Agra: The Fort, The Palace and of course, The Taj

5 Comments Posted in: India | By: Jami | November 9, 2013

Agra in Uttar Pradesh (UP) gets a bad rap. Agra is a typical Indian city filled with traffic, street vendors, dirt, smells, and roaming pigs, dogs and cows, but it was simply typical. And yes, the food there was some of the worst we had India, but that isn’t saying much since most of the food we had was spectacular. But seriously, Agra is hated on way harsh. Most tourists come by way of Delhi, who stop in Agra as a day trip to avoid the thought of staying there. Honestly, it’s not THAT bad.

We stayed farther away from the center of Agra and arrived early in the morning via train from Khajuraho. Our arrival to Agra was one of the most memorable moments of our time in India.

Our Arrival

We tend to plan our long destination travels via overnight. For one, we don’t waste a day and two, the transportation cost of the train or bus becomes our accommodation for the night – helping our budget :). The issue however tends to be figuring out our destination stop. These Indian trains are not the European trains we are used to – they tend mostly to be late, make long pauses at random stops, there are no announcements and very rarely there are even signs at the station which helps you to confirm what city/stop you are at. (Aaron will write a whole post dedicated to our train experiences in India) Anyway, it’s often madness to find out where you are and you will ask anyone who is awake or moving around if it is your stop. We set alarms on our phone and iPad about 30 mins before we are supposed to arrive and because we are usually delayed usually it means we have an hour or so to get our stuff ready.

When we settle for our overnights, we keep our small backpacks with us on the “bed” and lock up our big backpacks to the bottom of the seat/bed. I’m sure the lock is not necessary since stealing our big bags would be difficult and we were usually riding with families and businessmen in our 2A and 3A compartments. We were often stared at by our fellow riders as we were setting ourselves up, but it was great for piece of mind, which did help us sleep.

My bag with it’s net lock

Aaron’s bag locked under our sleeper “bed”

On this overnight, we locked our bags up and we got up before our stop, but we were both tired. It was around 330 am. We were sort of out of it and before we knew it, it was our stop, or so we found out last minute. We were surprised no one else had been getting up in our compartment, which was mostly dark, so we didn’t realize THIS IS IT! When we did, we had to quickly gather our stuff from our “beds,” jump down, and unlock our bags from the bottom of the seat – not so easy I promise with these big bags and complicated locks. At one point we dropped my key for my lock and we couldn’t find it. Then the train started to move. What?!?! Agra is a big stop why did we only have 5 or so mins here when we were stuck for 20 or so mins at stops in the middle of the country?! But I found my key, Aaron quickly unlocked it and grabbed his bag and headed for the door. The train started slow, but now it had picked up speed. I got my big bag and ran for the door, threw it out the door to Aaron and jumped off the moving train. After that we looked at each other, hearts pounding and decided we would never let that happen again.

The Taj

We woke up at 5am to watch the sunrise at the Taj, which we were told was the best time to see her. At dark we found an auto rickshaw and headed into town. When we arrived we realized nothing was open around us and there was barely any lighting, but we did see a determined few in line waiting for the gates to open. After figuring out where to buy our tickets, we got in line with about 20 or so people. Within 20 mins the line was packing up. However the opening time, 6 am, came and went and so did the initial sunrise, which was a bummer. They finally opened the gates around 630 and then we were forced into security lines where our bags went through the scanner and we went through metal detectors. Aaron’s bag had some issues and we were forced to go to the locker room to lock our small tripod. The locker room was about 1km walk, annoying. When I arrived it wasn’t even open, ugh, the sunrise shot was totally screwed. I waited for that locker room to open for about 20 mins, when a guy on his moped came up to open the room. Finally, I walked back, had to get back in line, and back through security. It was almost two hours after we arrived, our morning shots were shot. I was annoyed and frustrated. We were 10th in line, now the place was packed, I sulked a little.

But, when we walked through the big gate and I caught a glimpse of her, I melted. The Taj was so much better than the hype. And it exceeded all that I had seen and heard about.

So what did we do? Take pictures and more pictures, of course. We now have 900 or so shots of one of the greatest pieces of architecture in the world and I am okay with it.

Early 5:30am arrival, it was dark, but we looked to be some of the first in

Upon entering…WOW!

The taj and initial morning crowds

Ladies in their saris – loved the red.

View from the Taj to the entrance gate

Amidst, all the picture taking though, it was easy to, for me at least, get a little emotional. The Taj Mahal is a memorial and dedication from a husband, Emperor Shah Jahan to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. I jokingly believe the Taj, is just a trifle of what this wife deserved after having FOURTEEN of the emperor’s children. But it is also said that his wife was his political confidant – she was extremely smart and carried much power over the kingdom, as her husband consulted with her on much political matters. When she died after giving birth to her last child, the Emperor became emotionally paralyzed and the kingdom had to be ruled by his advisers, due to his devastation.

And you can feel that love, sadness and beauty even with the surrounding tourists. The magnificence and the power of this memorial gets to you. I may have even cried a little.

Agra Fort and The Palace

This beautiful red colored fort and it’s palace inside is the sister monument to the Taj, of which it has gorgeous views of. The fort serves as a city wall in protection of the palace. Both the fort and palace were impressive. I will spare our audience a long history lesson, but talk about the fort and palace in it’s most important times – during the Mughal age. You remember the Mughals…the guys Aaron talked about in his last post on Fatehpur Sikri.

The Mughals were under Emperor Akbar, the same Akbar who built Fatehpur Sikri and made Agra and it’s fort the Mughal’s capital in the 1560’s. Akbar used the red sandstone from Rajasthan to make some of the exterior, but it was his grandson, Shah Jahan who integrated the white marble and really made the palace. Shah Jahan was emperor during the Mughals golden age (and also responsible for the creation of the Taj, adjacent to the palace).

When Shah Jahan was older, his son overthrew him and created a “prison” for him inside the palace so that his sisters could visit. Sounds cruel but this “prison” is one I’d be happy to reside in as it was all white marble and had incredible views of the Taj. This was so that he could look onto to the monument he built for his wife.

It is rumored that Shah Jahan died while looking onto where his wife’s tomb is laid, her Taj Mahal.

The Agra fort

Entrance to the palace with several gates – large enough so that two elephants could go through at the same time.

Overlooking the moat

The palace and overlooking the “prison”

The palace has beautiful parrots flying around, talk about glamorous pests.

That balcony is the "prison" with views to the Taj and also where it is said the Shah died.

That balcony is the “prison” with views to the Taj and also where it is said Shah died.

5 Responses to Agra: The Fort, The Palace and of course, The Taj

Jill neuwelt November 9, 2013

Thanks for your great posts!
- Jami November 10, 2013
  
  Thanks Jill – glad you’re enjoying!
Dave Johnson November 9, 2013

My heart was pounding as I read about your arrival in Agra… Holy Shit, that was close.

I hope your IP attorney has all your rights for this blog locked up because your adventure would make a great movie!

The Taj must really be special to win such praise even after all the frustrations you had getting in… and the photos are great. The Taj seems like the one thing that could draw me to India.
- Jami November 10, 2013
  
  The Taj would be so worth it!
Karen Johnson November 10, 2013

You jumped off of a moving train!!?? You have become so tough (BTW, that’s a compliment :-)…). The photos are amazing.