It was really a struggle to get out of bed early the next day, but
rise early we must to avoid the crowds at the Taj Mahal. After walking 2
minutes to the East gate (stopping on the way for a much needed caffeine
boost!) we arrived inside the gardens of the Taj. It was barely 7am and
the morning mist was just leaving. The gardens were sublime, calm and with a
warm glow from the young sun of the approaching day. We walked slowly around
the gardens, enjoying the reflection of the Taj in the lovely water ways,
savouring the beauty of the place before approaching the Taj itself. To go on
the Taj itself you must first remove your shoes. It was a beautiful sensation
to walk around on the cool and smooth marble in bare feet. The inside of the
Taj itself was not that amazing but the building itself is, of course, very
grand and the detail of the carving and the inlay is just amazing. The inside
the mosque next to the Taj was beautifully decorated with fine white designs of
flowers on red stone.
In the afternoon, before we took the train for Udaipur, we visited
the Agra fort. At the beginning we were not very enthusiastic to go there,
it was just to fill the afternoon, but once inside we were really surprised by the
scale of the buildings and the detail. Each area was really different. At the
beginning we walked through a fortification, with imposing red sandstone
building. After we entered the palace area, we had a magnificence view of the
river and the Taj Mahal, with courtyards with green gardens and lots of
flowers. We saw the black throne of the Taj (Shah jahan (Shah jagan ;) )) and
opposite was a white throne. The famous Shish Mahal (room of mirrors) was
closed but we looked through the glass and saw thousands of little mirrors
stuck to the walls reflecting the sun light. Through a little door we entered
the hall of public audiences where the emperor would listen to his people on
his little balcony. We wanted to visit the mosque of the fort but unfortunately
it was closed, we could only visit the tiny mosque next door. All around the
fort there was a moat, which centuries ago would have been filled with hungry
crocodiles to keep out invaders. This fort was built by X(look in internet)X
Akbar. Shah Jahan, his grand son built the Taj Mahal.
We passed the end of the afternoon to wait the train and of course
it was 30 minutes late.
In Agra we had a really nice time. It was not as busy as we
thought it would be, but we the place absolutely stank, not just a bad smell
but a toxic gas in which you don’t want to breathe because it makes you cough.
