SOUNDS OF NORTHERN INDIA - 2008

MUMBAI, JODHPUR, JAIPUR, AGRA (Taj Mahal) and NEW DELHI

See the ancient culture of India created a millennium earlier than in Europe.

Departure from U.S.A.: 20 December 2008 – 16 days. Return: 04 January 2009

LAND COST includes:
• All domestic flights in India.
• All ground transportation.
• All dinners with wine and 2 lunches.
Double occupancy: $6,750 per person
Single supplement: $2,250 - deposit $1,000
per person. Balance due ten (10) weeks prior to departure.

Day 1. – December 20. (D)* UNITED STATES – MUMBAI
Depart this evening aboard any airline of your choice from the U.S.A. to Mumbai, India. Dinner and light breakfast served on the plane.

Day 2. – December 21. (B,L,D). MUMBAI
Continue flying on the airline of your choice to Mumbai. Lunch and dinner on the plane. Late night arrival at Mumbai International Airport. We meet you at the airport outside customs and transfer you to the luxurious TAJ MAHAL PALACE HOTEL, where you stay three nights. By special arrangement, all of our rooms are sea facing.

Day 3. - December 22. (B,D). MUMBAI
Morning free to relax and to get over your jet lag. Afternoon tour of the Old City to see the Gateway of India in front of our hotel, built for the future King Edward VII of England and his wife Alexandra, when they came to visit India on their royal yacht, the Victorian buildings of the terminal stations of two main-line trains and St. Thomas Cathedral.
Gala Welcome dinner at the hotel.

Mumbai, consisting originally of seven islands inhabited by fishing communities 500 years ago, is today the world’s most densely populated city of 18 million inhabitants. When the last contingent of British troops passed through the Gateway of India, in February 1948, it was crowded enough with a population of 4½ million. The roots of the overpopulation with resultant poverty lie, paradoxically, in the city’s amazing ability to keep on creating wealth, be it trade, industry, movies, construction or hi-tech. Mumbai generates 40% of India’s GDP, its port handles half the country’s foreign trade, it had India’s first nuclear plant and its movie industry is the largest in the world.

Day 4. – December 23. (B,D). MUMBAI
Morning drive on Marine Drive, along the coast to see the Hanging Gardens on Malabar Hill, the colonial-Gothic buildings of the Raj era and the gleaming skyscrapers of the second half of the 20th century. Visit the Mani Bhavan Mahatma Gandhi Museum, a memorial to the Mahatma and his simple life. Afternoon at leisure. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 5. – December 24. (B,D). JODHPUR
This morning we fly to Jodhpur where we stay two nights at the deluxe TAJ HARI MAHAL HOTEL. All of our rooms are Superior with pool view. Afternoon free to relax by the pool or visit one of nearby villages devoted to handicrafts such as weaving or pottery-making. Christmas Eve dinner at the hotel.

Jodhpur is known as the “Blue City” because of the houses in the Old City painted in blue color by the addition of indigo to lime wash on the exterior walls, to protect them from termites and insects. The city is built around the unassailable Meherangarh Fort, on top of a massive steep-sided escarpment almost 400 ft. high.

Day 6. – December 25. (B,D). JODHPUR
This morning we will visit the Meherangarh Fort, stunningly restored by the current Maharaja of Jodhpur, to see the palaces, temples and a museum within its walls. In the afternoon, walk through some of the picturesque old streets and bazaars in the walled Old City. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 7. – December 26. (B,D). JAIPUR
This morning we will fly to the Pink City of Jaipur, where we transfer you to stay two nights at the incomparable JAI MAHAL PALACE HOTEL, built as a palace in 1745 A.D. All of our rooms are Deluxe with garden view. In the afternoon we will visit the Jantar Mantar Observatory built almost 300 years ago. Dinner at the hotel.

Jaipur, the chaotic capital of the state of Rajastan, is known as the “Pink City,” because of the rose pink colorwash applied to its palaces and monuments when the city was spruced up for the visit of Prince Albert from England in 1876.

Day 8. – December 27. (B,D). JAIPUR
Morning sightseeing begins within the City Palace Complex, laid out with spacious streets in a grid pattern, unlike any other city in India, carefully applied by a maharaja in the 18th century, in accordance with an ancient Hindu architectural manual, the Vaastu Shastras. Among the sights to see is the picturesque Palace of the Winds with 593 finely screened windows and balconies to enable the women of the court to watch street processions.  We will visit the museum inside the City Palace. Besides the throne, carpets, many antique pashmina shawls, armor and miniature paintings, there are two large silver urns 5 ft. high with a capacity of 2,180 gallons (8,182 liters) which were taken by a maharaja to England in 1901 when he attended the coronation of King Edward VII and his Danish wife Alexandra, filled with the River Ganges water, because he would not trust the water in the West. In the afternoon visit the Amber Palace on the outskirts of the city. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 9. – December 28. (B,L,D). SAWAI MADHOPUR
This morning we drive south to stop first in Sanganer, a center for handmade textiles in Rajasthan and to watch the traditional block printers’ work in family homes. Lunch en route. We arrive this afternoon at a 70-year-old hunting lodge of a maharaja, the SAWAI MADHOPUR LODGE, where we stay two nights. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 10. – December 29. (B,D). RANTHAMBORE NATIONAL PARK
Very early this morning or in the afternoon we will go on a safari to try to see a tiger inside India’s most popular park, the Ranthambore National Park, dotted with deserted hunting lodges and palaces which are now homes to tigers, panthers and wild animals, as well as peacocks and other birds. If lucky, there will be a chance to see a tiger but the sightings are rare. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 11. – December 30. (B,L,D). AGRA
Today we drive northeast through the colorful villages of Rajasthan where the modes of transport range from wagons pulled by elephants, camels, bulls, horses, donkeys, buses, trucks, cars, open-air taxis, tricycles and motorcycles carrying up to 5 members of a family. Lunch on the way. We arrive in Agra, where we stay for two nights at the deluxe TAJ VIEW HOTEL. By special arrangement, all of our rooms have a view of the famous Taj Mahal. Dinner at the hotel.

Agra, the capital of India under the Moghul is the third apex of the “Golden Triangle.” Jaipur and Delhi are the others. It fully merits its status due to the magnificent Taj Mahal, which was best described by the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore as a “tear on the face of eternity.”  It is above all, a mausoleum built by the Moghul emperor Shah Jahan (meaning “Ruler of the Universe”) over the tombs of his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal who died in 1631 and later his. Only he, of all his predecessors had experience since the age of sixteen in designing monuments, and the recent discovery of an enigmatic diagram inscribed with numerous Islamic scriptures on the façade, leads scholars to believe that his tomb was intended as a reproduction of God’s throne in Heaven.

Day 12. – December 31. (B,D). AGRA
Early this morning, we drive to see the glory of the most alluring monument, the Taj Mahal, in relative quiet, shrouded in mists and bathed with a soft red glow. As the sun rises, its color changes, from soft gray to yellow and cream and finally dazzling white, with the inlaid precious stones on its facades shining as multi-colored garlands around one of mankind’s greatest creations. Afternoon free. New Year’s Eve dinner with champagne at the hotel.

Day 13. – January 01. 2009. (B,L,D) NEW DELHI
Today we leave Agra for New Delhi, on the air-conditioned Shatbadi Express train. We travel in the Executive Class. Lunch on board. We arrive non-stop in New Delhi, where we transfer you to the deluxe TAJ PALACE HOTEL to stay three nights. Dinner at the hotel.

Delhi is a sprawling metropolis of 10 million, with a stunning backdrop of ancient and modern architecture. Geographically as well as historically, it consists of seven successive cities, with the British-built New Delhi making an eighth. Monuments in marble and sandstone are dotted around the Old City, whereas the colonial-style buildings from after 1911 and the modern architecture after Independence on August 15, 1947, are found next to each other in New Delhi, which has been the seat of the central government since 1931. Delhi’s brand new metro system, designed by American engineers Parsons, Brinckerhoff, opened the first phase in December 2002 and is expected to be completed in 2020. In the meantime, one has to weave a path through bicycles, auto-rickshaws, mopeds, cars, buses, trucks, cows, bullock carts and hand-pulled trolleys to flow with the traffic, looking at Hindus and Moslems dressed in orthodox clothes, women wearing colorful saris or businessmen dressed in suits and ties going about their daily ordeals.

Day 14. – January 02.  (B,D). NEW DELHI
Morning sightseeing of Old Delhi, first settled on the banks of Yamuna River around 1,000 BC, will include Qutb Minar built in 1210, the Red Fort completed in 1648 by Shah Jahan, Jama Masjid, India’s large and most impressive mosque, completed in 1658 by Shah Jahan and Raj Ghat, the site of the cremations of three of modern India’s most adored leaders, Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, Indira Gandhi (no relation to the saintly man) in 1984 and her son Rajiv in 1991, all three assassinated by fanatic fundamentalists. Afternoon visit to the largest museum in India, the National Museum, packed with exhibits ranging across five thousand years from Neolithic tools, Tibetanian Buddhist manuscripts, ancient rock figures from south India’s Hindu temples, a superb collection of bejeweled clothes, silk tapestries and fierce swords belonging to the powerful Moghul rulers, Persian miniature paintings, to religious statues from Peru and Costa Rica. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 15. – January 03. (B,D). NEW DELHI
Morning free to relax or take in any of the fine museums in New Delhi. In the afternoon you can do last minute shopping around the colonnaded facades of Connaught Place in the heart of downtown. Early dinner at the hotel. Late evening departure on your flight back home.

Day 16. – January 04. (B,D). NEW DELHI – UNITED STATES
Continue flying on airline of your choice to. U.S.A., arriving in the morning.

(B)*-Breakfast, (L)-Lunch, (D)-Dinner with wine.

International Airfare is not included. Individuals make their own international flight arrangements. Please make sure that your airline ticket reads: U.S.A. to MUMBAI and from NEW DELHI back to U.S.A.  We urge you to check airline cancellation penalties before purchasing airline tickets since international departure times and flights can change. Tours also can be cancelled due to low enrollment. H.A.T. Tours does not accept liability for cancellation penalties related to domestic or international airline tickets purchased independently in conjunction with this tour. 

The group is limited to twenty persons maximum. The Managing Director Grethe Arani and Aspee Arani will personally escort this tour. Local English-speaking guides are provided in each of the cities visited.

Please Note: This tour will be very special for all the participants because of the close personal connections Grethe and Aspee Arani have with this part of the world. Aspee Arani was born and raised in Mumbai. He received his education at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology before going to Europe for advanced engineering studies and on to the U.S. where he became a citizen and started his business.  Grethe Arani conducted extensive tours of India for Alumni Flights Abroad before launching H.A.T. Tours with Aspee in 1982. They are both specialists in conducting tours worldwide and extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of India.

Please send your deposit to:

H.A.T. Tours
PO Box 46876, St. Petersburg, FL 33741
Phone toll free (800) 472-4448 or Fax (727) 360-8459
E-Mail: gnahat@EuropeanOperaTours.com
Web site: www.EuropeanOperaTours.com