Usmānpur Minor

Agra is located about 4.5 hours by car south of Delhi.

Today, we enjoyed two magnificent highlights of this overland excursion: Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal.

Agra Fort, a UNESCO site, is located next to the Yamuna River, adjacent to the even more famous Taj Mahal. Built on 92 acres, this powerful walled city fortress of red sandstone encloses the once imperial city of the Mughal rulers. We entered through the Delhi Gate, considered the grandest of its four gates, and a masterpiece of the time. We enjoyed about two hours here.

We entered the Taj Mahal in the latter afternoon (see the next footprint for more details.)

Traveling from Kochi to Delhi by air the day before, we coached to Agra in a beautiful, comfortable liner, traversing the city out to the countryside, consisting of vast fields, small towns, smoke stacks churning out bricks for local construction projects.

The expressway was fast and long. We enjoyed seeing the occasional shanty village complete with overcrowded tuktuks and mopeds and hundreds of commercial trucks.Read more