Rajshahi rewards the traveller who makes the effort to get here. The city itself is green and walkable by Bangladesh standards, with a long embankment along the Padma River that is the social hub of the town in the evenings. The Varendra Research Museum holds one of the finest collections of Pala-period sculpture anywhere, and the silk workshops in the city and its surroundings offer a chance to see a traditional craft industry operating at scale. The main reason most travellers visit, however, is the short journey to Paharpur, where the ruins of the Somapura Mahavihara stand as one of the greatest monuments of Buddhist civilisation in South Asia.