Arrived at the Red Fort on a blistering hot and humid day, having just left the Taj Mahal (see Lindsay and Lilian's Sabbatical Journey). 75% of the Fort is still used by the Indian Army and is not open to visitors but it is still an amazing place. It was here that Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, was imprisoned by his son, Aurangzeb. From this prison room he could look across at the magnificent Mausoleum he had built for his favourite wife, Mumtaz.

The fort was surrounded by two moats, a wet moat, filled with water, crocodiles and alligators, an a dry moat filled with lions and tigers and other wild animals, so sneaking into the fort, undetected, must have been a tricky business! The drawbridge was raised and lowered by two elephants pulling on chains.

Once inside you are faced with a long steep hill with a high wall on each side. Huge boulders were rolled down this hill, (Indianna Jones style!) at advancing armies. Lots of other neat tricks lay in store if you avoided the drowning, the crocodiles, the man eating tigers and the boulder crushing!

However once inside you found yourself not in a utilitarian military fort of the Carrickfergus Castle variety, but a luxurious palace of red sandstone and white marble inlaid with gold and semi precious stones. There was a large indoor market which only the women could attend, and accommodation for the King's 300 wives, concubines etc! (How could you ever decorate a palace with 300 wives all putting in their tuppence worth!)

This is a picture of Lilian and me sitting on the bench on which the King used to sit to converse with his Prime Minister. It is cracked because during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 a British cannonball ricocheted off it and punched a hole in a nearby marble panel! Typical! If Brits abroad aren't writing graffiti on walls they're shooting cannonballs through them!