Kathmandu

Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal. It is one of the world's oldest cities. The old part of the city is mainly situated around Durbar Square, where one can find pagoda-roofed temples, stone sculptures, old monastaries and histories monuments. Some of the attractions of Kathmandu are:

• Hanuman Dhoka & The Image of Hanuman: This is the most interesting part of Kathmandu. It consists of the ancient Hanuman Dhoka Palace complex, which contains many of the finest temples, sculptures and monuments of the world. There's also a huge image of Hanuman outside the palace.
• The Golden Door: This door, all made of gold, is guarded by two lions on each side of the gate. Shiva and Shakti sit on top of the lions. This door was built in 1810 BS. (Bikram Sambat)
• Chowks: Chowks are the nepali words for complexes. There are several chowks all around Kathmandu, for example, Nasal Chowk, Mohan Chowk, Basantpur Chowk, etc.
• Kastha Mandap: Also known as the Maru Sattal, this huge open temple was built of one and only one tree of type sal about 500 years ago.
• Singha Durbar: Singha Durbar, the lion palace, is a grand, imposing palace built in the neo-classical style. It is now the official seat of government. This palace has lots of courtyards remaining even after most of the parts of this palace was destroyed by fire a long time ago. What's so amazing about his palace is that nothing but the very high quality stones and beans (interesting, huh?) was used to build it.
• Dharahara: Also known as the Bhimsen Stambha (Tower), Dharahara was originally an eighteen storey structure at first but exactly half of it broke and fell apart while the other half remains and is open to the visitors to visit with a small amount of fee.
• Narayanhiti Royal Palace: This is the present Royal Palace of Nepal. Special permission has to be obtained to go inside the Royal Palace compound.

There are a other interesting places to visit in Kathmandu. Some of them are

• Bagmati Temple
• Bhagavati Temple
• The Great Bell
• The Great Drums
• The Image of Kal Bhairav
• Machchhendranath Temple
• Taleju Mandir
• Kumari Chowk
• Trailokya Mohan Temple

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