Agra

Date arrived: 29th February 2024

Date Departed: 3rd March 2024    

Favourite sight: Agra Fort (well, apart from the obvious)

Average Cost: £38.75 PPPD

Say Agra and people think of one thing - the magnificent mausoleum built by Shah Jahan for his favourite wife, Mumtaz. It has to be said that the Taj Mahal is without equal, however, Agra's other sights - her fort especially - are not to be missed!

29th February 2024

We arrived in Agra Cantt railway station off an 8 hour train journey, to be met at the gates by a definite highlight of the trip - Muckel the tuk-tuk driver. Muckel, it turns out, drives tuk-tuks occasionally, but his main line is in organising tours of the city, and his tuk-tuk collections are a great way for him to arrange introductions to foreign tourists. I have to say, his English is excellent, he is eloquent and funny, and we enjoyed his company, and indeed booked up for his full day sights of Agra tour.

Muckel took us to the homestay we had booked, which was pleasant and well positioned for the station and the main city sights. He also checked us in here - obviously an arrangement with the proprieter - and made his pitch for his tour. We mulled this over whilst we visited a local bar and restaurant for dinner.

1st March

Our first day in Agra was already blocked out, as we were going on a day-trip to Gwalior. I couldn't particularly say why, but Gwalior fort was just one of the places in India I wanted to visit! The day was moderately tedious as it turned out, with an outbound train that arrived 2 hours late (we only had 7 hours there to start with) and then heavy rainfall up at the fort - but we did see the very cool Jain carvings up the western approach to the fort, and got to explore the lower levels of the Jahangir Mahal palace.

Due to the inclement weather, our pictures of the palace and fort are not the best -  but I'll share them anyway!

It was a shame not to have more time - and beter weather - to explore the impressive fort and palace - but at least we got to see it! Our train back to Agra was on time, and we were met at the station once more by the prompt and smiling Muckel, who returned us to our accommodation.

2nd March

Today was our gand tour of Agra, and w had decided that it made sense to have the tuk-tuk tour. Whilst we could probably do some bits moe cheaply, it saved us having the hassle off securing rides, and meant that we could just get on with packing in as much of Agra as we could in a day.

Taj Mahal

We started off with a 6:15am pickup, heading to the iconic Taj Mahal. The timing was with the hope of catching sunrise shots, but also to minimise the crowds - but it was still pretty busy! I visited here in 1992 as a teenager and was blown away by it, so was super interested to see how I would find it now, as a full grown and well travelled adult.

The answer was I was equally impressed. It really is just architecturally perfect, not just in terms of the building, but the setting and surrounding gardens as well all add to the occasion. The way the Taj is framed when you first enter fro the south is unforgettable, and I can think of no other sight that just draws the eye continuously. It's no wonder that various articles consistently place it in the world's three most photographed buildings.

As people do, we wrestled with the crowds - and the terribly low light levels at that hour - to try and get some decent photos. I think I managed all right in the end, but I have to say, it was not an unpleasant subject!

We also entered into the main mausoleum itself, which allows you to get more of a feel of the construction, and really emphasises the sheer scale of the place - it is much larger than you imagine when you see it in person!

From the Taj we were taken to have a much needed breakfast at a nearby hotel. And then it was back in the tuk-tuk and on to...

Agra Fort

We've been to a few forts on our journey now, from mighty Mehrangarh in Jodhpur, via Amber, Chittaurgarh, and most recently Gwalior. Agra, however, was the home to the Mogul emperors that all of Rajasthan's Mahorajahs paid homage to at one point or other. As such, the Agra fort is really rather vast - and impressive! 

It's exterior wall is 2.5km long, and whilst the wntire complex is inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list, it houses numerous individual palaces and buildings, each worthy of their own place on that list. 

Itmad-ud-Daula (Baby Taj)

After our extensive exploration of the Agra fort, we had some lunch at a small restaurant that was clearly used to catering to western tourists, and then we visited a site that is often referred to as the template for the Taj Mahal - the tomb of Mirza Ghiyas Beg, who was named I'timād-ud-Daulah, mneaning Pillar of the State. This was one of the first monumental buildings to be made primarily out of white marble, in the style that would ultimately reach perfection in the Taj Mahal.

I'm not one for recounting all of the history of these places, but I find it oronic that Mirza Ghiyas Beg was the grandfather of Mumtaz Mahal, for whom that later and grander mausoleum would one day be built by her husband, Shah Jahan.

Taj Mahal Viewpoints

After a brief visit to some marble works and clothing shops (what tour is complete without them?) we finished off our day with two fantastic viewpoints of the Taj Mahal. The first of these was from the Mehtab Bagh gardens - an original Mughal era garden, on the north side of the River Yamuna, across from the Taj itself.

It's fair to say that this was an amazing place to visit. our tuk-tuk deposited us at a car park and pointed out the way to walk - about 500M down a track - and then we paid our few rupees each to get access to a terrace, with a completely uniterrupted view across the river. Given the hordes that visit the monument, itself, it was incredible that we didn't see another person in the 30 minutes or so we spent here.

A different and less well known perspective, but still magnificent even without all of the formal gardens surrounding it.

Our second viewpoint came courtesy of a rooftop bar, in perhaps a slightly less salubrious part of town - but with an excellent view. We enjoyed a Kingfisher here at a very reasonable rate, given quite how impressive and sought after the viewpoint was.

We finished off our day in Agra with a visit to a chain restaurant, and a shocking experience involving an electric fence, and umbrella, and a lot of rain. But that's another story!

3rd March

Today we left Agra on our high-speed run to the North West of India, with a long days travel via Delhi to get to Amritsar, home of the famous Golden Temple. Our 655KM day started with breakfast at the local Cafe-Coffee-Day (their mini-croissants are reqlly good!), and then one final trip in Muckel's tuk-tuk to take us to Agra Cantt railway station. From their, a 2 hour train to Delhi, a 45 minute tuk-tuk ride across the city to get to the enormous Delhi Junction station, and then another 6 hour train up to the Punjab.

Once again we opted to order food on the train, which worked well, except that only two of our three dishes arrived, and that with no cutlery. This led to a comical half hour as we scooped paneer tikka and rice out of plastic pots with our fingers - but the food was tasty, and we ended up fed.