The Taj Mahal is a symbol of eternal love and a masterpiece of architectural brilliance. Today, I visited this world-famous monument.
My visit to the Taj Mahal.
We left the hotel on our coach before sunrise to see the Taj Mahal. It was a little cold as we left, and many of us were wearing layers to keep warm. Our coach drove us through the streets of Agra to the Taj Mahal car park, where it parked, and we were transferred to tuk-tuks to make the last part of the journey. When we arrived at the entrance, there were already large queues of people. We joined the tourist queue. There were two different queues, one for tourists, Indian tourists as well as other nationalities, and one for locals.
We queued for a while and went through security, where bags, including camera bags, were searched and frisked. Ladies were taken to a separate entrance where there was a "modesty" tent to allow them to be searched and frisked out of view of the men in the queue. Once inside, our guide told us more about the history of the Taj Mahal, and we all took photos of our first glimpse of the magnificent Taj Mahal.
After our guide had told us about the Taj Mahal, we moved up to the main building where we joined a short queue to go inside. I didn't realise that you could actually go inside the Taj Mahal, I had always thought you could only look around the gardens, so I was happy to join the queue. The building itself is very ornate, and as I stood next to the vast, decorated outer marble walls, I looked at it in awe. The queue didn't take long for us to go inside, and we went in a single line. The Interior of the building was equally well decorated, and in the centre of the mausoleum are the cenotaphs for the Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. The actual sarcophagi are beneath the tombs, at the garden level. We were not allowed to take photographs inside, and the line of people was kept moving by the guards inside. We were soon out the other side of the Taj Mahal on the side of the building that looks over the Yamuna River.
After we had looked around the grounds a little more, our tour group all assembled in the famous photo spot in front of the Taj Mahal for a photo. Once we had had our photo taken, we left the grounds and made our way back to the coach.
Taj Mahal Photos.
These photos were all taken at the Taj Mahal when I visited Agra.
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When we left the Taj Mahal, we returned to our hotel for a short break before going back out again to explore Agra.
My visit to Agra Fort.
When we had all rested, we got back on the coach and were driven to Agra Fort. I hadn't really previously thought much about going here, but I was happy we went; it was an exciting and inspiring visit. It would have been a great place to live, and the views over the river towards the Taj Mahal were wonderful. Our guide told us that Shah Jahan, who had commissioned the Taj Mahal, was imprisoned there after he had built it, to stop him from spending his son's inheritance on the Mehtab Bagh. He lived out his remaining years inprisoned in the fort overlooking the monument he built for his wife and the grounds where he wanted to build the Mehtab Bagh.
Agra Fort Photos.
These photos were all taken on my visit to look around Agra Fort. Click on any image to see a larger version and a description of the photo.
When we left the Agra Fort, we were driven back through Agra to our hotel, where I rested until we went back out again this evening to go to see the Mehtab Bagh.
My visit to Mehtab Bagh.
Our coach dropped us off at a small car park near the Mehtab Bagh, and we all climbed into small tuk-tuks for the short trip to the Mehtab Bagh entrance. The driver of our electronic tuk-tuk insisted I sit next to him on the front seat, and all the way to the entrance, he kept asking me if I wanted to steer and drive the tuk-tuk. I was quite happy to let him continue driving and let him take us to the entrance himself.
Apart from foundations, there are no buildings at Mehtab Bagh, just landscaped gardens. When we went, many of the gardens were in need of tidying up and because of the season, none of the flowers were yet in bloom. I walked through the gardens and towards the foundations where the building would have been built. I saw quite a few birds hopping through the gardens and many monkeys running through the trees. When I passed the foundations and approached a low wall before the Yamuna River to get a better view of the Taj Mahal across the river, I saw lots of monkeys running along the wall. At one point, one of the monkeys grabbed for my phone, which I had placed on the wall, but luckily, I did enough to scare him off as he tried to pick it up. I quickly picked it back up, and I didn't put it down again.
Mehtab Bagh Photos.
These photos were all taken during my brief visit to Mehtab Bagh.
Click on any image to see a larger version of the image with a description. Use the navigation below the thumbnail images to see the previous set of images, the next set of images, or the previous or following photo albums.
When we left the gardens, the tuk-tuk driver kept insisting that I should drive again, but I still politely refused. When we got back to our coach, he dropped us off and asked me if I wanted to give him a tip. This, I suspect, was his entire reason for offering me the chance to drive the tuk-tuk. I had declined the chance to drive the tuk-tuk, and as our tour guide had just paid him, I also declined his kind offer to tip him. When everybody had returned to the coach, we all returned to our hotel, and after having something to eat, many of my companions went to the bar on the roof. I went with them, but it was very cold, so I went back to my room and went to bed.