On my recent trip to India, I went to many famous forts, such as the Agra Fort, Mehrangarh Fort, and the Jaigarh Fort.
The first fort was Agra Fort. As the name clearly says, its is found in Agra. This fort is just a 10 minute ride from the Taj Mahal. To understand this fort, remember this simple family tree; Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb. First, Akbar made this fort his capital. He had 3 wives; one Christian, one Islam, and one Hindu. He built a temple, church, and mosque for each of his wives. Later, the vicious Aurangzeb imprisoned Shah Jahan. This palace also has many illusions, such as window openings on one end, sound waves travelling through walls, and distance-size illusions. You can see the Taj Mahal from here. It’s pretty high up, and you will need to walk a lot.
The Mehrangarh fort was my favorite of all. This fort is located in Jodhpur, India. It was so colorful, and had many rooms. The rooms were for the queens, and had stained glass walls. I got inspired from the walls and drawings to paint an elephant. I also saw carriages for royalty, where 6 people had to lift them up. There was a vast display of shields, swords, and armors. We had a guide there, and he told us a lot about how they lived, which I was really interested in. There was a gift shop, everything hademade. The art was expensive, but resembled a lot of the historic, magical feeling of this fort.
Home to the worlds largest cannon in Jaipur, Rajasthan state, the Jaigarh Fort stands 400 meters above the Amber Fort. It is build of thick walls of sandstone. The cannon placed here was only fired once, but spread 22 miles from it’s base position. The armoury chamber found at this site has a vast display of swords, shields, and guns. Halfway through the treacherous stairs, there is a small food base-type area. It has veg puffs, samosas, juice, maggi, and all sorts of delicious treats to fill you with.
In total, these sites were absolutely WOW areas, stuffed with history, geography, and interest. You are surely to find these old forts interesting in every way!