When I was in Kasar Devi & Binsar for leisure and pleasure, Almora was visited numerous times. It was a cold evening when the actual process of seeing the ‘cultural capital of Kumaon’ finally began to work itself out. I was in the middle of a fabulous summer that was progressing well in Kumaon Himalaya.
Me and Bhishma (the guy with whom I would trek to Milam) had come to Almora for breakfast. I had earlier savoured desi ghee jalebi in a sweet shop in the market and had lured Bhishma with the promise of the same! Haha, we weren’t disappointed.
We had literally smashed all eating records and ate like 10 samosas between us and perhaps 300 grams piping hot jalebi to go with it, literally with cups and cups of chai.
It was to stand us in good stead when we rode to the Sun Temple of Katarmal. I don’t exactly remember how I ended up in Almora one afternoon and started exploring the temples and the old market. Almora is located at approx. 1700m asl and has excellent bus and shared sumo connectivity to other parts of Kumaon.
Local boys had been using the rhyme for Almora ‘Baal, maal and pataal‘. The explanation for the same goes like : Almora is famous for three things, Baal for baal mithai, maal for the gorgeous and stylish ladies of Almora and pataal for the stone tiles used for roofs. The pataal seemed to be long gone, it was all concrete now.
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At first glance, Almora had appeared like another bustling city in the mountains – Growing too fast and akin to a concrete jungle. There were hospitals and new buildings being arranged on the narrow ridge at a frenetic pace. I had then been thrown the gauntlet, upon random conversations with old locals when they had mentioned ‘Lala Bazaar.’ Lala Bazaar is the old market in Almora.
It was a sleepy morning when I had ended up at Diwan Jalebi wala and walked around the clock tower and the colonial post office when I actually thought of exploring the old part of Almora.
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Dont zip past Almora on your next trip, let this historic town work its culinary magic on you instead.
The Chand Rajas of Kumaon established Almora as their summer capital in the 16th Century. I was walking in the streets and found myself in the Nanda Devi Temple when it started drizzling.
Then some time was spent chatting up with the founder of Baal Mithai & Singodi sweets – Lala Jogalal Sah, a shop in Lala Bazaar with the most genteel owner. He first made me taste the sweets, told me a few lovely stories and anecdotes behind them and finally packed half a kilo of Baal mithai for me to enjoy!
I was immediately fond of this old part of Almora and had a sudden desire to see more. As if on cue, the rain stopped and chai and samosas beckoned.
The crowds had disappeared too with the rain and that gave me a chance to appreciate the beauty of this cobbled walk-only street. Then I happened to glance up and for a moment thought I was back in Jaipur. A pair of eyes peered at me from the windows on the first floor! The design was intricate and beautifully carved in wood which was quite similar to the 300 year old pink city part of Jaipur.
There were windows in green, various shades of brown, blue and other colours too. On the ground floor, shops made rousing business. It was a delightful hour or so of people watching while sipping chai at many places where the locals were huddled. The weather had suddenly started getting colder.
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Although I was recommended another place for jalebi in Lala Bazaar, Almora – it didn’t come even close to Diwan’s Jalebi near the post office. Ahh, and the post office was a delight in itself; its a colonial building mostly built in the early 1900s. I have more memories of seeing Almora from a distance from Kasar Devi, where I spent considerable time.
Kasar Devi is hardly 10 kms away from Almora and is located much higher among nature and lovely pine trees. Swami Vivekananda is said to have meditated here. I highly recommend it as a must see place in Almora and spend some quiet time away from the city at a quaint homestay.
More related articles from Kumaon:
5 offbeat places to spend the entire summer in the hills
Rustic Luxury in the Himalayas
Finding Paradise in Uttarakhand
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You’ll start seeing these blue coloured window and doors from almora onwards as you head towards Rudraprayag route. Beyond Almora, some villages have blue color on every door and window.
Yes, well spotted that. I remember once when I tried to get closer to a traditional home in a small village and the villagers didn’t let me come close. Very uncharacteristic of hill people. Their wood art is really beautiful :))
True 🙂
Hi,
Greetings from Veselka Cottage.
Thanks for this wonderful blog.
Hi Varun, I remember seeing your wonderful ‘1905’ home in Peora! Im afraid I’ll have to curtail your comment since it appears like blatant advertising.
Starting a day with blogs like this makes it very difficult to sit inside the closed while heart wanders on the cobble streets of Almora with your words! I’m following you on your journey; be it here, facebook or instagram. 😛 Kidding! Love your posts! Keep inspiring! 🙂 Have a good day!
closed walls*
Yay! That made my day. Thanks Gurpreet, for the appreciation. 🙂 Good day to you too.
🙂
Almora looks like quite a pretty town – colorful windows and balconies, clock tower and the spring bloom.
On the main road, it appears like an ugly cluster of buildings. I am so glad I asked the locals and walked in the old part of Almora. Fabulous place, as you rightly summarised 🙂 Thanks for checking.
it would be great if you can also write about staying options
Sure, Nitin. I stayed in a nondescript place which wasn’t anything to drive home about. Hence, ended up not mentioning names.
The blooms and the colorful buildings looks very inviting. It seems they welcome tourists with open arms, if I were to make that analogy.
Happy stopping by here 😊
That is such a beautiful imagination. Many thanks for checking it out and the wonderful words. Cheers
Welcome, buddy 👍
These bright colours add cheer to the mood and the day. Even when you were there in the rain, the pictures are dazzling and refreshing. And those tempting desi ghee jalebis… who does not love to binge on such divine temptation 🙂
So so glad to hear that, thanks. Hehe, I have to say those are some of the top jalebis I’ve ever had! And I am a sweet fanatic.
I love all the colours of town..Your words and clicks are perfect for each other.would love to visit here soon
Almora is magical if you can manage to stay away from the crowds… Hope you get to visit soon. 🙂
Hello Shubham,
I just wanted to let you know that we came to Almora largely because of your post. We spent two weeks in town and then have spent two months in the village of Papershali, midway between Almora and Kasar Devi. What a wonderful place this is! Thank you so much for writing such great posts — you really make it easy to see the place, and you tempt us fellow travelers to go where you’ve gone.
Wow! Many thanks Aliza for taking the time out to write this. I’m sure it must have been a fabulous 2 months!!
Nice blog post author. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Saptarshi.
Thank you for such a nice blog post. Keep it up.
Thanks Basudeb. So glad you liked checkin it out.
Nice post author. Thank you.
Cheers Sujoy.
Wonderful read and matching pix…. would be hepful if you could suggest staying places with access to restaurants…..
Glad you liked reading it Bhaskar.