Devin's Travels: Agra

So I departed Bhopal to head up to Agra and see the famous Taj Mahal, by far India's most famous building. Everyone I talked to said that Agra was full of touts and that I should try and spend as little time as possible there to just see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. As a result most people visit Agra as a day trip from Delhi, but I decided to spend two days there so that I could see the Taj Mahal at sunrise and also allow myself lots of time to see the other sights in Agra.

I arrived in Agra at 9pm and quickly found a hotel room where I spent a short night as I woke up the following morning at 5am to visit the Taj Mahal for sunrise. Arriving at the entrance gate into the Taj Mahal just before 6am I went through the thorough security process into the grounds for the Taj. My first view of the Taj Mahal in real life was amazing, it was visible through the central gateway we had to walk through and it looked beautiful. Even better than it does in the pictures. As I got closer I noticed that the building is HUGE. It always looks fairly small I thought from all the photos but that's because they are just taken from a ways away, once I got up close to the actual building it towered over me. After taking the typical photo that everyone gets at the Taj I walked up to and into it to see the tombs (the actual tombs are in the basement where the public can't go but there are fake ones that the public can see). As I walked around the building I was just amazed at the amount of work that had gone into building it: the entire building was symmetrical as all four sides were identical (you could rotate the building 90 degrees and nobody would notice any change) and all of the inlaid gemstones in the white marble that depicted different patterns and flower designs were all perfect (and also symmetrical). The sheer amount of work that must have gone into building it was mind boggling. After walking around the Taj Mahal itself I toured around the mosque next to it (and the fake mosque on the other side) and the gardens surrounding the entire complex. The entire grounds and buildings in it were absolutely beautiful and it was definitely worth the 750 rupee entrance fee. The only disappointing thing about my visit to the Taj Mahal was that the fountains were empty with signs that said they were closed for cleaning, I found this hard to believe as I saw no evidence of cleaning so I think they may have been closed due to a water shortage problem.

Visiting the Taj Mahal at sunrise was, in my opinion, the best time to visit as the sun slowly rose over the complex walls illuminating the buildings and the garden providing great light for photos. Also the heat of the day hadn't hit yet so it was cool enough to walk around outside and the sky hadn't hazed up so they were as blue as they would get when I was there.

After leaving the Taj Mahal I returned to hotel where I rested for the rest of the morning and sat at the rooftop restaurant just watching the Taj Mahal. That day I didn't do too much else, electing to leave the fort and other sights for the next day.

The following day I got up and checked out Agra Fort in the morning. The fort did seem pretty impressive although half of it was closed off to tourists as it was being used by the army. The part that we were able to walk through was very beautiful though. There weren't very many rooms that we could enter but there lots of perfectly maintained gardens the fort and the views out over the city and river towards the Taj Mahal were phenomenal. Having said that there were a couple of buildings like mosques, gateways and open rooms that were very exquisite and clearly made for royalty.

After visiting the Agra Fort I made my way over to Itimad-Ud-Daulah, a tomb that has been nicknamed the baby taj. This tomb was built before the Taj Mahal for Mizra Ghiyas Beg and isn't quite as spectacular as the more famous Taj Mahal it certainly is an amazing building. When looking at it there are several features common to the Taj Mahal and it's thought that some of the design for the Taj Mahal was taken from it.

Finally I went around the back side of the Taj Mahal across the river from it for one final view before leaving Agra. Although you could get up close to Taj for some great views (it was only about 30 meters away across the river) I thought it wasn't anywhere near nice as the front view. The river level was pretty low which showed some garbage on the banks and the kids playing there never stopped asking me for money so I couldn't enjoy it very much. However the Taj Mahal is still so beautiful that it was still worth the trip over there.

Finally I headed out of Agra that night to return to Delhi where I picked up the remainder of my luggage and started the long journey to Kathmandu, Nepal. So again I'll skip talking about visiting Delhi as I plan to spend a week there after Nepal and truly do some sight seeing then, but look for my next post about the land of the great Himalayas.

Standing in front of the Taj Mahal and taking the required picture that everyone takes.

A view of the Taj Mahal through one of the archways on the mosque located to the side.

The mosque located to the side of the Taj Mahal. On the other side is an identical building that is believed to have been used to house the workers while they were constructing the Taj.