Agra and Fatehpur Sikri

---

Our departure from Delhi marked the official start of our tour of Rajasthan (and Agra) with our driver Vipan. Having a driver is completely different to the way we normally travel however on our way to Agra we quickly saw the benefit as we were able to stop off anywhere we wanted.

Our first stop was Akbar’s Mausoleum which is about 10km outside of Agra City. The tomb was a massive and very impressive structure with intricate geometric patterns in marble inlaid into the red sandstone. There were huge walls surrounding a central building which contained the tombs with beautiful gardens full of deer all around. The acoustics of the building were pretty interesting; in the inner part of the complex you could stand at opposite sides of the arch sequence and face into the corner and the person in the other corner could hear you talk. Also, if you stood in the middle of the arch sequence you could clap and hear it echo, but if you stood slightly off centre you couldn’t hear the echo…pretty cool. Overall not a bad place to be buried - I think that I probably deserve something similar…

Next stop was Itimad-ud-Dulah, also known as the ‘Baby Taj’; it was smaller than Akbar’s mausoleum but much more intricately carved and made entirely from white marble. As with Akbar’s, the Baby Taj also had really beautiful, well maintained, gardens - I’m not sure whether the gardens are the original design or whether they are a more recent addition but they really set off the central building.

Next stop was Agra Fort which was definitely the highlight of the first day. The fort was constructed by Akbar as a military facility, but was later transformed into a palace by Emperor Shah Jahan (the guy who built the Taj Mahal - he was also one of Akbar’s grandkids) who added a bunch more buildings to the interior - quite haphazardly, there really didn’t seem to be any thought about the overall plan of the complex! By the time we arrived it was late afternoon and the light made the red sandstone look even redder. The fort walls are absolutely massive and they look even more imposing because of the wide, deep moat around them. The big ‘attraction’ inside is the area that Shah Jahan spent 8 years imprisoned in after his son seized power. From his prison (a pretty damn elaborate and luxurious prison!) Shah Jahan could see his beautiful Taj Mahal in the distance; this also gave us our first glimpse of the famous structure. It must have been really horrible cooped up inside the fort looking over his wife’s tomb although I could think of worse views to have from prison. I was surprised by the distance separating the two monuments, everything that I read kind of made it sound like they were just next door, but they are actually separated by a few kilometers. Just as we finished exploring we were ordered out by guards with really loud whistles who were rounding up the crowds so they could close up for the night.

After fending off the touts we jumped back into our car and were taken to our hotel by Vipan. Our room was…amazing and far above the standard we are used to. In Varanasi we were paying 450rupees a night for our room; this one went for the bargain price of 3500rupees - wow!

The following morning we got up bright and early so that we could be at the Taj Mahal for sunrise as this is supposed to be when it is quietest. By the time we bought our tickets (750rupees for foreigners, 20rupees for locals) there was already a line of about 60 people waiting at the gate. The gates opened about 20 minutes after we joined the queue and after being patted down we walked through the eastern gate and saw the Taj. It was a really foggy morning which made the Taj look as if it was floating on a cloud. Combine that effect with the early morning sun making the white marble look as if it was glowing and you get a pretty impressive site. We figured it was like this every morning, however after we chatted to a photographer we met in Nepal (funny how you keep seeing the same people around) who had been there for about 4 sunrises we discovered that this wasn’t normal at all - how lucky! I had heard that the Taj was a bit overrated, however I think it deserves the reputation that it has. It really is a beautiful and impressive building, it’s absolutely gorgeous. We spent quite a few hours exploring and admiring and taking photos - we even managed to have a few photos of us taken together (how unusual!)

After heading back to the hotel for breakfast we set off for our next stop; Jaipur, via Akbar’s short-lived capital Fatehpur Sikri which is about 40kms from Agra. This stop off once again made us see the value in having a driver, yet another impressive monument that we would have missed if we had caught the train as we originally planned to. Fatehpur Sikri is a massive complex of buildings including a mosque and three palaces (one for each of his wives - a Muslim, a Christian and a Hindu). The complex wasn’t half as busy as the other monuments that we have visited and most of the tourists were Indian which was really nice. We even had the chance to sit down and admire the buildings and surrounding farmlands for a while without seeing any other tourists which is a rarity in India. After exploring for an hour or so we hopped back in the car and set off for Jaipur.

---

Photos

The forts walls
That red dot is Bianca

Taj Mahal
Our first view of the Taj, it was 7am and foggy