Travel 2013: Agra

6.4-6.7, Agra

Kids next to a motorcycle, Agra, India

I expected Agra to be the most touristy part of India: people more used to tourists, the city easier to navigate, people less curious about our existence.  This wasn’t the case.  Agra appeared like a rural Indian town, cows and dogs in the street, people staring, windy small potholed roads leading up to very old buildings.  Granted there are some resorts which are extremely well kept and cater to nearly every tourist whim (spas, gyms, pools, salons, expensive stores, multiple restaurants – all in one), but as soon as you leave the hotel, it is dirty, smoggy, rural India.   I expected Agra to be more built up around the tourist industry than it was.  I also expected to see the influx of money to have trickled down into more social services.   My expectations were wrong.  For example, there were shanties made of bamboo and tarp across the street from our hotel, something I wouldn’t expect of one of the major tourist destinations of the world.

This title is deservedly so.  The Taj Mahal was spectacular.  It was much bigger in person than I thought it would be, and it sits on a much larger complex than I’d known.  We generally only see the white building in photos, but there are also 3 other large red and white buildings at each cardinal direction around the Taj.  It also sits on a large river which was mostly dry and filled with rubbish when we were there.  Though, I’m pretty sure I saw cranes down there, and there were definitely water buffalo.  In the complex itself there were water birds (herons?) and a troupe of monkeys that ran through.

Monkey in the Taj Mahal complex (3 large red buildings surround the Taj)

We got up at sunrise to see the Taj and thankfully so, because by 8:30 it was already very hot (using sweat rags and sitting in the shade).  The intricately inlaid stone work on the giant, magnificent white building set it apart from anything I’ve ever seen.  Multiple colors of other precious stones are carved into white marble to made various designs.  The domed ceilings are made into geometric shapes typical of Mughal architecture.

While we were in Agra we also saw the Itmad-Ud-Dalaugh and the Agra Fort, both of which were also very impressive.