INDIA 2025 - DETOUR TO NEPAL: BHAKTAPUR TAUMADHI AND DURBAR SQUARES

 November 24, 2025

About eight miles from Kathmandu and in the same valley lies Bhaktapur ("City of Devotees"), a densely populated city and one of the seven monument zones that make up the Kathmandu Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. Interestingly, you must pay an entrance fee to go into the ancient city--much like a national park. And note the final sentence on the welcome sign below. Gotta love bad translations.

There are brass shops everywhere.  I think most of the brass tchotchkes we buy in the United States come from India, but I sure saw a lot in Nepal. I could probably find some of these at Home Goods, but there were some very unique items as well.

Take the sword-like brass knives, for example. I haven't seen them in Home Goods. They are weapons used by gurkhas. What are "gurkhas"? They are members of an elite Nepali military group that fought against the British from 1814-1816, but then were recruited to serve in the British Army, where they still serve today. They are known for being fearless in combat, for their loyalty, and for their skills with the khukuri, the curved knife seen in the photo on the right. That's a pretty cool knife, but unfortunately I only had carry-on luggage and I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't get through security.

One of the important places in Bhaktapur is Taumadhi Square, which is the location of several important temples, including Bhairavnath Temple, which is dedicated to Lord Bhairav, the fierce manifestation of the Hindu god Shiva. It was originally built in the 13th century, then restored and redesigned several times. The triple roof was added in 1718, but then it collapsed in the 1934 earthquake, was rebuilt, and was severely damaged again in the earthquake of 2015, and was re-rebuilt. Nepalis are persistent.

Even more impressive, however, is its five-tiered neighbor, the Nyatapola Temple, which is the tallest temple in Nepal (108 feet) and is known for having survived four major earthquakes. Built of 1,237,654 bricks (How do they know?) in only six months in 1701-1702, it is the cultural symbol of Bhaktapur. 

While we could not go inside, we could climb the steps to the base of the temple, which Chris and I decided to do, leaving our wimpy husbands below. 

Two stone wrestlers sit peacefully at the base of the steps, reminiscent of St. Peter guarding the Pearly Gates of Heaven.

Each level has a different set of stone statues:

Elephants on level 2 . . .

. . . lions on level 3, and griffins on level 4.

Level five is the temple itself, and by the time we made it to the top of the steep steps, we were ready for a rest.

Bhaktapur is known for its skilled wood carvers, and we saw their work above the temple windows.

Judging by the view of the street paralleling the temple, this area has a thriving tourist industry.

Chris and I were able to descend before being descended upon by this noisy school group.

Our guide suggested Namaste Restaurant for lunch. It is located in Taumadhi Square and has a balcony from which patrons can watch the goings-on below.

It is always nice to be able to spy on people without seeming too invasive!

This video shows the panoramic view from our table on the balcony:

We watched the people and enjoyed a banana lassi while we waited for our food.

Our guide recommended the momos, traditional Nepali dumplings with several different filling options. This was another time I felt China's influence on Nepal. To me, dumplings are very Chinese. I think we tried three different fillings (although I only took pictures of two), each with its own distinguishing shape. I love dumplings and thought these were excellent, but Bob was not impressed.

We did a little more walking through the maze of streets on our way to our next destination: Bhaktapur Durbar Square. There were always a million things to see when we were walking. For example, below left are sugar apples, also known as sweetsops. They have an intensely sweet, creamy, custard-like pulp. I would have liked to try one, or alternately, one of the items on the right, but we had Places To Go and Things To See.

I don't know what this building is, but I think it is in the Durbar Square. I love the fabric ruffles hanging from the eaves--an embellishment fairly common in Nepal.

Thanthu Darbar Hiti, a sunken stone pool in Bhaktapur Durbar Square, was built in the 17th century by the king and used as his bathtub. 

Within Bhaktapur Durbar Square is another square known as Pottery Square where artisans continue to use centuries-old techniques to craft clay items. We watched this older man create a pot in under three minutes, and I was as impressed with his ability to squat and rise as I was his pottery skills! See a video of the process here.

The pottery is baked in the sun or fired (our guide is showing my brother the oven on the right below) and may or may not be glazed, depending on the usage. 

By the way, I was on the lookout, as always, for my favorite international star, Frida Kahlo, but I never found her in Nepal. However, I did find Albert Einstein.

We stopped briefly to take a look at this intricate mandala made of colored sand by Tibetan monks. They spend weeks making them, but then eventually destroy them and release the sand as a symbol of the Buddhist philosophy of impermanence. This one was three or four feet across.

Bhaktapur Durbar Square was the residence of the Nepali kings from the 14th to 18th centuries. It is undergoing major restoration due to the 1934 (magnitude 8.0) and 2015 (magnitude 7.8) earthquakes, but is in suprisingly good shape. (I must confess that I had the earthquake jitters. This is not a place I would want to be in even a 6.0 earthquake.)

Here is what the square looked like before the 1934 earthquake:

Photo from Wikipedia

A tall stone column topped with a bronze figure is visible in both the current and the 1934 photos above. The praying figure is King Bhupatindra Malla, who ruled from 1696 to 1722 and erected this pillar himself in 1699.

The Jagannath Temple (left) and Pasupatinath Temple (right) are just two of the many interesting buildings in the square:

This is a popular place for photo shoots. We saw this beautifully dressed young woman . . .

. . . and these two beauties posing for pictures:

By the way, the national flag of Nepal is the only flag in the world that is not a quadrilateral. It is also the only flag that is taller than it is wide. The red, white, and blue flag is a combination of two pennants, one on top of the other, with the red representing both the rhododendron, Nepal's national flower, and bravery, and the blue representing peace. The flag is adorned with a crescent moon (a symbol of Hinduism) with eight visible rays and a sun (a symbol of Buddhism) with twelve rays.  Our guide pointed out that the flag also replicates the standard roof architecture of traditional Nepali temples.

Nepal's flag for sale in a gift shop:

A stone lion guards the National Art Gallery from foreign invaders.

This door, known as the Golden Gate, is the main entrance to the 55-Window Palace, which somehow I did not get a picture of.

The Chyasilin Mandap is an unusual octagonal wooden pavilion that was used as a reception center for royal guests and for viewing celebrations in the courtyard. Built in the 17th century, It was completely destroyed in the 1934 earthquake but restored in the 1980s. Seismic stabilization was added at that time, and it survived the 2015 earthquake with no damage while the buildings around it did not.

The Square has multiple courtyards and dozens of buildings and is overwhelming. We spent just an hour or two in a place that really needs several days to begin to do it justice.

My favorite spot was probably the Siddhi Lakshmi Temple. Like the Nyatapola Temple we had seen earlier in the day in Taumadhi Square, this steep staircase is flanked by pairs of human and mythical animal stone figures: humans with a dog, horses, rhinos, human-lions, and camels. Built in the 17th century, it is dedicated to the goddess of protection and power.

We decided to join them for our own photo shoot.

With that, we finished our time in Nepal and our guide dropped us off at the airport. 

We had one more view from the air of the majestic Himalayas . . .

. . . and in no time at all we were at Delhi's Indira Gandhi Airport and back to the land of Mahatma Gandhi (no relation to Indira).

I really loved Nepal. It is so different from India in every way--culture, architecture, history, food, language, religion, atmosphere--all of it. In many ways it felt much more foreign to me than India. I'd love to go back.