Travel Theme: Circles

Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, India

Detail like this can be found all over Golconda if you look hard enough

Visiting the Golkonda Fort in Hyderabad, India allows you to step back into an age when the Muslim sultanates ruled. With a little imagination you can see camel stables, hear rumours of hidden tunnels, admire doors studded with spikes to repel war elephants and discover a jail, a harem and a mosque. The fort became famous for its diamond market and the vault that contained the coveted Kohinoor diamond.

Door Detail, Golconda Fort
By Pravina (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

The main entrance doors are made of teak which were enclosed with iron sheets and studded with sharp spikes. The spikes are detached well over the door to guard against elephant attacks.

Composite Elephant from the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art

Cannonballs, Golconda Fort, Hyderabd

There is a wonderfully cheesy sound and light show at night which has the added bonus of being narrated by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan.

This post started out being a response to Ailsa’s Travel Theme: Circles but as I started I got so enthusiastic about telling you about Golconda Fort it became something else.