Qutub Minar, Delhi

There is much to admire about Qutub Minar. Audacious in its conception and awe-inspiring in its execution, the tower is covered in intricate carvings and deeply inscribed with verses from the Koran. It tapers upwards from ruins to a height of just over 72 metres and, inside, there is a spiral staircase of 379 steps. Sadly, this has now been closed to visitors, so you can no longer find out where it leads. Thanks, over the centuries, to lightning strikes hitting the top of the tower and earthquakes trying to loosen its core, Qutub Minar has been renovated numerous times. And because of damage over hundreds of years, the minaret is no longer perfectly vertically. Not quite the Leaning Tower of Pisa but the incline is still noticeable to the eye.

The first mosque to be built in India sits at the foot of the tower and, in its courtyard, is a 7m-high iron pillar. It is said that if you can encircle this with your hands while standing with your back to it, your wish will be fulfilled. The Qutub Minar is not the only show in town, however – at least not in the Qutub Complex. There are tombs dating back 700 years, plus a grand, landscaped garden –and here’s a sentence you probably never expected to read: there’s a totally fascinating pile of rubble that deserves a visit! It even has a name, Alai Minar.

The rubble is left over from a never-realised project from the 14th century and was intended to form the core of a new tower that would have been twice the height of Qutub Minar. One thing you can say about the inhabitants of Delhi – they were never afraid to think big!