Āgra

Well first of all there was a BIG Indian wedding party 6 floors below our window which we managed to sleep through ok but I think the staff had been up all night and were clearing up 5 am this morning when our alarm went off! I include this morning’s breakfast selection at the ITC Maurya for interest.

An early start and off we went to a different Delhi Station for the 8.10 train service to Agra. Usual scenes of chaos and the most poor man with not many limbs desperately asking for money at the foot of the coach steps…. 😟. Our first stop was the Agra Red Fort. This was heaving with people but impressive. Each Moghul Emperor added something to this fort as they came into power. The Moghuls eventually failed when they interfered in politics and wanted the Hindus to become Muslim. The Hindus naturally did not want to leave their religion behind and thus did not support the Moghuls in Indian War of Independence, thus leaving the way clear for British rule.

Shan Jahan built the Taj Mahal for his wife Mumtaz Mahal starting in 1632 AD after she died giving birth to their 14th child (no wonder!) as a memorial. It took 22 years to build. He originally wanted to build a bridge to the Red Fort but his son soon decided against that, keeping him imprisoned for 8 years at the Agra Fort under house arrest, and preventing his grand ambitions. Apparently he spent too much money! The Taj Mahal was one of the original Seven Wonders of the World.

So it was to the ITC Mughal Hotel, Agra we went and after checking into our rooms and having some lunch we set off at 3pm to this most famous monument.

The process of entry was all wildly chaotic with much queuing,checking of tickets etc but it really is a wow moment when you step through the arch and see the monument for real. “Official “ photos were taken then Ted and I walked up and queued to go into the mausoleum itself. Overshoes were required for this. On the walk up to the mausoleum 2 Sikh young men in bright orange turbans were taking pictures of each other. They then indicated (we thought) that they wanted a photo together but what they really wanted were photos of themselves and us! After that the rest of the family (about 20, including children) all wanted photos of us-felt like a Hollywood star! 🤣😂 We really should have taken a picture of the whole family but we didn’t 😩.

After much negotiation to find Disney-like open trams to go back to the coach it was decided by Taj that we would visit the marble artisan workshop at the marble factory outlet instead of tomorrow. This went down like a lead balloon with Ted who stayed in the coach! 🤣. After the usual spiel and the majority couldn’t wait to exit after a long day, we finally returned to the Hotel (another ITC one) at 7 pm. Straight to the bar with a convivial group then into dinner where more photos of buffet have been added to the blog….Lue lisää