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Published: March 11th 2006
Humayun’s Tomb
A German tourist was nice enough to snap this pic for me....Delhi has quite a few monuments, most of which are in Old Delhi. I started off at the Red Fort, which is over 350 years old. I have to say that while the Red Fort was impressive I think I enjoyed Amber Fort more, The Red Fort was built for protection (the reason most forts are) by the Mughal Emperors, and features some inventive designs such as early air conditioner with water troughs that cooled the royal apartments. After the fall of the Mughals it was also used by the British and you can tell there is a more western approach to the later buildings and aren’t as pretty.
One of the most impressive structures in Delhi was Humayun’s Tomb. It, like the Taj Mahal was actually built for an Emperor’s wife. The layout includes several buildings that surrounded a beautiful garden area then the main tomb its self. The structure looks quite like the Taj Mahal except it is made mostly out of red sandstone.
The thing about India is that it is amazing how old and historic everything is. Both the States and especially Australia are babies compared to this part of the world. Part of
From the top of Humayun’s Tomb
It was actually 2 stories so you could climb up..this is looking out towards the main gate... one of the oldest structures in Delhi, The Qutab Minar is actually thought to have been built the 400s! The oldest part is an iron pillar, which is unusual because it has not rusted since the 5th century! The Qutab Minar is actually a very tall tower that stands almost 73 meters high. There are also some outlying structures that surround the tower, and once again the details on some of the buildings is amazing.
Afterwards I went to more recent additions to New Delhi, which were still quite impressive. India Gate is very popular with both tourists and locals. Basically is it a war memorial and India’s version of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It looks kind of like the Arc D’Triumph and has 3 armed soldiers guarding it all times as well as an eternal flame. Gardens and lakes surround it, which makes it very popular for picnics, and it absolutely gorgeous at night because it is all lit-up. I drove past it at night but unfortunately my camera batteries had just died.
My last stop in Delhi was the Indira Gandhi memorial museum. I have to admit it was quite informative because I did
not know a lot about her other than she was Prime Minister and assassinated. The memorial was actually in her old house and also featured a section on her son who was also assasinated.
My time in India is up; I am about to leave for Croatia. I wish I had more time, as there is so much more to see. India like the US and Australia is a big country, and I would have like to make it down to Southern India which I hear have amazing beaches. Oh well, back to the Northern Hemisphere, and unfortunately a European winter.
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