The Magnificent Red Fort – Delhi, India

Delhi India is a huge city full of many different districts, neighborhoods and landmarks. However, one of its most prominent landmarks is the beautiful old Red Fort in the heart of the city. Our first morning in Delhi we caught a rickshaw and the first place we wanted to go was this fort. After winding our way through the chaotic streets of Old Delhi in the rickshaw we finally saw the beautiful and grand red fort standing in front of us. We spent a few moments just admiring the outer walls as they are made from very large, and very red, pieces of stone. We eventually made our way inside and marveled at all of the interior courtyards and structures that were built. The Red Fort is almost entirely surrounded by the hustle and bustle of Old Delhi but being inside its walls, and wandering through the gardens and palaces, you can’t hear any of the chaos outside and it truly feels like an oasis. The fort was built in the 17th century by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (who also built the Taj Mahal) and he spared no expense while doing it. The palaces and structures on the interior of the fort are mostly red but a few were built with white stone which was an incredible contrast to the green grass and red stone of the other buildings in the complex. We wandered the entire area for hours and found one particular palace that we just loved. It was made of dark red stone and the interior ceiling was adorned with amazing stonework. There were numerous pillars being held up by arches and the whole thing just was just the epitome of Indian architecture (or maybe more specifically Mughal architecture). We sat in this particular palace for probably an hour just admiring the gardens around us and enjoying the shade as it was a very hot day in Delhi. We eventually left the palace to continue exploring Delhi and the minute we hit the busy streets of the city we were already missing the quite and calm oasis that is The Red Fort.