Holiday in Pakistan (11): Islamabad and Taxila
We finished our holiday in good spirits since we had the best hotel of the trip (the Serena), the weather was excellent, and we had some interesting visits. We drove along the wide Constitution Avenue in Islamabad, on which many government buildings are located, and then north-west to the ancient city of Texila which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, the third of our trip.
Old Taxila was founded around 1000 BCE and, for a time, it was c the capital city of ancient Gandhara, situated on the eastern shore of the Indus River. In 326 BCE, the city was conquered by Alexander the Great who gained control without a battle.
At Taxila, we visited the museum with its impressive collection of artefacts from different empires, the railway station built in 1881, one of the 30 local archaeological sites (Mohra Moradu), the Gandhara Resource Centre, and a yard carrying out the Pakistani cultural phenomenon of ‘truck art’.
Back in Islamabad in mid afternoon, some of the group rested, some went to a market, and I visited a special mosque. The modern Faisal Mosque was a gift from Saudi Arabia and it is a huge structure with four minarets visible from much of the city. I was surprised at the relaxed family atmosphere in the surroundings as the mosque’s location doubles up as a kind of picnic park.