After the hearthy and slightly unusual breakfast it is time to start exploring, luckily right after the rain ended. And we start with…Purana Qila?! Our driver is thoroughly confused he even mentions that we are his first clients that want to visit Purana Qila, the Old Fort. But we have a few reasons for this, one is that it is quite close to the hotel, second it is actually quite an interesting historical site but even more importantly it has one of the few geocaches in India. As a country it has less than 300 while just the Phoenix area has in the thousands so this is really important to us. The driver lets us in front and in we go after paying the much more expensive foreigner entrance fee and being controlled by security, really is that necessary?
Actually even without the cache this is a great choice to visit especially if just arriving in India. There are few other visitors so you can acclimatize yourself to a typical visit to an Indian monument without the crowds. It is also quite beautiful, starting from the impressive Bara Darwaza or the West Gate without being that overwhelming. It also is important historically as being one of the first forts created in the Delhi area by the Mughal Emperor Humayun whose tomb lies nearby and we will visit the next day.
Even the door of the gate is impressive and looks original even though likely it isn’t. And then we are in and start searching for the museum that is supposedly near the entrance and we paid for as part of our more expensive ticket. It is not clear if we can enter it but we brave the multiple watchpeople and walk into it and they do not say anything.
It is a small museum but quite an interesting one explaining the history of the area and also having some interesting artifacts.
We take a few photos and enjoy the many interesting artifacts until suddenly one of the watchpeople starts shouting at us. We understand soon that he shouts “No Photos”, but there is no sign anywhere and really, why? But we obey and soon exit back into the courtyard where we hope we can take photos again.
Luckily no one bothers us outside even when we take as a test photos near a watchmen. And there are many of them so many, really are all of them needed? Otherwise there are very few people around and we really are enjoying the abandoned feel of the huge fort.
Here we find also a few more new birds including the beautiful and fun to watch Pied Starlings. And of course five striped palm squirrels, lots of them.
As we explore we soon have also our first encounter with a stepwell, not a very deep one but still impressive in her own way. The one major attraction in the courtyard is the Qila-i-Kuhna Mosque that we notice from almost anywhere in the yard however as we follow the paths we actually somehow continually avoid it. Even though near it is also the cache we are looking for.
Our wanderings take us to Sher Mandal, the only surviving palace structure within the fort. It was initially assumed that it was used as Humayun’s library but recent research points towards the likelihood that it was used as astronomical observatory.
We continue seeing lots of birds including many black kites and our first jungle babblers who seem quite excited to see us.
And then we make our way to the mosque finally finding the cache on the way, our first in India. The mosque itself is not functional anymore as far as we can tell but it is quite impressive even from the back.
It is even more impressive from the front with lots of intricate detail and a beautiful red and white pattern. It was a Friday mosque for the sultan and courtiers and it looks the part for certain.
You cannot enter inside but you can walk through the antechamber which is quite beautiful and it is a bit sad that the interior is not open for visit.
We kow explore the walls following them towards the North Gate and enjoying the nice weather and the many birds.
And then we follow the walls a bit further, trying to determine whether they are rebuilt or not, as we make our way towards the West Gate and the exit. Overall it was really worth a visit and satisfied we move towards the Old Town starting with Raj Ghat.
