Delhi is a relatively easy city to find your way around although it is very spread out. The section of interest to visitors is on the west bank of Yamuna river abd is divided basically into two parts - the tightly packed streets of Old Delhi and the spacious planned areas of New Delhi. Shah Jahan (1628 - 1658) decided to move back from Agra to Delhi in 1638. thus Old Delhi in the 17th century walled city of Shahjahanabad, with city gates, narrow alleys, constant teriffic jams and terrible air pollution, the enormous Red Fort and Jama Masjid, temples, mosques, bazaars and the famous street known as Chandani Chowk. Much of the building material was from the ruins of Firozabad and Shergarh. It was laid out in blocks with wide roads, residential quarters and so on. this old walled city of Shahjahanabad spreads west from the Red Fort nad was at one time surrounded by a sturdy defensive wall, only fragments of which exist now.
The Kashmir Gate, at the northern end of the walled city was the scene of desperate fighting when the British retook Delhi during the 1857 uprising. towards the west, near the vegetable market of the old city (sabzi mandi), lies the British erected Mutiny Memorial built in the memory of the soldiers who lost their lives fighting the uprising. Near the monument is Ashoka Pillar like the one in Phiroz Shah Kotla - Phiroz Shah bought it here.
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