Although it's not in fact the oldest part of Delhi, the seventeenth-century city of Shahjahanabad , built by the Moghul emperor, Shah Jahan, is known as OLD DELHI . The original city walls spread for seven miles, enclosing the sprawling fort, Lal Qila , and the formidable Jami Masjid , or "Friday Mosque". Old Delhi's main thoroughfare, Chandni Chowk , a seething mass of hooting, pushing cars, tempos, cycle rickshaws and ox carts, was once a sublime canal lined with trees and some of the most opulent bazaars of the East. Today the city walls have crumbled, and houses and shops have long since spilled beyond the remaining five of the fourteen old gates.

 

On the west bank of the River Yamuna northeast of the modern centre, Old Delhi resembles an overgrown village of tight-knit communities, alive with intriguing contradictions and contrasts. Photographers huddled at the east end of Chandni Chowk using rickety equipment left over from the days of the Raj are overlooked by garish film boards and advertisements for sex clinics, while the bazaars in the back alleys have changed little since the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It's a fascinating area, but you'll need stamina, patience and time to endure the crowds and traffic