11th February: Inside the Taj Mahal

The ticket office for the Taj Mahal opened at 6.30, but thankfully the hotel took care of that and tickets were awaiting us at the lobby at 6.45.  We hopped on a little electric cart for the half-kilometre metre ride to the Eastern gate. We hired a guide and headed over to the entrance, where we were rather surprised to see a long queue of people. Apparently we weren't the only ones to sacrifice some sleep for the chance to see the dawn light reflecting off the marble dome. We learnt that the monument would be closed from 10am to 12pm due to the visit of a VIP (the EU President Van Rompuy; "who is that?" I heard people say, but apparently he is important enough to close monuments). This must have exacerbated the problem.

The queue for foreign women (i.e., not Indian) was very slow, which had a few German ladies in front of me very upset. They took this opportunity to remind their guide that the conditions for women in India were not good. After a little more time to stew, they started screaming at their guide in German. I am not sure what they were saying, but I found their rant in German to sound particularly convincing.  I thought about filming but feared for my camera as they had got themselves pretty worked up. I was last in, because the men's queue had moved more quickly and John's mother had skipped ahead to the much shorter Indian women's queue (because she has a bad knee and was at least born in India).  Finally I made it in and joined the others for the tour.

We passed through the huge entrance gate, its red sandstone burning in the first light of the sun, and were met with a glorious sight.  The pool in front of the mausoleum provided a beautiful reflection of the white marble memorial and the view from the  platform in the entrance was stunning to say the least.

Entrance gate to the main complex

First sight of the Taj Mahal in the light of dawn

The Taj Mahal was built in the 17th century by Shah Jahan as a memorial to his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died while giving birth to their 14th child. When Shah Jahan died in 1666, after his eight years of imprisonment in Agra Fort, he was buried beside his wife in the middle of the monument.  Inside the mausoleum, visitors may see the replicas of the tombs of Mumtz Mahal and Shah Jahan. The real tombs are in a locked basement room. The room was covered with finely chiselled marble screens and beautiful pieces of marble inlaid with semi-precious stones. All visitors to the Taj Mahal come with high expectations, and I am sure that very few are disappointed. These Pictures should speak for themselves.

Just below the main platform

Sunlight glittering on the marble

The arches are decorated with verses of the Koran

This gives some idea of the scale of the building

The beautifully inlaid marble

Just a second before the photo this pool was still and the reflection was clear; then they turned on the fountains!

One of the four minarets, which lean out to prevent them from falling on the main building

The Mosque on the western side of the complex

Last photo as we left the complex

We left the Taj at around 10am, and after a filling breakfast back at the hotel we loaded the car with our bags and set off for Fatehpur Sikri, around 45 minutes' drive outside of Agra.  This was very briefly the capital of the Mughal empire in the late 16th century, born from faith and consigned to history by water shortages.  When Emperor Akbar was in need of an heir he visited the famous Sufi living in the village of Sikri, who predicted that a son would be born.  When the male heir he sought was delivered, Akbar built a magnificent new capital at Sikri.  Unfortunately his magnanimity ignored the chronic shortage of water in the area, and after his death the new city was abandoned.

At the car park we met our guide, who led us over to the shuttle bus to the site.  On arrival at the red sandstone walls we were given the bad news: Van Rompuy would also be visiting that day, so the gates were about to close.  Doesn't he have any work to do?  John and I just had time to run inside and take a few photos before the guide shouted for us to come back.

The Panch Mahal, apparently Akbar's pleasure palace

Diwan-i-Khas, Hall of Private Audience

Akbar's city from the outside (a great spot for a nap, it would appear)

Thankfully the trip was not in vain, because the religious section of Akbar's construction, the enormous Jama Masjid, was still open.  We entered through the Shahi Darwaza (the King's Gate) into a large courtyard.  Off to the left was an extraordinarily immense gate, the 54-metre high Buland Darwaza (Victory gate).  At the centre of the courtyard was the beautiful marble tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti, the Sufi whose prophecy was rewarded by Akbar so monumentally.  Around the back of the tomb was the entrance to a tunnel that we were told led all the way to Agra Fort.

This doesn't even begin to convey the incredible size of the Victory Gate

The other side of the Victory Gate

Shaikh Salim Chishti's tomb

Covering our heads to enter the tomb

Inside his tomb

Tombs of the Sufi's followers

Inside the courtyard of the Mosque

Tunnel to Agra Fort

Prayers at the Mosque

After plenty of time to explore the Masjid, we left to catch the last minibus back to the car park.  We were then driven another half-hour along the road to Bharatpur, from whose station we had booked a train on to Ranthambore (since the train would be much faster than heading out to the jungle by car).  After the debacle at Delhi we were accompanied by our driver to the platform; he was particularly hepful in finding out where our particular carriage would arrive, a necessity when the long train stops only very briefly.

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The train was around an hour late, not too bad considering that it had already travelled several hundred kilometres, and we settled back in our comfy seats to await arrival at Sawai Madhopur.  The train pulled in at around 7pm, and we were met at the platform by an envoy from the hotel. We were slightly surprised to see that they had picked us up in a canter, a cross between a truck and a jeep that had space for around 16 people. The air was still warm, however, and we enjoyed a fun ride to the hotel, 10 minutes or so away. There we were given a marigold-garlanded welcome and a delicious buffet dinner, then settled in for a short night before our morning safari.