Top Tourist Attractions in Kolkata

2 Day itinerary covering the top tourist attractions in Kolkata and the best places to visit in Kolkata. These 2 days in Kolkata were very memorable for me and hence this post is part of the Throwback Thursday series in which I will share about some of my memorable trips from years ago.

Part of a short visit to Kolkata in which I dedicated 2 days to my touristy self and tried to visit all the top tourist attractions in Kolkata.

Day 1 was more of eat and less of see. Although I realized that in Kolkata, a lot of food joints were just as much a place to see thanks to their history. These are indeed some of the best places to visit in Kolkata.

Sightseeing:

If you have 2 days in Kolkata, you have to start with the must see and obvious Victoria Memorial. It is undoubtedly one of the most famous places in Kolkata and one of the best places to visit in Kolkata too. Shortly after a few photo sessions, we went for a drive on the New Hoogli Bridge – Cable stayed suspension bridge. The sight of Kolkata, the Howrah Bridge and the New Hooghly Bridge (also called the Vidyasagar Setu) was breathtaking and the magic enhances during the night with all the lights. As expected it is not allowed to stop on the bridge and hence we had limited photo opportunity

Food:

We were a bunch of us and we decided to invite ourselves to one of our Marwari friend’s place. We feasted on the famous Rot (thick roti with a lot of ghee, crushed such that the ghee doesn’t show too much on the surface) with oil dripping vegetables along with Gajar ka halwa (carrot pudding for the uninitiated) and Aloo Bondas (Batata wada in mumbaiyya)..Absolutely yummy food and I’m sure I gained a couple of kilos right there.

On our way to the Vidyasagar Setu, we headed towards another famous bakery shop in Kolkata called Kookie Jar, closed and opened several times in its history. Kookie Jar is a bakery and also one of famous places in Kolkata. Even today it holds a special place in people’s hearts especially who live there or come to their Nanibaris (maternal grandparents’ house) or Dadibaris (paternal grandparents’ house).

Our evening was dedicated to Park street. A foodie haven with 4 generations old bakery shop Flurry’s along with places serving authentic Marwari and Rajasthani cuisine like Teej, Gangaur and Gupta Brothers. This place also boasts of the famous restaurant by ex- Indian Cricket team Captain – Sourav Ganguly called Sourav’s Food Pavilion. Near Park Street is a road that hosts the famous Puchka (Gol gappa) wallas and Chilla walas of Kolkata. With other continental eating joints like One Step Up, Park Street provides something for everyone’s palate.

The other side of the road offers some food for thought in the form of a big Oxford Book Store having a huge collection of books. Although, the collection could be improved upon particularly in the children’s category, visiting the bookstore is like visiting the pages of an old dusty book, like a lot of other things in Kolkata. The smell of old books pervades the experience. Perpendicular to the Park Street is the famous Chowringee Lane (well known to the avid Bollywood enthusiasts and thanks to Bollywood it has become one of the famous places in Kolkata too)
The food choices at Park street clearly shows the Marwari influence in Kolkata. Being the richest business class in Kolkata and inhabiting the posh locations, Marwari culture can be sensed in the air.

Day 2: Spiritual and reflective, a great way to spend the last day

Sightseeing:

Early morning, we made our way to the Kali temple at Kali ghat (a very famous temple in Kolkata). It was hilarious to see the number of pundas (priests in East India) who immediately gathered behind to convince us to do a pooja. There was a kilometer long queue in this temple, similar to most of the famous temples in India. The key difference between between this one and the likes of Siddhi Vinayak etc being management of the queue. It was quite clear that it would take nothing short of 2 hours and hence we finally gave in to taking the assistance of one of the pundas who charged money both for pooja and for bribing the police to let you in from a back gate to see the temple from inside.
After a sumptuous breakfast of Idli and Dosa, we started our journey to Dakshineshwar, catching a bus from MG Road to Dakshineshwar (one can also take a bus upto Dunlop Chauraha and then take an auto to the temple). We were students back then and traveling like locals suited us.. however, one can just take a taxi all the way.

The bus had wooden seats and it almost seemed that we had stepped back in time.
The temple was closed when we reached there and it was slated to open at 3:00PM so we went to Belur Math by the ferry ride, which too was closed and opened at 3:30PM. Belur Math is an extremely peaceful place, and we waited it out by sitting in the area outside, at the banks of River Hooghly.
The Math is of Sri Ramkrishna Paramhans and Mata Sarda Devi with portraits of Sri Vivekananda and Jesus Christ.
This was another thing that struck me in Kolkata. The Christmas Celebrations here are second to none. Also most of the temples would feature Jesus Christ which I believe is due to the influence of Christian missionaries. Since we there from December 22 to December 25th, we could see the celebrations at their peak.
After the Belur math we were ferried back to the Dakshineshwar temple which was primarily a Kali mata (a Hindu deity personifying strength and good over evil) shrine surrounded by small temples of various forms of Lord Shiva. The view of the Howrah bridge from both Dakshineshwar and Belur Math was picturesque.
By this time we were really tired with sore feet and decided to savor on a guava, an extremely big delicious one. The day ended with hot food at the IIM Kolkata hostel mess.

Food:

The prasad dona (a bowl made of dried leaves that contains the offering to the deity which are given back to the worshipper) consisted of pedas and Hibiscus flowers. Pedas did not see much light outside the temple as we polished the dona off within minutes. We headed to a small South Indian restaurant called Raj Hotel which is a few kilometers from kali ghat. It serves finger licking South Indian food at the most affordable prices and is a popular joint amongst the locals.
As I departed with bags full of mishti I promised myself to definitely come back here for pandal hopping during the Durga Pooja and for experiencing the mishti trail of Kolkata. 2 days in Kolkata may be enough then too to just eat and experience the Kali mata fervour.

I don’t know if Kolkata ever lived up to being Kallolini Tilottama (a vibrant paragon or a celestial nymph) but the people of Kolkata definitely are the sweetest and ever ready to help. The streets of Kolkata play host to almost all kinds of sources of transportation from a Hand pulled Rikshaw and trams (Kolkata being the only one where they are still running) to the new age metros interspersed with Cycle rikshaws, Auto Rikshaws and buses with wooden interiors.
With one of the highest number of Kitty parties and club memberships (a few from the British times),Kolkata still gives a feel of the British raj..
A lazy city that wakes to the silent song of River Hooghly and sleeps to the humdrum of over a crore people who inhabit the city of joy…