Street art at Lodhi Colony, Delhi

One blisteringly hot day during our extended stay in Delhi, we decided to head out to see some street art.  It's often one of the first things we google when we arrive in a new place and we knew this was going to be a good'un.Thanks to St+art festival which took place at the beginning of 2016, Lodhi Colony is now awash with colour.  Here's what their site has to say about it:"St+art Festival is a collaborative platform for street artists from India and around the world. It works on the idea of 'Art for Everyone' with the primary objective of making art accessible for wider audiences while having a positive impact on society. The two month long urban arts festival will change the visual landscape of the city with art interventions in public spaces through murals, installations, performances, workshops, talks and screenings."After turning down a rickshaw driver who offered to to drop us near Lodhi gardens for 400 rupees, we found a lovely driver who offered to drive us around for about 4 hours for around 700 rupees!  We are certainly not adverse to walking around but when it's 45 degrees outside, it's nicer to take a tuk tuk. Exploring the street art in this area is like going on a (very easy) treasure hunt. Either by foot or by tuk tuk, you can just make your way up and down the streets between Khanna Market and Meherchand Market and gawp at epic murals which decorate the sides of massive buildings on nearly every street!The aim of the St+art festival was to create India's first ever public art district.  By harnessing the talents of more than 25 street artists, the project has created  "an open air art gallery accessible to everyone!"Every street we went down provoked a huge "wow" from both of us.  To see real life unfolding around these massive imposing creations was a real spectacle. Once we'd finished being dazzled, we headed to a store called Play Clan, which sells beautiful artwork and clothing. On offer are all kinds of Indian inspired pieces of urban art, as well as some really unique threads with beautifully garish prints. You can also pick up bits and pieces for your house, handbags, stationary, games....It's such a fun store.

Just next door is  CMYK, a fantastic concept book shop with such a vibrant selection of things to peruse.  It was only the tought of our heavy backpacks that stopped us from going crazy here.