Traveling the World

February 2013
Agra, India (The Taj Mahal)

Agra is just 3 hours from Delhi. I avoided Delhi because I heard from so many people being shocked there with the poverty, the pollution and the crush of people. So I skipped the capital city and went directly to Agra. I stayed at a hotel near one of the main gates to the Taj. I could see it from my roof top restaurant. That is also where I was almost attacked by a money. I later learned never to look a monkey in the eyes because they see it as an aggressive act. And these monkeys were very aggressive. The manager had to race up four flights of stairs many times a day with his air rifle to scare off monkeys that got too close to the guests and their food.

The view from my hotel window.

A drizzly morning. January and February are the best months to visit because March and on will become sizzling hot.

There are four towers on the perimeter with a

wall that surrounds the entire area.

After the four outside towers, a water way leads

you to the center and the Taj.

This shows you the scale. Notice the people standing on the second level.

The architect did a fantastic job. The details were impressive.

More details.

The screens are cut from marble, flower detailing and sript from the Koran trimmed around the door and walls.

The marble screen.

It was all so graceful and elegant. All done for one tomb.

The person responsible for the Taj was Shah Jahan, a brutal ruler of the Mongol empire which stretched from Russia to China and included India. Agra Fort, pictured here, is across a small river looking out onto the Taj Mahal. Two years after the Taj was completed, around 1650, his son deposed him as ruler and the Shah was imprisoned here in his summer palace at Agra Fort over looking the Taj.