Afghan 12: An evening in Kabul...

 "If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere...” - Vincent van Gogh

(The gardens of Paghman)

Day 12: 15 October 2024 (Tuesday)
Route: KABUL City Tour
Hotel: Khyber Hotel, Kabul

We had a late buffet breakfast at the 5th floor dining room. By 9.30 am we started our visit to interesting places in Kabul.

This morning we drove up to Wazeer Khan Tepe in northern Kabul. It is named after the 19th century Afghan Emir Wazir Akbar Khan. It is one of the wealthiest parts of Kabul. Wazīr Akbar Khān was a Barakzai prince. His fame began with the 1837 Battle of Jamrud, while attempting to regain Afghanistan's second capital Peshawar from the Sikh Empire.

On the hill top, there is the world's biggest Afghan flag. Next to it is a replica of the Dome of the Rock mosque of Palestine. The new Molla Omer mosque was funded by the Istanbul-based IDDEF organization and inaugurated in 2023.

We planned to go to the Kabul Bazaar but it was too crowded for comfort. We decided to have lunch at one of the Mall and performed our prayers there.

On the way to Paghman we passed the Qargha Dam whuch was built in the 1930s mainly for irrigation and tourism purposes. The height of the dam is approximately 30 m Its length is 1.68 km and its width 600 m. A sluice gate of the dam which was damaged has since been restored. The reservoir water spread area behind the dam is 5,000 ha. It has since been a popular picnic location, particularly on the weekends and public holidays when it is visited by a large number of picnickers.

We had an evening walk in the beautiful garden of Paghman. The gardens of Paghman are a major tourist attraction, and why the city is also known as the garden capital of Afghanistan. We stayed on top of the hill absorbing the panoramic scenery while watching the sunset over the horizon.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at one Pakistani Restaurant for roti phrata with chicken karahi for dinner.