Purana Qila (Old Fort)

Purana Qila — literally the Old Fort — is the oldest fort in Delhi and one of the most atmospheric, standing on a low mound beside Mathura Road that tradition identifies with Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas from the Mahabharata.

• Excavations here have turned up Painted Grey Ware and layer upon layer of settlement stretching back well over two millennia, making this quiet, grassy citadel arguably the most continuously inhabited spot in the whole of Delhi.
• The fort you see today, with its towering rubble-and-stone walls nearly two kilometres around, was largely built in the mid-16th century — begun by the Mughal emperor Humayun for his city of Dinpanah and completed by Sher Shah Suri, who briefly displaced him.
• Three grand gateways pierce the walls, of which the western Bara Darwaza is still the entrance.
• Inside, two jewels survive: the Qila-i-Kuhna, a beautifully proportioned 16th-century stone monument with fine carved arches, and the Sher Mandal, an octagonal red-sandstone tower whose steep steps famously caused Humayun's fatal fall in 1556.
• A small archaeological museum by the gate displays finds from the mound.
• For vegetarian travellers the fort itself has no food, but it sits minutes from Pandara Road Market and the vegetarian restaurants of the India Gate area, and close to Sunder Nursery and Nizamuddin, so a visit slots easily into a vegetarian day out.
• Bring water, especially in summer, as the grounds are open and sunny.