Agra

Agra

We arrived in Agra after a 5 hour bus ride😋 !  We dropped off our bags at the Hotel Atithi, then went down to the street to catch Tuk Tuks to go to dinner.  Adi took us to a great rooftop restaurant and the food was amazing, again!

Hotel Atithi, Agra

Group Dinner

 Julia, Friederieke, Rebekka, Barb and Claire

Hillary, Zoe, Adi, Duncan, Julia, Graeme and Sara

The next morning, we met in the lobby of the hotel at 5:15 am to drive to the Taj Mahal.  Adi wanted us to get there as early as possible so we could be among the first in line.  He told us that as soon as we got through the gate to 'run like heck' to the arch that lets us into the courtyard of the Taj Mahal.  At the time, I had no idea why we needed to be there so early or why we should run to the arch.......after visiting, I am so grateful he made us do that!!!  The reason:  because there was NO ONE there and we got to see the Taj Mahal in all its splendor and glory without thousands of people there.  After being there for only an hour, the place was full of people.  We got the opportunity to take pictures while not fighting for a photo spot!!!

I dropped my camera, the lens came out and it wouldn't stay in without holding it, so my pictures are terrible.  I didn't have my cell phone because we weren't allowed to take a purse or bag with us, so I just brought my camera.  No photography was allowed inside the Taj.

This was, without a doubt, the most beautiful, majestic building I have ever seen!  The reflection in the pool was beautiful.

The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river int he India city of Agra.  It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal who died giving birth to their 14th child. Construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643 but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years.  The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have cost at the time to be around 32 million rupees, which in 2015 would be approximately 52.8 billion rupees (US$ 827 million).  With the outbuildings, the Taj is completely symmetrical, the buildings, the temples.  The only thing that changed the symmetry was when Shah Jahan died and was buried there, because his wife, Mumtaz Mahal was buried in the exact center of the mausoleum, so they had to bury Shah Jahan to one side of her!!!  I loved this little fact.

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We went back to the hotel for breakfast and showers and ready to drive to see the Agra Fort.  This is the former imperial residence of the Mughal Dynasty.  The fort can be more accurately described as a walled city.  At the end of his life, Shah Jahan (Taj Mahal) was deposed and restrained by his son, Aurangzeb, in the fort.  It is rumored that Shah Jahan died in Muasamman Burj, a tower with a marble balcony with a view of his beloved Taj Mahal.  When he died, he was buried next to his wife in the mausoleum of the Taj.

 View of the Taj Mahal from a balcony of the Fort.

 This is where Shah Jahan was jailed by his son in the Fort.

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The Tomb of I'timad-ud-Daulah is a Mughal mausoleum in the city of Agra.  Often described as a 'jewel box', sometimes called the 'Baby Taj', the tomb is often regarded as a draft of the Taj Mahal.

Arch entrance to the Tomb

'Baby Taj'

 The mausoleum was commissioned by Nur Jahan, the wife of Jahangir, for her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg.  He was also the Grandfather of Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of the emperor Shah Jahan who built the Taj Mahal!!

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Back on the bus for a long ride to Delhi!