Trips To Many Places

Incredible India Garden Tour 2009    Incredible India, where gardens, monuments and traditions meet is an unforgettable experience and www.gardeningtours.com is proud to offer this unique, one of a kind tour a limited group size March 3rd – 15th, 2009.   You arrive and depart from Delhi where King George V moved the capital to from Calcutta and engaged Sir Edward Lutyens to design a plan for the city.  Today New Delhi is full of parks and gardens as a result.   The most famous one being the Mughal Gardens, which is open for only a few days each year and where we will be visiting.  Among other sights we will visit in New Dehli is Humayun’s Tomb, a beautiful red sandstone building topped by a magnificent marble dome topped in copper, surrounded by gardens, fountains and water and the very unique Lotus Shaped Bahai Temple surrounded by pools representing the floating leaves of the lotus.  We also visit much more here including Lodhi Garden known for its fountains, ponds, flowering trees, blossoming shrubs and glass dome.   Agra brings us to one of the seven wonders of the world – the Taj Mahal.  So overwhelming is the exquisite beauty and presence of this marble mausoleum that centuries later it is still called the City of the Taj.  It was built by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Hahal, who died giving birth to her 14th child. Shah Jahan spent 22 years completing this tomb and memorial and it is decorated in the finest and purest marble, and ornamented like a jewel box with precious gems.  Flowers remain the main decorative element as the tomb depicts a paradise garden.  The Taj is surrounded by its own garden, itself a symbol of a paradise garden.  We shall also visit the Agra Fort, first built as a military structure but over time acquiring the elegance, lavishness and majesty of an imperial palace.   We visit the now UNESCO World Heritage Site, Fatehpur Sikri, a city built in red sandstone by Emperor Akbar to commemorate the birth of his son four hundred years ago.   Jaipur, the jewel in the desert sands of Rajasthan, as remarkable for its marvelous architecture and town planning as it is for the lively spirit of the people who live here.  Widely known as the ‘Pink City’, it was colour washed pink to welcome Prince Albert, the consort of Queen Victoria, when he visited in 1883.   Here we will also visit the beautiful garden Sisodia Rani Ka Bagh, a symbol of love from a Maharajah to his Sisodia Queen.  Layered gardens, fountains, painted pavilions and galleries will delight you.    The Amber Palace, dating from 1592 is the classic romantic Rajasthani fort palace.  Its forbidding exterior belies an inner paradise of Mughal and Hindu styles.  We also visit the City Palace Museum and for science lovers, the Jantar Mantar, an observatory built by the founder of Jaipur in 1728 and still in use today.   We fly to Jodhpur, a fortified city, and visit the beautiful landscaped Mandore Garden featuring dewals or cenotaphs of former rulers and built along the lines of a Hindu temple.  We include a visit to the Mehrangarh Fort, housing several palaces known for their intricate carvings and sprawling courtyards and one of the largest forts in India.  The richly carved white marble Jaswant Thada sits on the grounds of exquisitely carved gazebos, a multi tiered garden and a small lake.    We fly to Udaipur, one of the most romantic cities of Rajasthan and a kaleidoscope of fairy tale palaces, temples, and gardens.  We also enjoy a boat ride on Lake Pichola to Jag Mandir Island. The principal structure is a domed sandstone pavilion which contains beautiful rooms fronted by stone elephants and gardens.  No visit would be complete without seeing Sahelion-Ki-Bari, or the ladies garden.  It is believed the garden was created for his wife’s dowry which included 48 maidens.  A fantasy garden full of flowers, well laid court yards and lotus pools studded with water fountains and guarded by four marble elephants, each carved out of a single piece of stone!     This very special land tour will also include 12 nights in Deluxe hotels comprising 5 star and heritage, daily breakfast, 12 lunches and 7 dinners, 3 domestic flights within India, entrance fees, English speaking tour escort, demonstrations of marble, carpet weaving, block printing and gem cutting, tips for guides and drivers and incredible memories!    Land only per person sharing is 5,080.00 CDN, single supplement is 2,452.00 CDN      We can also arrange air out of Toronto or Vancouver and with that you will also have complimentary pick up at the airport in Delhi and return to airport at the end of the tour.  Get your reservation in to hold your space.  Email donna@icangarden.com  for further information and check the full day by day itinerary out at www.gardeningtours.com    Toll free is 1-866-642-7120      ICanGarden.com is Canada's largest Internet gardening resource site providing free information to gardeners of all experience levels from amateur to master gardeners. In addition to Canada, ICanGarden.com has contributing writers from USA, Scotland, England, New Zealand and Ireland. The web site contains thousand of articles, information on gardening books, garden clubs,  garden suppliers, hundreds of public gardens and thousands of pictures of famous gardens around the world. Donna Dawson, formerly of St. Albert Alberta Canada, now residing in Panama City, Panama is a co-author of three gardening books.  Donna also writes for two international travel/lifestyle magazines.   www.gardeningtours.com    is their tours only site. Donna Dawson, Master Gardener