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5:
Mazar-e-Quaid- Karachi
The mausoleum of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, The Mazar-e-Quaid has become an icon of Karachi
throughout the world. The mausoleum is situated at the
heart of the city, completed in 1960s. It is made of
beautiful white marble with curved Moorish arches and
copper grills resets on an elevated 54 square meters
platform. The cool inner sanctum reflects the green of a
four-tiered crystal chandelier gifted by the peoples of
China. Around mausoleum there is a park fitted with strong
beamed spot lights which at nights project light on white
mausoleum. It is a nice, calm and relaxing place.
6: The National Museum of Pakistan- Karachi
The National Museum of exhibits a range of valuables from
Indus Valley remains to Gandhara sculptures, pieces of
Islamic art, priceless Mughal miniatures, old coins and
manuscripts. The Museum also has a small gallery on the
ethnological profile of the country.
7: The Cathedral of holy Trinity- Karachi
The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity was built in 1855. It is
the oldest and largest Protestant church of Sindh
province. The Gothic St. Patrick's Cathedral, constructed
in 1877, is the first Catholic Church of Sindh.
8: Mausoleum of Hazrat Baha-ud-Din Zakaria- Multan
Standing at the north-eastern fringe of the ancient fort
of Multan, is the eternal abode of Baha-ud-Din Zakaria Al-Qureshi,
one of the greatest saints of the Suhrawardiya Silsila. He
was born in 1170 AD. The prime attraction of the Fort area
is the Mausoleum generally known as Bahawal Haq (the
ornament of the Faith). The dome of the Mausoleum is
visible from miles and dominates the skyline of Multan.
9: Mausoleum of Shah Rukn-i-Alam- Multan
The tomb of Shah Rukn-i-Alam grandson of Shaikh Bahauddin
Zakaria, which was built between 1320 and 1324, is an
unmatched pre-Moghul masterpiece. The Mausoleum of
Rukn-i-Alam is the glory of Multan. The tomb is located on
the southwest side of the Fort premises. Besides its
religious importance, the mausoleum is also of
considerable archaeological value as its dome is reputed
to be the second largest in the world after 'Gol Gumbad'
of Bijapur (India). The mausoleum is built entirely of red
brick, bounded with beams of Shisham wood, which have now
turned black after so many centuries.
10: The Khyber Pass- Peshawar
The Khyber Pass is a 53-kilometer (33-miles) passage
through the Hindu Kush mountain range. It connects the
northern frontier of Pakistan with Afghanistan. The Khyber
Pass is one of the most famous mountain passes in the
World. It is the best land route between India and
Pakistan and has had a long and often violent history.
Conquering armies have used the Khyber as an entry point
for their invasions. It was also been a major trade route
for centuries.
Beaches in Karachi
Clifton Beach is the most popular beach in Karachi is
always a buzzing with various activities to keep the
visitors to the beach busy. The activities include
beachside camelback rides, horseback rides, snake
charmers, amusement parks, restaurants, or just a plain
old dip in the sea.
Old and the young alike
can have fun at this lovely beach.
Hawks Bay, a must see beach in Pakistan is a wonderfully
sunny and sandy beach. The water is clean and if you need
a tan, it is the beach to go to. The huts allow total
privacy and the view is magnificent. It is a non rocky
area portion of the coast and it is the breeding ground
for green turtles. Visitors here enjoy swimming and camel
riding.
Sand Spit, quite near the
beach of Hawks Bay this is a wonderful and amazing place
to spend your evening! A completely unpolluted and
positively beautiful beach, here you can find the turtles
everywhere.
Paradise Point, almost at
the limit of the Sindh province, is a fascinating place to
spend the evenings. It is a fairly rocky region, so no
swimming can be done there, never the less it has a lot of
other things to be done there. The fact that the water is
very clear and you can see to the bottom of the rocky
pools there is just one of them. Because it is so rocky it
can also be dangerous so be careful if you are heading
down there.
The French Beach, located half way between Hawks Bay and
Paradise Point, is in fact a small fishing village known
to the locals as Haji Abdullah Goth. Surrounded by a
boundary wall, it has some 20 huts constructed by
villagers for hire. There are no facilities of running
water or electricity. But the visitors to this beach can
just carry with them whatever is required for them as none
could miss out this beach. French Beach is a fabulously
beautiful beach where the water is clean and the air is
crisp. There are gorgeous rocks embedded in the ocean. The
waves splashing against them are quite a lovely sight.
Here's a list of some of the most important and world
renowned archeological sites in Pakistan;
1: Banbhore- Sindh
Banbhore is located about 64 kms east of Karachi. Some
recent archaeological excavations have revealed a well
planned city buried in time. Some scholars identify
Banbhore with Debal, the port of city where the Arab
General Mohammed Bin Qasim landed in 712 AD. A little
museum at the site traces the history of the port. It has
a good display of pottery of various types.
2: Butkara Stupa- NWFP
Butkara Stupa is one of the most important Buddhist
shrines in Swat. It is located near the Swat Museum. The
stupa dates back to second century B.C, was possibly built
by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka to house some of the ashes
of Buddha. In subsequent Centuries, it was enlarged five
times by encasing the existing structure in a new shell.
Italian excavators working in 1955 exposed the successive
layers of the stupa, each layer illustrating a stage in
the evolution of building techniques. The stupa was
decorated with stone and plaster carvings of the life of
the Buddha and the whole was gilded and painted and topped
by a stack of stone umbrellas.
3: Rohtas Fort- Punjab
Rohtas Fort is 109 km from Rawalpindi. Built over ten
years from 1540 by Sher Shah Suri, the fort is one of the
most imposing historical monuments in Punjab. It is
situated on the edge of the Kahan Gorge. A 5km perimeter
wall, with massive battlements, bastions and gates
encircles the fort.
4: Chaukundi Tombs- Sindh
17 miles from Karachi the Chaukandi tombs appears as
clusters of unusual graves in the shape of stepped
rectangles. Built between the 15th and 19th centuries by
Balochis and Burpats the tombs are of various sizes and
designs but fall into two basic types. The stone of these
graves are exquisitely carved in relief with intricate
motifs. The small rosette is a frequent motif that may
have some forgotten connection with pre-islamic
sun-worship, as may the sunflowers wheels and
chrysanthemums, which also suggest the sun.
5: Dir- NWFP
Spread over 4000 sq. miles the discovery of remains of Dir
civilization gives a new dimension to the study of
Buddhist Civilization. It is discovered that dir remained
the main battlefield for many intruders. Many old weapons
were discovered during such an exploration. The
inhabitants mainly adopted Agriculture as their main
business. They enjoyed rich affluence and fruits of
farming.
6: Harappa
Harappa was a major center of the Indus Valley
Civilization. 35-km southwest of Sahiwal (about 250 km
from Lahore) Harappa was the first of Indus Valley
Civilization sites to be discovered.
7: Jamal Ghari- NWFP
The extensive ruins of Jamal Ghari are situated on the
western offshoot of Pajja hills at a distance of 20 km.
There is a beautiful monastery and a main stupa which is
round in shape and is surrounded by chapels closely packed
together, According to Sir John Marshall, a famous
archeologist, the stupa of jamalghari is the oldest stupa
in Gandhara.
8: Kot Diji- Sindh
Kot Diji is situated between Ranipur and Khairpur on the
highway from Hyderabad, at the east bank of the Indus
close to Rohri. The discovery of Kot Diji provides the
evidence that there is a civilization before Harappa and
Moenjodaro. Archaeologists say that the discovery of this
pre-historic site has furnished information of high
significance since it pushed back the pre-historics of
Pakistan by at least another 300 years from about 2,500
B.C. to 2,800 B.C. Evidence of new cultural elements of
pre-Harappan and pre-Moenjodaro time has been found at Kot
Diji. Excavations have proved that the Indus Valley
Civilizations borrowed or developed some of the basic
cultural elements of the Kot Dijians.
9: Mehergarh- Bolachastan
Mehrgarh is a 9000 year old site of settlement. It is
located at the foot of the Balochistan hills on the Katchi
plain southeast of Quetta, situated strategically near the
Bolan Pass. Neolithic Mehergarh consists of four mounds.
Supported by the Pakistan Department of Archeology, French
archeologists have been carrying out extensive excavations
there for some years. These excavations, studies and
research have led to pushing back these settlements to
some 9000 years. Thus, the chronology of civilization in
Pakistan, established through the study of Moenjodaro and
Harappa, has been pushed back by over 4000 years. The
habitation of the site has been divided into seven
periods, the first being the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period
that dates to circa 7000 B.C. or even earlier. The site
was abandoned between 2000 and 2500 B.C.
10: Moenjodaro- Sindh
Moenjodaro (Mound of the Dead), discovered in 1922, is
situated on the West Bank of the river Indus. It has one
of the earliest and the most developed urban civilizations
of ancient world. It forms a part of the Indus River
civilization of Harappa and was discovered in 1921. Moenjo
daro looks like a planned, organized and master
architecture of urban settlement. Beneath the citadel,
parallel streets, some 30 feet wide, stretched away and
are crossed by other straight streets, which divide the
town into a great oblong block, each 400 yards in length,
and 200 to 300 yards in width.
11: Taxila
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.
12: Takht-i-Bahi- NWFP
Takht-i-Bahi is the ruins of an ancient Buddhist
monastery, situated on the top of a 152-meter high hill.
It is located about 80 kms from Peshawar and 16 kms
northwest of the city of Mardan. The monastry of
Takht-i-Bahi was first mentioned by General Court, the
French officer of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1836.
Takht-i-Bahi is the most impressive and complete Buddhist
monastery in Pakistan.
13: Uch Sharif-Punjab
In Bhawalpur District at the confluence of the Sutlej and
the Chenab is the historic town of Uch sharif. Some
historians believe that Uch was there even before the
advent of Bikramajit when Jains and Buddhist ruled over
the sub-continent.
14: Thatta- Sindh
Thatta is a town in Sind Province, ninety-eight kms east
of Karachi. The Makli Hill near Thatta is the world
largest graveyard spread over 15.5 sq. kms, having
millions of graves. Here in eternal sleep lie kings,
queens, Scholars, Philosophers and soldiers of a by-gone
era-an era renowned for its culture and learning. |
