If you believed everything you read in your guide book you wouldnt go to Agra. Its quite manic and tourists (especially the white skinned ones) get hassled so much by vendors, rickshaw walas and tuc tuc drivers to use their services that i can see what the guide book is getting at. That said i loved the hussle and bussle of Agra. The Taj Mahal seemed more beautiful than when i saw it the first time. Built by the heart broken Shah Jahan (sp) in memory of his favourite wife who died giving birth their 14th child it really is just out of this world.
However some of the other sites of Agra were just as spectaculour including Agra Fort (where Shah Jahan was imprisoned for 8 years by his son who took over rule - his "cell" which itself was beautiful looked out onto the Taj Mahal) and the "baby" Taj the latter of which has more intricate carving and art work than The Taj. I met a chinese girl and a uk born sri lanken lad who were great company and the three of us headed out to Fatepurgh Sikri which is a palace out of town built by the Moghul Emporer Akbar which is well worth a visit. Apparently the hindi movie Pardesh was filmed here. It turns out AKbar was quite a tolerant chap of all religions and he himself had not only a muslim wife but also a hindu and a christian (amongst the many others).
