8th February: Humayan's Tomb, Red Fort, and Jama Masjid

The morning sun was shining down on Delhi through a clear sky, so we decided we would head back to Hamayun's Tomb first, without giving the weather a chance to change. It was indeed a marvellous sight, its white dome resplendent above the sandstone and marble walls. This 16th century building has lived in the shadow of its neighbour in Agra, described as a "precursor to the Taj Mahal" even in one of its own signs, but is a beautiful monument in its own right. It was built for Hamayun (the victim of the slippery steps of the Sher Mandal, you will recall) by his widow, but the grounds actually contain around 1,000 Mughal tombs. Young couples relaxed on the lawns, while overhead large birds circled the dome and occasionally swooped down to alarm the parakeets perched on the tomb's ledges.

Main gateway to the tomb

 Hamayun's sandtone and marble mausoleum

Parakeet perched on the wall of the tomb

Deciding to save the best for last, we first visited a couple of smaller tombs on the outer edges of the grounds, and peered over the walls at a blue-tiled dome off in the distance. We then made our way across the lawn and up the steps to the main level of the tomb, simple but grand with large slabs of red sandstone and white marble. We looked in through a delicately carved screen at the tomb itself, then walked a little further round and entered through an archway into the heart of the monument. The white marble tomb sat amidst a black and white marble floor, surrounded by three tiers of red and white arches. Despite the other tourists shuffling in and out, we managed to find a moment of peace and quiet amidst the chaos of Delhi.

Blue-tiled dome

Other tombs on the outskirts

Less well-preserved memorials

On the platform of the mausoleum

Peering through at the tomb within

At the heart of the mausoleum

That moment of tranquility was brief, however, because our next stop was Old Delhi and its famous Red Fort, overrun with tourists and hawkers. A tuk-tuk drove us around the ring-road and back in towards the centre of the city, giving us our first sight of the magnificent sandstone walls of the fort. After a quick loo-stop (noted only for the enterprising tout who had scribbled "paid" above the official signs for the toilets and then tried to charge us) we made our way through the giant doors of Lahore Gate. We were slightly surprised that our first sight was a line of shops selling tat for tourists, but later saw a sign that this was at least an authentic use of the space, which had been designed as a merchants' bazaar (Chatta Chowk).

View of the Red Fort from the road

The immense Lahore Gate

Chatta Chowk

We wandered through the spacious grounds of the 17th century fort, drifting among the hordes of Indian tourists (and occasionally having to lecture them about taking surreptitious photos; this was the first time that it was so incessant that it became irritating). There were many beautiful buildings, such as the Naubat Khana (Drum House), Diwan-i-Am (Hall of Public Audiences), and Rang Mahal (Palace of Colour), but the most spectacular was the Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience). Here the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb used to receive important guests and advisors, seated on the legendary Peacock Throne, reputedly more expensive than the Taj Mahal but unfortunately seized and broken up by Persian invaders in the 18th century.

The front of the Drum House...

...and the other side

Heading towards the Hall of Public Audience

The Emperor's throne in the Hall of Public Audience, covered by a net; the chief minister sat on the lower platform in front

The Hall of Private Audience

The incredibly elaborate decoration of the Hall of Private Audience

Marble inlaid with semi-precious stones (the precious stones were removed by Persian invaders)

The platform upon which the Peacock Throne used to rest

Golden door

This is probably why it is called the Red Fort

From the tourist-infested expanse of the Red Fort we headed out onto the tout-swamped street that runs around the fort towards the Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque), India's largest mosque. Fighting off our entrepreneurial assailants by the roadside, we turned off onto the long, open bazaar that leads up towards the steps of the Masjid. After nearly two months in India we had very little trust in anyone that demanded money without official sanction, so we were unconvinced when someone stopped us just as we were taking off our shoes to demand several hundred rupees to enter the mosque, with nothing more than a scrap of coloured paper as a ticket; assuming it was a scam, we carried on past.

The busy bazaar leading up to the mosque

Looking back towards the Red Fort from the steps of the Jama Masjid

The interior courtyard of the 17th century mosque was huge, surrounded by sandstone and marble walls and dwarfed by two lofty minarets. I paid to climb to the top of one of the minarets, squeezing up a narrow staircase to a glorious viewpoint around 50 metres above Delhi. On the way out the same guy asked to see our ticket when we picked up our shoes, but we just carried on as if oblivious and he didn't bother to pursue. We later learned that entrance was indeed supposed to be free.

The pool at the heart of the mosque's courtyard

The immense Jama Masjid

Looking down from the top of the minaret at the mosque's courtyard and the Red Fort in the distance

We tried to take a tuk-tuk from outside the Jama Masjid, but after several attempts to persuade drivers to use the meter rather than quote an exorbitant price (including one guy who said with a straight-face that the meter was only for Indians) we decided to walk. It turned out to be a good decision, since it only took us half an hour or so to stroll to our next stop, Firoz Shah Kotla. There we found the ruins of the fifth incarnation of Delhi, constructed by Firoz Shah in the 14th century. This was well off the usual tourist route, and we were almost alone in the spacious grounds, where the crumbling walls had a haunting air in the late afternoon haze. The main attraction, perched on a three-tiered stone structure, was one of Ashoka's 3rd century BC sandstone pillars, inscribed with his imperial edicts. The huge pillar had been carried from its original resting place in Faizabad to Delhi on Firoz Shah's orders, a monumental task.

Posing under the arch of Firoz Shah's ruined palace

The displaced Ashokan pillar and its pyramidal base

The inscription on the pillar

Clem had found details of a march being held to show support for Tibet and outrage at the continuing human rights abuses by China. We had hoped to join, but when we arrived at the spot where we expected to find the crowd there was nobody to be seen. We later learned that the march had passed by a little earlier than we had understood. Instead we paid a brief visit to Raj Ghat, just over the road by the bank of the Yamana river, where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated. We looked out over the black marble platform, surrounded by well-tended gardens, as the sun fell and the temperature with it. We then caught a local bus, a remarkably civilised experience, towards New Delhi metro station, and from there headed back to Haus Khaz. Exhausted after a long day of sightseeing, we succumbed to the stodgy comforts of a Domino's pizza delivery. The punishment for breaking our resolution to stick to Indian food was that it arrived a mere 90 minutes later.

Raj Ghat

Close up of the black marble memorial