Agra and the Taj Mahal

After a short but very early 3 hour train ride, we were very pleased to find we had such a great view from our hotel’s roof-top restaurant, looking directly over the beautiful Taj Mahal: the Taj Plaza hotel is just a ten minute walk from the east gate of the Taj and at only 7 British pounds per night (without air-con, a little more with) we felt it a good deal.

On our first day in Agra, our tuk-tuk driver drove us around the whole town so we could take in all the sights excluding the Taj Mahal which we wanted to see at dawn the next day. We really enjoyed seeing the ‘Baby Taj’ which was apparently the inspiration for the real thing. Different precious stones are inserted into the white marble which makes up the whole building - it really is marvelous.

Guddi the tuk-tuk diver also included a number of shops and marble craftsmen in our tour where he hoped to earn commission if we bought anything. However, we feel so tight, really! We bought nothing, nada. We’ve both agreed that if we were here in India on a two week holiday, there’s so much we would buy here - there are such amazing ornaments and gifts and even items of furniture which we could gladly have sent home - we would definitely stock up on many of these items if A) we weren’t on such a tight budget and B) we didn’t have to carry it around with us for a year or C) pay a fortune to ship it. Honestly, we have met such talented craftsmen and artists and seen so many beautiful gifts; the prices are so reasonable but we just aren’t buying anything. It becomes quite embarrassing when you’re being shown such beautiful things at such low prices which you would ordinarily buy, but we just can’t.

Anyway, the TAJ. Definitely one of, if not THE, most beautiful buildings in the world. We woke up at 5.30am in order to get there as it opened at dawn and see the sun rise. It’s such a fabulous building and of course we couldn’t come to India without seeing it…(and practicing some yoga poses within its grand archways!)

After our pre-dawn wake up and visit to the Taj, we took a public bus out to the town Fatepuhr Sikri, a small market town where there is an old abandoned fort. It was an interesting experience but the heat and the constant hassle with people trying to sell us things as soon as we got off the bus was too much and we took refuge in a rooftop restaurant to avoid all the madness!