends on your contingent size which vehicle suits you) however we learnt the hard way that taxi prices are too steep (generally taxi owners will quote very high prices like 3500 per day for a couple) however it will be test of your negotiations skills to bring that price down to 2000-2500 per day for car like Indica. Toyota / Innova will charge equivalently. But in any case do negotiate and try to bring down charges to half ( yes 50% reduction) that is the margin locals keep and it is applicable for everything ( you can expect limited negotiation possibilities in food and apparels) When you are planning for Kashmir trip consider following cost heads 1. Flights 2. Stays 3. Activities like Horse riding, Snow biking, Sledging, Skiing (optional spend but shall be considered) 4. Shopping and food – totally depends on you Flights from Delhi, if booked in time can be booked around or below 8k per person roundtrip. Staying locations – All the tourist destinations places like Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Pahalgam have hotels, some places like Pahalgam have plethora of options whereas in Sonamarg options are limited. In winters, as locations except Srinagar, have more snowfall days, some of the hotels shut their operations due to freezing water and hotels open for business will keep a hefty charge for stay (around 5k or more) If you are interested in waking up to snow covered trees and mountains, you can of course plan to book them. For a 5N stay in Srinagar your cost of stay will be around 15k on an average for one room. Choosing a hotel location is also critical as Srinagar has become crowded now, and if you are looking for peaceful locations then try for hotels and stay around Dal Lake / Nigeen lake and you will wake up to birds chirping and prayer offerings For details around the activities, shopping and their costing refer to location pages for more details. Read more about Kashmir from following links: Gulmarg: Land from Frozen Pahalgam: Adventurous soul of Kashmir Sonamarg: Land of Golden Mountain Hidden gems of Kashmir The Srinagar Jewel Srinagar: Roti, Kapda aur aap Piousness of Kashmir

Just to the south of the Europe, lies the heart of the world, a place where intellectuality was born. A place where sun does not set in west rather it melts and leave a mark. I think I was in third grade when I first learnt about Trojan Horse and got fascinated with the story of Troy. Though I was never fascinated with Greece at that time, tbh till 2019 Greece was a distant land somewhere in Europe. I don’t know when my better half got fixated on Greece and pushed that we plan for scintillating Greek memories. Her wish = My wish Our plan was to try and find a balanced trip between the Greek mainland and well-known islands. When you explore Greek itineraries, you may get overwhelmed with choices and find everything pickable. You transform into a kid and want everything till the time reality slaps you, and you find your job, finances and other commitments standing on top and then you get serious about what to pick. We finally settled that we would spend two nights on the Greek mainland, and two nights in Mykonos followed by two nights in Folegandros and a night in Santorini. How did we finalize on these pitstops you ask? Sure, let's jump onto that. How to plan a perfect Greek tour? The answer is plain and simple. Decide on what you want to do in Greece. Your preference is island hopping; great go for it, you will not be missing anything if you do so. Your preference is experiencing history; great, the mainland has so many things that you can skip islands and will not feel bad about it. And in the end, you want both; now we are talking. Our one-week itinerary was distributed around the Greek capital, two of the most popular islands – Mykonos and Santorini and one mandatorily offbeat island(s) (it can be more than one). Now, this is quintessential that you select one of the many options and one island that does not regularly appear on Instagram or Facebook. Greece is so much more than Mykonos and Santorini, and personally, these both islands are awesome and everything, but if someone asks me, Santorini is an overkill, it is always crowded everywhere. Santorini was a mood killer and the only reason we spent a night here, was because it had a direct flight to Athens (Greek Capital), and I suffer from seasickness. We were more than happy with Mykonos and can revisit any day, and the third island i.e. Folegandros was personally my choice as I wanted an off-radar island and developed a liking as soon as I googled it. Most of the well-known islands are in the Cyclades group and you can pick any of them like Anafi, Ios, Paros, Naxos among others. What did we do when we were in Greece, that is a very detailed story and readable through the following links: 1. Day 0 and 1: Settling Down and leisure walk through History Boulevard 2. Day 2: Tete-a-Tete with the Sun and the Sea 3. Day 3: Commonalities of Mykonos 4. Day 4 and 5: Detoxifying @Folegandros 5. Day 6: Closure and Return So have a read and let us know how you feel about it. Before we sign off, I forgot to mention the best time to visit Greece is around September when the crowd is thin but at the same time, the weather is still good to enjoy almost summers in Greece. Though, peak season is March – June if you are a crowd-loving fan. In addition, to assist you in a way for better planning, you can go through our Greece logistics arrangement blog as well. Oh.. I missed to mention there is some smack-i-licious food options also mentioned here. Till Next time!! Adios Amigos!!

We have a flag off!! Welcome to our journey to Greece mainland. Heavenly beaches, an ode to the world’s history and encapsulating aura, is how we summarize Greece. It is this one place where we would like to spend at least every alternating autumn season for the rest of our life. Day 0: Settling Down We had done prior research and decided to book a place that was walkable distance from Athens’ historic soul (The Pantheon / Acropolis) and easily accessible through Metro. When we landed it was already dark, we obtained a Sim card (Vodafone Sim cards are economical and can be obtained from the airport) and boarded the metro to our stay location. Grocery shops, good restaurants were all nearby, so we had no trouble making food arrangements. Day 1: Walking through History Boulevard Athens art hub is within a 10-15km radius and there is a lot of walking engaged. Stay ready to be on your feet and decide places to explore which are in proximity depending on your walking strength. There is also another option to rent a bicycle. The Acropolis of Athens is the center point for tourists as everything is built around it. It attracts tourists like bees to nectar, and its tickets can be bought online or through the tourist centers spread across the city. As a suggestion, do not wait to buy tickets right at the Pantheon or you will be spending more time in lines rather than enjoying what you came to see. To make it easier, get the tickets at multiple ticketing centers available around the Pantheon along with a map of historic places to see and mark before you begin as on every nook and corner there is a heritage site. The complex Acropolis of Athens have multiple sites like the Theatre of Dionysus, Odeon of Herodes Atticus at the bottom ( it’s a beautiful sight from the top), Temple of Athena Nike at the entrance, and multiple temples like Hekatompedon Temple, Temple of Rome and Augustus, Eretteo on the periphery with the grandest Parthenon at the center. Of all the Historical places, Parthenon sits atop the hill glaring at the center of modern history and where it all began. It has seen so many invasions, destruction events, and still, it survived. Its magnanimity can only be experienced when you are there, standing in front of it and trying to understand how it began and questioning how it was built. From the top of the Parthenon, you can see whole of the Athens city and a true amalgamation of past and present. It is good to begin your day early as the crowd (huge, really huge crowd) generally reaches Parthenon an hour before noon so try to cover it before the crowd hits. To cover all the places and learn about them you will need more than a day and you are in charge of the planning committee. Apart from Parthenon we also covered the Ancient Agora of Athens (It's Wonder Woman connection :P). In addition, we covered Hadrian’s Arch and the almighty Temple of Olympian Zeus. Multiple restaurants around offer amazing delicacies as you walk through the history lane. Soulful music and people dancing around amplify your good mood. We traversed around 20km that day and though we were physically tired, mentally we wanted to drink more of Greek History. As we had planned for exploring Athens shoreline for the next day we booked a car and went back to our stay location by evening. Read about the next day from: Tete-a-tete with the Sun and the Sea Planning your greek itinerary: Greece: Mesmerizing land ean Sun Making logistics arrangements for Greece: Budgeting for Greece Trip

Greek island journey starts with the top name on the list - Mykonos Mykonos and Santorini are the two most popular Greek islands in India, if there is a reference to Greece, then Mykonos will surely pop up in that discussion. Mykonos has two sides of the coin, on one side is a calm, serene take on the day where you relax and roam around the “blue” warmth of the Greek houses and close-knit market, and on the other side of the coin is its nightlife where you spend time in some of the best party and “hip” joints which infuses energy and bubbliness no matter age factor. We never expected discs to be so magnetic that one feels bad leaving the place even at 2 or 3 in the night. If someone tells you that Greek sunsets are magical, it cannot be farther than the truth. People line up on the beach shore to have a glimpse of sunset like waiting for a genie to fulfill their wishes. Usually, sunset is around six and people start occupying the best seats of the house right from mid-afternoon, and that too in shoulder season when the crowd is expected to be thinner. Mykonos markets are full of souvenir shops and artistic cafes offering all varieties of dishes as per your taste buds. Little Venice of Greece, Old churches, and windmills are very closely knitted and powered with aromatic flavors making perfectly magical evenings when roaming in narrow lanes. Any island visit is incomplete without a dip and swims in the Aegean sea, fortunately, our property offered private beach access and a calm sea making it mandatory to swim to your heart’s content. We wrapped up Mykonos on a high and it raised our expectation bar quite high. Read about the previous day from: Tete-a-Tete with the Sun and the Sea Read about the next day from: Detoxifying @Folegandros Planning your greek itinerary: Greece: Mesmerizing land ean Sun Making logistics arrangements for Greece: Budgeting for Greece Trip

Exploring mainland just outside Athense Greece’s mainland is as invigorating as its natural islands. Some enjoy Greece for its majestic history whereas some enjoy peaceful beachline and calming waters. Day 2: Visit to Apollo and Poseidon temple Today was all about visiting places on the mainland that are little on the outskirts of Athens hence we opted for a car. We started our journey from Thissio around 9 in the morning and left for Corinth Canal. Greek Highways are amazing to sail and the roads that we took were as smooth as clouds. Corinth Canal is an amazing sight that cuts right between Greece and connects the Saronic Gulf with the Gulf of Corinth. You will spot multiple cruise ships crossing in a single file with many of them being cruise liners and personal yachts. Corinth canal also has bungy jumping adventure right into the canal however, we were not able to enjoy it as it was closed on the day of our visit. After spending some time on the canal, we moved forward towards the Ancient Temple of Apollo or the Sun God (Archaeological ruins of Corinth and Temple of Apollo). It is an archaeological site with ruins dating back to 560 BC and is among the first proof of water channels. Even though physically all these sites are the last remnants of what was the first educational hub and residence, with just a pinch of imagination you can feel everything come alive. You will find an amalgamation of Greek and Roman culture here and how influential both have been in their growth. If you are interested in the history of mankind, it is a gem of a place for you. History is something which has intrigued us a lot and experiencing what our ancestors achieved more than three thousand years back arouses astonishment and a feeling of accomplishment at the same time. Our next stop was one of the most mythical creatures, Pegasus, the winged horse, the statue is easily approachable through Corinth city and faces the Gulf of Corinth. Statue acts as a recreational spot for local citizens and the site has been beautifully maintained for small get together and local events. Though the same cannot be said for the statue as I doubt it has been cleaned in a long time. We thoroughly enjoyed the vicinity and calm waters before we moved on with our itinerary. To complete our Greek god trilogy, next halt was at the temple of Poseidon, and it is on the opposite side of Athens city, so now we had to travel back to Athens and then to Sounion, it is a two-hour drive, but worthy of every second as you sail through on Greek highway. Temple of Poseidon in Sounion overlooks the Aegean sea and it is one of the perfect spots for watching the sunset on mainland Greece. Temple of Poseidon is located on the hilltop and needs a 5–10-minute walk to reach the site, there is a restaurant along with the temple where you can get snacks and meals as you desire. You can still observe around 40% of Doric columns standing till present. It was one of the sites destroyed by Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. As our journey to the mainland was about to be over and before we returned our chariot, we decided to travel along the coast roads and visit Lake Vouliagmeni, it was a small detour but worth the visit. Nestled in hills, the lake is an amazing resting place, and swimming spot (if you have time and euros in pocket). It was a perfect blend of a romantic evening with a restaurant in the vicinity offering great food and exquisite wine. We took a small halt and collected a few memories of the place before moving to the airport and concluding our day and Greek mainland journey for this visit. Right from Sounion till Lake Vouliagmeni and a little further the road moved along the shoreline and gives you a feeling of Great Ocean Road, Australia, and thus not a miss chance when in Greece. Our only challenge at the end of the day was locating Avis car rental at Athens Airport and we had ourselves to blame, and due to this blunder, we almost missed our next leg flight to party island – Mykonos!! This was the end of another eventful day in Greece and we never expected that Greece’s mainland can offer this much in addition to its islands. Read about the previous day from: Mesmerizing trip begins Read about the next day from: Commonalities of Mykonos Planning your greek itinerary: Greece: Mesmerizing land ean Sun Making logistics arrangements for Greece: Budgeting for Greece Trip