Visiting the Kashmiri Moghul Gardens, Srinagar, India
I would think that every tourist visits at least one of the three Mughal Gardens located in the vicinity of Srinagar center. Your choices are: Nishat Bagh (Garden of Gladness) a long ride away; Cheshma Shahi, 9 km/6 miles from Srinigar center, or Shalimar Garden (also called Shalimar Bagh) around 15 km/9.3 miles away.
Our guide took us by taxi to Shalimar Bagh/Shalimar Garden and we entered the public gardens on the first terrace. Shalimar Garden is the most celebrated royal garden of Kashmir and dates back to the 6th century when it was a Hindu sacred site. The exquisite formal gardens were planted by Emperor Jahangir in 1619 for his wife, Empress Nur Jahan and has a large public audience hall where the emperor held daily court when in Kashmir, canals lined with fountains and four terraces separated by water channels.
The four terraces are huge and the water to this garden is supplied through a canal lined with fountains. The uppermost terraces were reserved for the royalty and there is a pavilion on the fourth terrace that served as a banquet hall. The garden is designed to create an illusion of moving towards the horizon. We spent a considerable amount of time walking around and enjoying the gardens at the end of the blooming season in October and always incredible Moghul turrets and cupolas before returning to our Manora Houseboat for a shikara ride around Dal Lake.
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