Travel and Photography | Once Upon a Time in Bhaktapur

© 2014 Wazari Wazir | Bhaktapur | Nepal

“Were there nothing else in Nepal save the Bhaktapur Durbar Square, it would still be aptly worth making a journey half way round the globe to see.”

– E.A. Powell –

Bhaktapur (Nepali: भक्तपुर Bhaktapur ), also Bhadgaon or Khwopa (Nepal Bhasa: ख्वप Khwopa), is an ancient Newar town in the east corner of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. It is located in Bhaktapur District in the Bagmati Zone. It is the third largest city in Kathmandu valley and was once the capital of Nepal during the great Malla Kingdom until the second half of the 15th century.

Bhaktapur is famous for special type of curd called “Ju Ju dhau”. It is experienced by the curd makers that the taste of curd prepared in this location cannot be found elsewhere all over Nepal.

Bhaktapur –locally known as Khwopa-is “Nepal’s Cultural Capital.” The variously shaped and sized monuments, a mass-based culture and the generations-old traditions of craftsmanship give shape to the historic city’s proud Newari heritage. With them around, the ambience here is much like what it might have been in the remote past.

From the moment you step into the city, you cannot help but fell that you have been transported back into living history. In an acknowledgement of its well-preserved heritage, UNESCO designated its historical core as world Heritage site in 1978 AD.