Lucknow

The capital of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow is—in its lingering self-image, anyway—a city of ornate manners, inherited from the last significant Muslim court to hold sway in North India. Settled on the banks of the Gomti River in the earliest period of Indian history, it came to prominence in 1775, after Moghul power had declined in Delhi, as capital of the independent kingdom of Avadh. The nawabs of Avadh were members of the Shia sect of Islam, and the city remains an important center for that minority. Shia imambaras—gathering places used during Muharram, the month of mourning for Hussain, the martyred third imam of Islam—are Lucknow's most important monuments. Wajid Ali Shah, the last nawab and a legendarily impractical aesthete, was deposed by the British, who annexed Avadh in 1856. Resentment over that act, combined with the decades of indirect control that preceded it, contributed to Lucknow's strong support for the rebels during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 (also known as the Indian Rebellion), with members of Avadh's disbanded army manning the barricades against the British. British residents and troops, and an equal number of Indian troops and servants, were besieged for almost five months. After the Mutiny, the British drastically altered the city's plan in the name of safety: many congested, easily defensible older parts of the city were razed, and narrow alleyways became broad avenues where troops could move safely and smoothly.

Today Lucknow is a pleasant city—less crowded, dirty, and hassle-ridden than Agra and Varanasi, though without Agra's killer monuments or Varanasi's fascination. For a few days here you can relax in good hotels, dine extremely well on the elegant cuisine of the nawabs, shop in markets—modern and medieval-visit the few tourist sites at leisure, and just pedal or be pedaled around the back streets past remnants of the town's past as a cultural and royal capital, including 18th- and 19th-century nawabi palaces.