You have to sail some two hundred kilometres upriver to reach Kolkata. The Hooghly, the western branch of the Ganges Delta, carries ships to India's oldest port still in operation, dug in the days of the East India Company. The Kidderpore Docks, opened in the late 19th century, handle river traffic, and cruises sailing down the Ganges from Varanasi make this arrival their grand finale. Stepping ashore here means entering, all at once, the former capital of British India, which became the country's great intellectual and artistic hub.

Marble and Banyan Trees

South of the Maidan, the vast central park where kids play cricket in the shade of banyan trees, the Victoria Memorial raises its white marble domes above reflecting pools and manicured lawns. Completed in 1921 in memory of the queen, it houses a museum devoted to the history of the city and the colonial period. All around, the 19th century lines up courthouses, an Anglican cathedral and colonnaded clubs, in a weathered state that gives the place all its character: nothing seems restored for the camera, and that is precisely what is so moving.

Howrah, the Bridge That Never Sleeps

No image sums up Kolkata better than Howrah Bridge, a gigantic steel cantilever structure spanning the Hooghly. Pedestrians carrying bundles, yellow buses, fruit porters and streams of workers cross paths on it from morning to night, amid a din of horns that has become part of the scenery. At its foot, the Mullick Ghat flower market overflows with marigold garlands that wholesalers trade by the armful from dawn; the orange of the flowers, the grey of the steel and the brown of the river create one of the most striking scenes of any port in Asia. The show, free and nonstop, is worth every monument.

A City of Ideas and Craftsmanship

Kolkata proudly calls itself a land of poets, painters and booksellers, the homeland of Tagore, Asia's first Nobel laureate in literature. On College Street, booksellers stack their volumes along kilometres of sidewalk, around cafés where students have been putting the world to rights for generations. Farther north, the Kumartuli district is home to the sculptors who shape the idols for the great Hindu festivals out of river clay: workshops open to the street, goddess figures drying by the hundreds under the awnings. The trams, among the oldest in Asia, still rattle through some neighbourhoods, and a ride in one of these weathered cars remains a very local way to feel the city's pulse.

Planning Your Day

Distances look short on the map, but traffic calls for patience: it's best to choose two or three areas rather than rushing everywhere. A typical morning combines the flower market and Howrah Bridge in the cool of the day, then the Victoria Memorial, followed by College Street or Kumartuli depending on your interests, before a cup of boiled milk tea served in a clay cup, a local tradition enjoyed standing up. River cruise lines' excursions generally include a car, a guide and air conditioning, a precious trio in this climate. The Indian rupee is the currency, and pre-monsoon afternoons can be sweltering: a water bottle and a relaxed pace are recommended.

As the ship heads back down the Hooghly, the chimneys, the ghats and the silhouette of the bridge slowly fade into the heat haze. Kolkata is like no other port call: it jostles, it moves you, it argues. Long after departure, you catch yourself thinking back to a marigold garland, a line of Tagore glimpsed on a wall, and that energy the river seems to carry all the way to the sea.