Taj Mahal and Agra Fort

India Day 11 - Taj Mahal and Agra Fort

Today we saw the two major monuments of Agra, the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal.  The Fort is really a palace built by and for the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great in the 16th century.  It took eight years to build and is enormous with many different wings and sections for various palace householders and palace business.  It is a beautiful construction of sandstone and marble, with marble inlay of precious stones which is also characteristic of the Taj Mahal. It is truly magnificent to behold. We toured all over the fort, visiting the King's living quarters, the wing where the 300 concubines lived, the homes of two of the King's daughters, the garden on the grounds.  Akbar the Great was a Muslim ruler but he had a Hindu wife, so the architecture is Indo-Islamic.  In the Fort, he built a prayer room for his wife that housed her Hindu deities, while he had his own mosque for his prayers.  

After touring the Fort, we went to a shop where the hand made marble inlay craft is still done today by skilled artisans whose families have been doing this craft for hundreds of years.   We saw the artisans at work and then went through the showrooms.   The work is absolutely magnificent and I bought a very small table top (which was expensive by my standards even though tiny by theirs!) which will be shipped to me.  It came with a small table stand and a lazy  susan stand so it can be used for either purpose.  I've included a pic of the piece.  It is much smaller than the picture would suggest, but it is a beautiful piece.

After the marble place we went to lunch and I had a South Indian dish I'd never had before, called a dosa, a kind of crepe, that had onions and garlic in the crepe dough and then you stuff it with various fillings, including an onion/potato mixture, coconut curry, a tomato mixture and then a lentil soup that you dip it in as you are eating.  It was delicious.  For Bonnie's sake I include a pic of the crepe and the fillings!  A very filling lunch for $5!

After that we went to the Taj Mahal.  It is truly a magnificent, ethereal building which defies description.  Marble, with intricate inlay work of precious stones, Islamic calligraphy up the sides, everything perfectly symmetrical.  Unfortunately, it was foggy today and even by late afternoon when we went it was still hazy and so the pictures do not do the building justice.   It is easy to see why it is one of the seven wonders of the world, however.  We spent about 2 hours at the Taj, dealing with unbelievable crowds but it was well worth it.  It is truly awe inspiring to look at.  Quite a monument to the love of Emperor Akbar for his dead wife.  

Pics today include a shot of the King's quarters at the Fort, the table top I bought, our lunch, and of course, the Taj!

Tomorrow we leave very early for a 3 hour train ride followed by a 4 hour bus ride to our next city, so it will be nothing but travel all day.  Although experiencing the Indian train system will likely be a cultural experience all its own!