Once we arrived in Agra, we had another hour and half ride to Fatehpur Sikri. It was built by Emperor Akbar beginning in 1570 to honor a muslim saint who prophesized the birth of an heir. It is in excellent condition. The architecture was spectacular (the bathroom was not, it involved peeing in a trough…tmi?).
When we left the ancient city, we made our way back to the center of Agra. I stepped off the bus and I saw my first glimpse of the Taj Mahal. I was over a mile away, but I was still in awe at the immense beauty of it. This made my anticipation grow even greater as we still had one more stop before we went to see it. Our second sight was the Agra Fort, also referred to as the Red Fort. Emperor Akbar decided to make Agra his capital in 1558, and rebuilt the fort using red sandstone. He used over one million workers, and it was complete after eight years.
It is believed that Shah Jahan, the man who built the Taj Mahal in memory of his beloved wife, died in this tower after imprisonment by his own son. His son, Aurangzeb, wanted the throne so badly that he killed his brothers and forced his father into life imprisonment. However, with the view of the Taj that he had, life imprisonment might not have been that bad:
FINALLY! It was time to go see the place I had probably been looking forward to the most: The Taj Mahal. As I said before, the Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan in 1653 in memory of his favorite wife who died during childbirth. It is the tomb of both her and Shah Jahan. When we arrived, we were given only a little over an hour to see the monument and that hour included the thirty minute wait to get through security. I can not tell you how upsetting it was to only have forty minutes to see one of the most magnificent structures in the world. When I walked through the gates, I was spellbound. The white marble was so bright in the sun it was almost blinding. The ornate architecture of the 400-year-old structure was unbelievable. The sheer size of it was enough to impress. Beautiful gardens surrounded the building, and at the back there was an incredible view of the river. We were there for such short time that the only reason I know I wasn’t dreaming is the fact I have pictures of it.
My first up close view of the Taj:
The Taj is flanked on either side by two exactly identical mosques:
View from the back:
Entrance:
My global studies teacher collects students' pictures on what picture they think is the "essence" of that country. This was taken right outside the Taj and is what I believe the "Essence of India" is:
We left the Taj Mahal, and were immediately taken to a tourist trap bazaar with overpriced, obviously factory made souvenirs. While our tour guide enjoyed a cup of tea, the rest of us were fuming due to the fact we left the Taj Mahal to end up at another tourist shop. For dinner, Jason and I broke away from the group to avoid yet another hotel buffet and went to Pizza Hut. I must say it was the best pizza hut pizza I have ever had. My moods were lifted a bit after a few slices of pepperoni, and once more we were back on the bus to head to the train station. Before we left we were bombarded a final time by the souvenir-selling vultures. They are ruthless in India. This picture just gives you a glimpse:
After the two and half hour train ride back to Delhi and a bus ride, we were finally back at the hotel. We had to be up at around 8am the next day, which is a luxury to me now, for our plane ride to Cochin. Beyond just the flight being over three hours, it was delayed so we were stuck in an airport all day. We finally got to Cochin around 6:30pm, and wanting to avoid the long lines to get back on the boat, Jason and I found a cheap hotel for the night. Although it was a flashback to the 70s, it was comfortable and the clerk arranged a taxi to an elephant park the next day so of course I was ecstatic.
Annecdote
3/14/2010: The night we got back to Cochin, we had a very very very spicy dinner at the hotel restaurant (Indian food is SO HOT). While our mouths were flaming, a man came over and said he was an artist and wanted to draw our picture. It was only 100 rupees ($2), so we said what the heck and told him to go for it. He spent a good ten minutes studying our faces and frantically scribbling his pen. My friends, I have never laughed so hard as when he turned the piece of paper around and this is what was on it:
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