My visit to Agra

In front of Diwan-E-Am at the Agra fort.
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We were four friends from New Delhi who had never visited agra before so made up our trip just after our Exams.We took the Taj Express from New Delhi at 7 AM and reached Agra Cantt. at ~10:15 AM.At the station we were surrounded by touts wanting us to sit in their autorickshaws/taxis.Finally we chose one and told him to take us to a cheap & nice hotel.He asked for Rs5/person and we agreed.So we visited a few hotels like Ritz ,Regal but were not satisfied with their rooms.At last our search ended at Bawa Palace which asked forRs400 for a good room and we had a deal.

A view of the Taj from Agra fort.
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Meanwhile our smart auto driver told us about his idea that he would take us to the famous places in Agra for Rs350,we all discussed and told him Rs230 would be fine and he agreed.

Taj mahal is just too beautiful.

So after resting for about an hour we left for the Agra fort and reached there within 15 minutes.The view from outside was just awesome .So we took our tickets and entered it .The buildings inside the fort were just too beautiful and we visited all of them taking lots of photos.The Diwan-E-Am & the Diwan-E-Khas had such a royal touch.The view of Taj from the roof of the fort was so awesome that anybody could beacome spellbound.We roamed around for about two hours in the fort enjoying every minute of it.

That's me in the Mosque inside the Agra fort.
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Finally we bid adieu and came out so as to go and eat as our stomachs had began growling.We went to a simple dhaba i.e. cheap restaurant and ordered some food which was a bit expensive.

Our next place was to be the mighty Taj and we were so anxious about it.The auto [Tuk-Tuk] took another 15 minutes for it.We took our tickets and had to submit all our stuff at the nearby counter as nothing except cameras are allowed to be taken in.We entered in through the Eastern door and after some walking we reached another huge door from which the view of Taj Mahal was simply unbelievable.It was just too beautiful to be described.We took lots of snaps with the Taj in background.We then proceeded to reach it and feel it for which we had to remove our shoes.Also any traveller must avoid Friday when visiting it as on that day the neraby muslims offer their prayers at the mosque adjacent to it.

The Taj and the Yamuna between us.
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The Taj is huge to say the least and we were just awestruck on viewing it from nearby.It is a building that will leave one amazed .The view from all sides is the same and is just too beautiful,though there is nothing much inside it and as rumour goes that it was previously a Shiva temple and when Shahjahan captured it then he sealed off those portions.But still we fell in love with it and the river Yamuna river that flows behind it lokks beautiful from a distance as an obnoxious odour comes from it if you go for boating .

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Atlast we had to leave after being around for about two hours and our auto driver took us to the government shop where one can buy lots of stuff at good prices.We all bought replicas of the Taj for Rs 40 each and also some other small stuff made in marble that came cheap.Then we all headed back for our rooms where we rested for the next days trip to Fatehpur Sikri.