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Published: January 14th 2010
We headed to Agra by train from Jaipur. We were very excited to be finally visiting the icon of India - the Taj Mahal. Agra was the most intense place so far, we were hassled everywhere from people selling everything from chess sets to Taj replicas. One kid followed us for about 1km trying to sell us a Taj Mahal key ring. He started off wanting 50 rupees and moved down to 5 rupees within 30 seconds without us saying anything!
We decided that the best time to view the Taj Mahal would be at sunrise so we headed to Agra Fort first. Ironically, the maharaja that commissioned the Taj Mahal, would later be imprisoned there by his son, the main tower having a fabulous view of this magnificent building (see photo). This is another huge fort, over 2.5km long with walls over 20m high. It is built out of a beautiful red sandstone and was used as a garrison by the British.
We found a great restaurant in a small shed, called Jonsey’s which served fabulous cheap food. He only had 2 elements on a gas burner to cook, yet delicious meals flowed from his cramped kitchen. We
ended up having all our meals at this place and meeting other intrepid travellers, one of whom had been travelling for 4 years!
At 7am we headed out to the Taj Mahal. It was really foggy so we decided to have breakfast first and headed through the beautiful South Gate around 8.30am. What a disappointment, we could not see anything - maybe only 20m in front of us. We had a look inside at the intricate marble patterns inlaid with gemstones and at this stage panicked that having travelling all the way here, we might not actually see the Taj Mahal. Luckily our train was not due to leave until later in the day.
It was not until 11.30-12 that the fog began to clear and slowly the beautiful Taj Mahal appeared. It was every bit as fantastic as you imagine and not over-rated in any way. It was truly spectacular. We spent some time jostling with the thousands of tourists positioning for prime cheesy photo spots. It was truly magical….now off to Delhi.
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