On my last day in Kathmandu before going out of the city i decided to visit Patan. Patan is a separate city from Kathmandu, known as the city of arts, but with Kathmandu’s sprawl, it now feels simply like a suburb. The drive never left the city, though it was as interesting drive as Kathmandu away from the tourist sights is quite different. More graffiti, a few sad looking malls, a couple of movie theatre. All very poor looking, but organized and functional. The traffic stuck to its proper sides of the street (unlike in Thamel).
Patan’s main sight is its Durbar Square, which is similar to that in Kathmandu but with a bit more variety in the buildings that survived the earthquake.
All around the square were winding streets with shops selling masks, paintings, and jewelry. And of course there were temples and shrines. It seems that every block has one, and judging by the spilled wax and scattered flower petals, they are in use.
I really enjoyed Patan. There were the same amount of guides hassling for business, but it seemed quieter and more peaceful than Kathmandu. Nothing particularly exciting happened, but i had a lovely time, wandering mapless, and stopping for coffee or tea when i found just the right spot.
A word about coffee. They have their own coffee beans here and when they are well prepared in a nice pourover or espresso, they are excellent, but most places serve Nescafe or something equally unpalatable. When you find a good place though the coffee here is excellent.
The rest the day was spent hanging out in Thamel, cigar smoking, reading, eating dinner. Nothing interesting but all pleasant. I was, however, ready to move on.
I sat in there for an hour or two and had tea and a cigar and some incredible wild mushroom soup before walking back into the village to catch a marshrutka back to Tbilisi. On the way, i way i was distracted by three large pigs which were running the streets, clearly up to no good.
