Eight in the morning and the bus to Ahmedabad. Very civilised this time with absolute minimum ‘pick up drop offs’. Bottled water supplied and the relief of a ‘comfort’ stop made the 6 hours go by pleasantly.
The Unesco World Heritage badge given to the whole town of Ahmedabad appeared confusing as nothing we spotted seemed to warrent any kind of award at all. The squalor, smog, and cacophony of combined mopeds tuk-tuks and cars could have had us believe we were back in Delhi. Except, there was the ‘Old City’, which we held onto in the hope it was possibly the reason for the accolde, but it was proving very elusive.
We were looking for a cafe recommended by the wonderful chef at ‘The Green House’ (our now reassuring haven for breakfast and dinner and delicious lime and corriander drinks) so, following Google we found ourselves…in The Old City! Yes, they were right it does deserve that badge after all, at least this part. We found the cafe, a restored Havalli, but it was closed which didn’t matter any more as we wandered wide eyed through alleys of crumbling Havalli’s. There were beautiful blue faded doorways hinting at past glory, window shutters hanging off rusted hinges, balconies and upper floors, where the women of the house would have discreetly observed the street below, now being precariously supported by what remains of it’s exquisitely carved wooden pillars. We met lovely people who just said ‘welcome’ not ‘selfie’ and dodged only very few mopeds. We lingered taking it all in and once again allowed the magic of India to surprise us.
