How could we not visit the Taj Mahal? During our final week in India we made a day and a half trip to Agra, on Nancy's birthday, making use of Bed & Chai's favorite driver. We took the new highway, like one you'd find in California except there were hardly any cars and the countryside was flat green farmland - not at all the usual image of India. Every few miles a sign would appear: "You are under survellance. Violators will be prosecuted at the next toll station" We drove at 85km/hr all the way.
Departing Delhi after lunch, we got to Agra in time to visit its fort before sundown
. It was really impressive - full compensation for the missed Red Fort in Delhi. The driver had arranged a guide, a nice enough guy and actually very good at pointing out interesting things we would have missed. He seemed to have a particular interest in the different types of stone inlays in the marble walls of the Fort, and kept mentioning we'd see later how the work was done. Exiting the fort we found out what that meant - more than an hour in a fancy tourist shop! There was a brief demonstration by a lone craftsman with primitive tools, but then extended opportunity to admire expensive inlaid marble items, first full sized furniture costing thousands of dollars, free cup of tea provided, eventually moving downstairs to nicknacks and postcards, finally farewell to sad faces as we extracted ourselves. Couldn't believe we fell for it!
The recommended hotel was Tourist Guest House, reasonably described in Lonely Planet, a bit like our place in Amritsar, except no dripping water, with an inhouse garden restaurant
. For birthday dinners we had fried potatoes and potato curry, with milk tea on the side. Unfortunately, there hadn't been bright sunlight for days so the sheets on our bed, though recently washed, were still quite wet! We slept anyway.
Next morning was foggy, no Taj to be seen, so we drove an hour to Fatehpur Sikri, Camp David of the emperor Akbar, where he built sprawling sandstone palace and courtyards but had to abandon them due to a shortage of water. It was enchanting to wander the misty complex with hardly anyone else there. At the adjacent great mosque, Jama Masjid, a persistent six year old stuck with us the entire time trying to sell his postcards. It's hard to do, but you're supposed to refuse, to discourage parents from keeping their kids out of school to make money this way.
In afternoon we returned to Agra, finally seeing a crowded Taj Mahal, this time with an annoying guide who hurried us along, pestering us to join him later for the "star of India", even riding in our car almost to the edge of town before finally taking no for an answer. The Taj is a beautiful place, but next time we'd see it alone, at our own pace, without having to interact with a pest.
We still had time for pictures of the Taj from the other side of the river and a quick visit to the "Baby Taj", whatever that is. Another pretty place, we just haven't googled it yet. Then the long drive back to Delhi and our comfortable room at Bed & Chai.
The Taj of course - Agra and Fatehpur Sikri
Friday, January 24, 2014
Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
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2025-02-11