Marble-lous weekend in Agra

I got up at 5.30am on Saturday for a weekend trip to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal! The whole trip was amazing – never have I seen so many spectacular buildings in such a short time and so much marble! (NB: click on photos to see them enlarged and more to come on facey b.)

First we visited Agra Fort, which really feels like a town within a town. You could definitely get lost in there. It’s cool enough on its own, but it’s also built on the banks of the Yamuna River, which means if you look down the river, from the fort, you can see the Taj Mahal.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the town and visiting markets and the mosque. In the evening, Sascha and I had a romantic meal on a rooftop restaurant looking out to the Taj Mahal (again) as the sun set. Unfortunately, we didn’t fall in love, but it was still an unforgettable evening.

Sunday morning – awake in even earlier, to catch sunrise and enter the Taj Mahal. It lives up to expectations. I got pretty damn excited, see below.

Bouncy

Lady Di

Bolt

Starfish

I had a good nap after all that exerting myself, then we had breakfast and headed to the Tomb of I’timad-ud-Daulah, also known as the Baby Taj. I didn’t know anything about it until we got there, so it was great to walk in and see yet another incredible building. Emily liked it so much, she said it outdid the Taj Mahal for her.

Project Why vols at Baby Taj with Indian man

We left Agra after that to visit neighbouring Fatehpur Sikri. The palaces there are the oldest I’ve seen so far, and some were in ruins. I really liked visiting the mosque. Some young Indian boys insisted on taking us round and they were good fun. The mosque was built by the emperor Akbar. Traditionally, childless Indian women visit the mosque to tie a thread to the marble lattice inside the white-marble tomb of the saint who Akbar visited, to wish for a son four centuries ago. I was given a thread to make my own wish (I didn’t wish for children, as that would be quite inconvenient at the moment).

Inside the Mosque

So I had a great time! But I’ll be doing some extreme sleeping this weekend to make up for the hideous early starts of the last. Ta-rah!

Aaah Tajjy