G’day all! Hope this post finds you well. Last Sunday I posted about getting to Karachi and exploring around the Clifton area – you can find that post HERE. Today I am going through the sights I managed to see on the other two days I spent in Karachi, which is a really vibrant enjoyable city to visit. At least in my experience!

Getting around Karachi had me in a number of auto-rickshaws. I stayed in the Saddar District and 50 metres from my hotel there was a corner where drivers congregated waiting for rides. Without the ability to use Uber and not keen to add a new app to my phone for three days in Karachi (Careem I believe is widely used) I had to haggle and to at times direct the drivers where to got whilst following on Google Maps. Anyways, here are the main places I ended up!

Quaid E Azam House Museum

I made mention in my previous Sunday post of the ‘father’ of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who was the head of all India Muslim League before partition who were the drivers of an Islamic State being created in modern day Pakistan, and after 1947 served as Governor General until his death. His face is one that visitors to Pakistan will see postered around the country and there is no-one more revered in Pakistan as a symbol of the country’s short history.

This house museum in fact (Quaid E Azam is another name for Jinnah) where he lived from 1944 to 1948 when he passed away (only one year after partition sadly) and today it is set up as he would have lived in those final years. It’s interestingly located on a big intersection and thusly I found it a bit tricky trying to work out how to enter, but it’s through the big gates near the corner.

The grounds are beautiful and the house is worth visiting. Photography is an issue and I was not allowed to use my DSLR but I was allowed to use my little action camera so that was curious. It’s also something I encountered in Pakistan a few times, although often it was only mobile phone cameras allowed and in the case of the Mohatta Palace Museum, there was no photography allowed at all. Photography was okay in the grounds of the house though.

Frere Hall

Frere Hall is a colonial era building built in the 1860s, a library and quite well positioned in a beautiful park. I spent an hour or so on the lawns of the park and just relaxed, and met a few people and had some chats which is always nice.

Empress Market & Saddar

The Empress Market is located at the other end of the Saddar District to my hotel, and is definitely worth a visit. It’s got some large apartment buildings to one side, which were actually quite foreboding and therefore made for good photographs! It dates back to the 1880s and the market building is a beautiful colonial relic.

Inside though it’s full of life and colour, and specialises in food and spices, the latter of which provides much of the colour. It’s really worth visiting even if you’re not that into markets like me.

And then from there I wandered the streets of Saddar back to my hotel over the next couple of hours. I passed by some interesting places including a Zoroastrian temple (I couldn’t gain access) which you could almost pass without realising it was there. Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion originating in neighbouring Iran – I visited a fire temple to this religion in the middle of rocks in the desert. It’s quite something!

I passed by the Cuchi Memon Mosque too which is an interesting shape and one of the oldest mosques in Karachi being built in 1893. Unfortunately, as often seemed to be the case with me, it was prayer time so I could only admire from the outside.

Saddar is with a load of interesting shops as well bakeries to shoe shops, hatteries and even gun shops! Finally Zaibunnisa Street, close to the intersection with Sarwar Shaheed Road has a couple of old grand buildings which are worth a look at for photographs. It’s a fascinating district in Karachi (Saddar) and definitely worth losing yourself in for a few hours!

New Memon Mosque

This more modern mosque is a hive of activity and worth a visit, being built around 1949. It’s quite beautiful and there were loads of studies going on when I was there, and a lovely man in a stall outside the entrance gave me a chai!

Mohammed Ali Jinnah Mausoleum/Memorial

This beautiful Memorial/Mausoleum to the founder of Pakistan shines in the middle of a huge park. Be aware that sometimes it is closed, I turned up on one day to find it closed and had to return the next. When I did return it was another case of cameras not being allowed, which honestly is a bit much. Because I am talking about inside the PARK, I didn’t enter the mausoleum I just didn’t feel comfortable for some unknown reason (I walked right past Lenin and Ho Chi Minh for example, not that Jinnah is embalmed and on display!). However the park was beautiful and people were snapping selfies with phones which I presume is okay.

St Patrick’s Cathedral

This was back closer to my hotel, and I was just allowed again onto the grounds the church was closed. The security guards there seemed to be saying it’s closed these days and only open when there is a service there. It was built in 1889 and is, as you would presume, a Catholic Cathedral and even from the outside looks pretty impressive. There’s a school attached and also on the road approaching St Patrick’s you can see a lot of bright street art on a long wall down one side of said road which is really cool.

There was one painting of the brightly coloured trucks you see in Pakistan, and indeed they do pass right through the Saddar District which was kinda cool!

And folks, that’s a little wrap here on Karachi. I’m there is heaps more to see and do and the people are pretty awesome in Karachi as anywhere in Pakistan. The city buzzes and oozes life, and in February the temperature and humidity was absolutely fine – not too humid and high 20s. Before visiting I admit to feeling a little intimidated by the thought of Karachi, but that was not a feeling I experienced even once when I was there!

Thanks for popping by today, take care wherever you may be in the world, May the Journey Never End!