Varanasi is unlike anywhere else in India, and it does not soften itself for visitors. Eighty-four ghats step down to the Ganges; at dawn the river fills with bathers and rowboats, and at dusk the Ganga Aarti turns Dashashwamedh into fire and sound. The old lanes behind the ghats are too narrow for cars and easy to lose yourself in. Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, is a short drive away.