Delhi India Day Trips - visiting Qutab Minar and Tughlaqabad Fort.

Touring around the Qutab Minar Complex which is located in south of Delhi, India.

Entrance fee to the Qutb Minar site is 250 Rupees for non-Indians and the complex is located around 14 Kms south of Connaught Place. This very interesting archaeological complex is open daily and usually very busy with both overseas tourists often on day-out coach excursions as well as with Indian families. The Qutb Minar (also known as Qutab Minar or Qutub Minar) itself is a 238 foot (72.5 metre) high red sandstone tower, has 379 steps up to it's top and is the world's tallest brick minaret. Building commenced around 1193 under the instructions of India's Qutb-ud-din Aibak who was India's first Muslim leader and was completed by Firuz Shah Tughluq around 1386 - the minaret and complex is listed as a World Heritage Site.
It might be a good idea to visit the minaret sooner than later since apparently it is starting to tilt.
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Going round sightseeing Tughlaqabad Fort (Tughluqabad Qila) - Delhi's Third City, India.

Built 1321-1325 by Ghiyasud-din Tughlaq, Delhi's ruined Tughlaqabad Qila covers a huge area - stretching along about 6.5kms - however quite a lot of the area is inundated with thorns and rough foliage. For some reason - maybe because it is in the far south of Delhi - many people on holiday in Delhi do not apparently bother to take the trip out to Tughlaqabad Fort - certainly that was the comments we received when we said we wanted to go there. When we arrived at the Fort nobody else was visiting and having woken the man at the ticket office up he seemed quite surprised to see us. This is a shame since despite the thorns blocking some of the paths there are still plenty of areas to see and wander around. The Fort has many old ruins inside - it is nice to go round "done up" or even semi-working forts like Red Fort but also nice to see - with the help of a little imagination - just how these powerfull and extensive old Indian Forts were once like.

Opposite Tughluqabad Fort a causeway leads to a small fort-like building containing a mausoleum which is where you can see Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq's tomb - the mausoleum is built from red sandstone and is topped by a white marble dome which is raised on an octagonal drum. Apart from Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq's grave there are two other smaller graves - which are believed to those of his wife and of his son Muhammad bin Tughluq. Also in the north western bastion lies an octagonal tomb which is said to be that of Zafar Khan, a General who defeated an invading Mongol army near Jalandhar in 1299.