Delhi

The last stop of my journey is again Delhi - and this time I made it finally to the sights I had always missed.

At first I took the metro, then a bus and finally walked to Qutb Minar. That's a tall pillar which was built in the 13th century by the Qutb rulers, was later restored and storeys were added.

The Minar as well as the other buildings were carved with floral decorations and Muslim words.

Around the pillar there were built mosques, a university, tombs and other buildings. Alauddin Khilji wanted to challenge the Qutb Minar by building the Alai Minar that should have been twice as high but was abandoned after the construction of the first storey.

Besides the usual squirrels I found some new inhabitants on the monuments: green parrots.

The auto-rickshaw driver who took me to the next monument tried to cheat me telling me the night price in the middle of the day. I paid him the correct price and then walked up to the Lotus Temple of the Bahá'i religion. In the inside is a big prayer hall for people from all religions.

Next I headed to the Red Fort built by the Mughal rulers at the riverside that today is several hundred meters away.

The inside contains mosques, hamams, audience halls, royal quarters and many more.

The walls are decorated with semiprecious stone inlays in the art from Agra and the Taj Mahal which is no wonder as Moghul Shah Jahan ordered the construction of both buildings.

In the late afternoon, I hired a cycle rickshaw around Chandni Chowk and saw a lot of crowded streets and crowded vehicles - no matter whether cycle rickshaw or motor cycle all carried more than the allowed passengers through the bazars and to the mosque.

Early the next morning I had to leave for the airport, then my plane left for Helsinki and later to Munich.