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Karachi
| Lahore | Rawalpindi
| Rawalpindi & Islambad | Murree
Karachi the largest and the most populous city of Pakistan, presents an interesting and colorful combination of the old and new. The narrow twisting lanes and alleys of the old city throb with life alongside wide metalled road and elegant modern building. Within the city, talented artisans with age-old skills produce handicrafts of exquisite beauty. Karachi offers a variety of pleasant attractions, wide sunny beaches deep-sea fishing, yachting, golf and horseracing, all year round. Its restaurants cater to a wide choice of Pakistani and Western cuisines. Its markets and bazaars offer an endless variety of exciting shopping, including indigenous handicrafts. Particularly rugs and carpets of rare designs and beauty. Karachi `s recorded history goes back to the 18th century when it was a small fishing village known as Kalachi-jo-Goth. With the development of its harbor it gradually grew into a large city and an important centre of trade and industry. Its selection as the capital of Pakistan in 1947 added to its importance and accelerated its growth and development. Though the seat of Government shifted to Islamabad, Karachi still remains the centre of commerce and industry.
Legend has it that Lahore was founded by son of Lord Rama about 4,000 years ago. Historically, it has been proved that Lahore is about 2,000 years old. Hieun-tasng, the famous Chinese pilgrim has given a vivid description of Lahore city which he visited in the early parts of the seventh century A.D. For 200 years, beginning from about 1525 A.D., Lahore was a thriving cultural centre of the great Mughal Empire. Mughal Emperors beautified Lahore, with palaces, gardens and mosques. During the British regime many monuments sprang up in Lahore which blended beautifully with the Mughal, Gothic and Victorian styles of architecture. Lahore is the second largest city in Pakistan and the provincial capital of Punjab. Apart from being the cultural and academic centre of the country, Lahore is the Mughal "Show-Window" of Pakistan. The origins of Lahore are shrouded in the mists of antiquity. Reminiscence of its hoary past are the remains of a subterranean temple in the northern part of the Royal Fort, attributed to Rama, the legendary hero of Ramayana. Lying on the main trade and invasion routes to the South Asia, Lahore has been ruled and plundered by a number of dynasties and herdes. However, it touched the zenith of its glory during the rule of the Mughals. The Mughals, who were famous as builders, gave Lahore some of its finest architectural monuments that are extinct today. This is the City of Gardens and the provincial capital of Punjab which is the heart of Pakistan.
Taxila is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. For sometime, it has been the center of Buddhism, the world famous Gandhara sculpture and the center of learning and culture. At Taxila, you can see the great Buddha. His eyes will gaze upon you till you find yourself gripped by the feeling of awe. Other people whom you can meet at Taxila are, Alexander of Macedonia, Asoka the famous Buddhist king and Kanishka. You'll find their imprints all over the place. In 327 B.C. Alexander conquered Taxila which was the Achaemenian Empire. Later it came under Mauryan dynasty and reached a great level of development under the rule of great Asoka. The next step in Taxila's history was the indo-Greek descendents of the Alexander warriors. The final period is called The Gandhara period. The great Kushan Dynasty was then established in 50 A.D, and within these 200 years Taxila became the most renowned center for philosophy, art and learning. Taxila is the greatest attraction for the pilgrims and tourists coming from China and Greece. The final period of Taxila is in the fifth century A.D. when white Huns snuffed out the most successful and the greatest Gandhara civilization of last several centuries. Exploring Taxila is a multi-dimensional experience.
It appears that the Ancient city went into oblivation as a result of the Hun devastation. The first Muslim endeavor, Mahmood of Ghasni (979-1030 AD) gifted the ruined city to a Ghakkar Chief, Kai Gohar. The town, however being on endeavors route, could not prosper and remain deserted until Jahanda Khan, another Ghakkar Chief, resorted it and gave the name of Rawalpindi after the village Rawal in 1943 AD. Rawalpindi remained under the rule of Ghakkars till Muqrab Khan, the last Ghakkar ruler, was defeated by Sikhs in 1765 AD. Sikhs invited traders from other places to settle here. This brought the city into prominence. Sikhs lost the city to British Army and they established a cantonment south of the old city. In 1879, the Punjab northern Railway was extended to Rawalpindi but the train service was formally inaugurated on January 01, 1886. Over the years, Rawalpindi has retained its traditional flavor. However some modern residential areas and buildings is based here have come up all over the town since the creation of Pakistan. Pakistan's new capital, Islamabad, being the twin city of Rawalpindi, equally shares the same archaeological and history background.
The twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad lie against the back drop of Margallah Hills on the Potohar plateau. On the basis of archaeological discoveries, it is believe that a distinct culture flourished on this plateau about 300,000 years. Based upon the stone implements found in Soan Valley, researchers have revealed various aspects of activities of the primitive human being. The earliest tools stuck from large pebbles have been named as "Early Soan" and "Late Soan", when better and finer tools were made during Paleolithic period. In the new stone age known as "Neolithic Culture, i.e. 10, 000 to 5,000 BC, finer and polished stone and some Neolithic burials of long Homo Sapiens were found near Rawat. These discoveries are comparable to "Cromerien" tools of Paleolithic period discovered in Europe. Serai Khola, located 03 kms south west of Bhir Mound, is considered as the earliest settlement of Taxila. The discovery of stone Celt's, chert blades, cores, stone arrow heads, scrappers, terracotta animals and female figurines, clay bangles , stone and paste breads, copper pins, and wide range of poetry has pushed the history of Taxila from 600 BC to 3000 BC. Three cultural sequences, namely, historic at the top, Kota Dijian in the Middle and late Neolithic at the bottom have been discovered at Seraj Khola near Taxila.
They are a series of wonderful Hill-resorts on the ridge between Murree and Abbottabad and are more attractive than other cities. Murree is a very popular hill station about 50 km north of the capital Islamabad while Abbottabad is a city in NWFP province with a very British atmosphere. However, between them is a wonderful road which has been fully repaired from being the "highway to hell" to being an excellent 2 lane road and protection on the sides. The main tourist stay on this road is the town of Nathia Gali and the resort of Ayubia. Nathia Gali is known as the City of Fog for it can get very foggy here. The usual definition of fog doesn't stand here. Fog means visibility reduced to 1 km here fog mean visibility reduced to a few feet. Also, this area receives the highest rainfall in Pakistan and it always seems to be raining here (which is very good). But the main beauty of this area isn't high mountains, it's the greenery. Lush green hills and mountains with wonderful pine trees. The wild life of this area is pretty good. There is no place in this area where you won't find monkeys, real free monkeys. They are everywhere, in your hotel lobby windows, in the open barbecue, on the road; just everywhere you cannot miss them. The area is just brilliant with good hotels and all facilities. By the way, it can get pretty cool out here even in the summers so bring something warm.
Abbottabad
lies peacefully under the Galliat Range in the NWFP Province. Abbottabad,
a popular summer resort in the midst of spacious valleys, is surrounded
by green hills and located at a distance of 116 km from Rawalpindi and
217 km from Peshawar. From a tourist point of view Abbottabad is noted
for its verdant parks, gardens, golf course and pine covered hills, apart
from this it is full of educational institutions and Academies. Its importance
lies in the fact that it serves as an important gateway to almost all-beautiful
places in Pakistan. The formidable Karakoram & the enchanting Himalayas
can be approached from Abbottabad. Abbottabad is the junction from where
one can go to places like Hunza, Gilgit, Skardu and Indus Kohistan, of
the Karakoram Range. One can easily reach Swat, Swati Kohistan, Dir and
Chitral of the Hindukush Range along with Naran, Saif-ul-Muluk, Shogran
and Babusar Pass of the Himalayan Range. Neelum, Lipa and Jhelum Valley
of beautiful Azad Kashmir are also connected through Abbottabad. An Ancient Graveyard in Deh Khorkara
Located
in deh khorkara, near Murad Memon and Malir, this graveyard is the resting
place of Balauch tribesmen who came to Sindh in the 15th century and gradually
developed, by the 6th century, into a respected warrior class. Their tombs
have carvings similar to those at Chaukhandi, but these carvings are restricted
to the upper slab of the tomb (which itself is generally below the ground).
Ancient Harappa, founded over 5,000 years ago, was one of the world's first cities. Today it is the first ancient Indus urban center being researched with modern scientific and multi-disciplinary tools. The
5,000-years-old remains of Moenjodaro close to Larkana show what high
standard in town planning and civil engineering the people of this ancient
city had attained. Large community halls, a magnificent bath, the granary
and the upper and lower cities indicate that this biggest city in the
world on the strength of the population of 25,000 souls was planned on
the drawing boards first before it went up vast in bricks and mortar.
The bricked drains, the paved streets, and the chutes for throwing garbage
out of the houses which and janitors collected show the kind of municipal
system that day's those people had developed.
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