Etape 4 - Eternal beauty of Taj Mahal

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Everyone knows Taj Mahal, one of 7 wonders of the world but many people have no clue about the city where it resides. That city is Agra, home to Fort Agra, one of the cornerstones of old Mughal and succeeding empires that ruled India over the centuries. I spent 2 nights in Agra and went to see both Taj Mahal and Fort Agra.

It is true that Taj Mahal is beautiful. In fact not just beautiful - it is amazing! It is an eternal sign of love from Shah Jahan towards his (second) wife Mumtaz Mahal. It took 22 years to built it at the time and about 20'000 workers were sweating to make that piece of art what we see today. Now it might have been a sign of love from Shah Jahan but definitely it must have been a sacrifice from others. But compared to its 'financial' cost of USD 70 Mio of today's money it is not bad at all. I went there at 6 am when sun was rising and the change in marble colors was truly amazing.

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Fort Agra was interesting as well - the famous Koh-i-noor diamand was stored there (and later blundered) and it has gone through many hands over the years. Apart from these monumental highlights Agra has pretty much nothing else to see. I passed by Fatehpur Sikri's ghost town but it was so infested with beggars and storytellers that I decided to skip its fortress completely.

Taj Ganc, the area right next to Taj Mahal, is home to many rooftop restaurants, backpackers places and bars. There was one particularly nice place to visit - 'Join us rooftop restaurant' that I can warmly welcome to everyone visiting the city! Food was excellent and there was even a view to Taj Mahal, though daytime only.. ;) After the time in Agra I headed back to Jaipur and catched a plane back to Mumbai.

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India is really !ncredible. On one hand it is beautiful and fascinating coutnry with extremely nice people, but on the hand it is a total mess, hot like hell, dirty, smelly, poor and packed with polluting vehicles of all sorts. Like my Henry told me earlier, if you ever choose to have a holiday in India (which I recommend!) then don't take it as a relaxing and peaceful vacation. You will be in the middle of action whether you want it or not. :-) Enjoy it!