Madhya Pradesh Solo Trip - Gwalior Fort - Day 12
Gwalior Fort
13th January, 2020. After a breathtaking experience of Taj Mahal, I was going to enter back into Madhya Pradesh and next up on my journey was Gwalior Fort. Gwalior Fort is around 120 kms from Taj Mahal on road. We left early in the morning and reached Gwalior by 9 am. The fort is at the top of a hill. At the base of the hill while we were searching for a road to take us up at the fort, a young teenage boy approached us. He offered us to show the way up and also narrate the history of the place during our commute. I hesitated for a moment but the boy looked very poor so I took him in the car. He charged me 400 Rs. And I didn’t bargain. During his narration every now and then he would ask me a question just to make sure I was following along. Basically I paid someone 400 bucks to take my memory test. After his narration was over I asked more about the boy’s background. He was still in school and in the daytime he did small jobs to run his family. I was his first customer of the day. The boy was sharp and intelligent and spoke very confidently. At the entrance of the fort he got down, I paid him and he waved me goodbye with a smile.
Gwalior fort is a very huge fort and it easily takes an hour or two to explore the entire site. The fort is divided into many sections and each section has different fees. And the irritating part is that every ticket counter expects you to pay the exact change. So keep that in mind if you are ever planning to visit the fort. I wonder why can’t they just have a single ticket for the entire place. This fort is believed to have been in existence since the 10th century and had been controlled by many rulers.
After leaving Gwalior, I had a long journey of 312 kms ahead of us to reach Khajuraho. It took us almost midnight to reach, thanks to the bad roads. Following are some of the photographs I took while travelling to Khajuraho.
Continued in the next blog…