On the third day in Kolkata we had visited Howrah Flower Market. It was blazing hot and like being in a technicolour, flower-strewn sauna, porters hefting unfeasibly large bundles of flowers on their heads, sellers gathering the blooms around their stalls in an increasingly shrinking floor space.
It was an experience. Frantic, but dazzling and gorgeous.
By the time we got out I was drenched, headache coming on and not having a good start to the day. Our mission was to find the Marble Palace* with a crap local map and an even crappier Lonely Planet page map. Grrr.
With the help of a couple of locals, we got there in the end. Taking a quick breather in the garden/"zoo" area, we were politely shooed away by a woman dressed in her PJs, who appeared over a gate.
Kim took her for one of the help, but she explained she was the owner. A superior Meera Syal type, she said they'd had trouble in the past with locals loafing around the grounds and had decided to make sitting down out of bounds. Further "segregation" hadn't worked, so they decided to close the area and keep the locals out.
Anyway, inside the Palace was amazing. Stuffed with Ming vases, Impressionist art, Italian Murano glass and some jaw-dropping Art Nouveau statues. It was all well cared for, but could have done with some proper restoration. I had a lump in my throat, it was such an amazing collection, set in a huge neo-classical mansion.
Privately-owned and another 'No Photos' place, I asked our excellent young guide if there was a catalogue or website I could read later? No, he said, it was totally private. Bloody hell, he wouldn't even let me photograph him! Took a tip though, didn't he.
Then there was the grandeur of BBD Bagh, a large square of official buildings up to the Raj era. The Writers' ie clerks Building, the Post Office, railways, banking and insurance buildings of the good old days, each with its own distinctive styling.
Finally a quick visit to St John's Church**
Back at base, after a beer and getting lost in the nightmarish funfair maelstrom of the Esplanade bus station, we went to bed happy.
Kolkata has worked a charm on us after all.
* Marble Palace is a palatial nineteenth-century mansion in North Kolkata. It is located at 46, Muktaram Babu Street, Kolkata 700007. It is one of the best-preserved and most elegant houses of nineteenth-century Calcutta.[1] The mansion is famous for its marble walls, floors, and sculptures, from which it derives its name. WIKIPEDIA
** St. John's Church, originally a cathedral, was among the first public buildings erected by the East India Company after Kolkata became the effective capital of British India. WIKIPEDIA
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