India 2007 - Day Seven
As I type this it's Sunday morning, but this post describes Saturday and I'm only now catching up. I was originally going to do some sight seeing on Sunday but those plans changed just before mid-day, and so under the auspices of our driver/guide Arafat I went to see the ruins of the Golconda Fort and the Seven Tombs of the Qutb Shahi dynasty nearby.
The earliest fort dates to the 12th century and was made of mud and clay. The Qutb Shahi dynasty was founded in the early 1500's, and it took them decades to build the stone fort that stands in ruins today. The fort sits on a granite hill almost 400 feet high. It's actually four forts surrounded by an outer and inner walls over 6 miles long. Some of the walls sport ramparts and battlements with ancient cannons. A tour of the fort takes hours and if you're willing includes climbing nearly 400 steps to the very top. Given the 100 degree plus heat I passed, wimp that I am.
But here are some shots of the fort from a distance.
We enter the first gate.
And get the first view of the top of the hill.
Then we drive through another gate.
Here's a closeup of the top of the hill.
Pulling back on the zoom shows how far away we still are.
And another zoomed shot.
This photo shows two walls -- I'm not sure how many layers of walls there are, but I think they'd do a pretty good job of keeping out the Orcs.
The town of Golconda sits inside the perimeter of at least some of the walls. We passed several Indian Army installations to get to the fort, and some of them are also inside the walls. This picture shows barracks on the right, one of the walls on the left, and a fabulous pair of trees.
So -- not much else to say about the Golconda Fort. It was the seat of the Qutb Shahi dynasty until the 4th Shah, Muhammad Quli Qutb, moved the dynasty to the new city he decided to build, Hyderabad. I wish I'd been able to take the tour.
It's off to breakfast for me. I'll post my pictures of the Seven Tombs later today.