It’s the symbol of India really. We’ve all seen images and at least in the UK, all eaten at many curry houses called The Taj Mahal or proudly displaying a fluorescent silhouette of said building. So as Sue has never seen it I paid slightly extra for a room with a view of The Taj. Drum roll - the view from our window.
The nearest thing to The Taj Mahal we saw from our room was this, which although quite a bit smaller was undeniably more tasty as it was constructed of white chocolate instead of marble.
In each town we get a new guide, in Agra it was Winnie who was great, with a PhD in medieval Indian architecture and (I genuinely mean this in a nice way) an MSc in bullshit. It made for an educational and entertaining stay, when in Agra make sure to ask for Winnie.
After the anthill of Varanasi, the cramped commuter train of Agra was a bit of a relief. I’d been to Agra twice before and thought that I knew it reasonably well. Winnie rapidly corrected my erroneous position and showed us there is far more to Agra than the Taj. First 6 photos Agra Fort, then Mini Taj a tomb said to have inspired Maxi Taj.
It was Friday and The Taj was closed, as it is every Friday because there is a functioning mosque within the Taj campus and Friday is the day its used. We’d resigned ourselves to having to wait until the next day before seeing the world famous curry house silhouette, but the final stop of the day was a garden on the opposite side of the river to The Taj. The great thing about this place was that you turned a corner and thar she blows the great white whale of The Taj immediately swam into view.
The final stop of the day was a marble shop. The Taj is marble covered with inlays of semi-precious stones, unsuspecting tourists pay far too much for marble pieces covered in similar inlay. A veteran of Agra, I of course suspectingly fell into the same trap. Winnie told us we had bought an outstanding piece at a good price. Sure thing Winnie.
Today we visited The Taj, I’ll let the pictures do the talking, but if you can go, you won’t regret it.
Norm and Sue - Reading your travel blog is a great way for those of us who have not been to India to get a feel for it. Keep up the good work intrepid travelers!
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