Hazratbal Mosque

Srinagar


Backing onto Dal Lake north of the Old City, this large, white-domed 20th-century mosque enshrines Kashmir’s holiest Islamic relic, the Moi-e-Muqqadas, believed to be a beard hair of the Prophet Mohammed, hidden behind gold embroidery and displayed only on holy days. The hair’s brief disappearance in December 1963 nearly sparked a civil war. The Lake Dal views from here are fine.

Several backstreet stalls here sell delicious halwa paratha, sweetmeats served with pieces of fried dough the size of a tractor wheel.