Agra, India

On our way to Agra, we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri where Mughul ruler Akbar built the city and fort in the 16th century. We enjoyed the multiple cultures and religions that were incorporated within the same architectural design, such as Muslim, Persian, Hindu, Judaism which shows a very contemporary and open-minded ruler that had many influences in his empire.

The next day we visited the Taj Mahal one of the seven wonders of the world. I didn't want to get my expectations too high before visiting, but they were certainly met. The inlay of the precious stones set into the white marble were very intricate and impressive, and sourced from all over the world. Also the design details were very well thought out- it is symmetrical from all 4 sides and the 4 towers on the corner actually are angled outward, so that if they were to fall from an earthquake or other reasons they would be less likely to fall on the main Taj Mahal building. There were many other design details that went into creating this masterpiece that took 22 years like the breezeways that helped naturally cool the building but it's hard to write about them all as it's a must see in person!

Unfortunately they are currently cleaning the entire Taj Mahal one section at a time with a natural clay material, so some of our pictures included scaffolding. Definitely an iconic sight worth seeing as I've never seen anything like it before!Read more