Agra, India
On Taj Mahal day, our first stop was Agra Fort, and it was a spectacular introduction. As we walked up on the bridge over the moat, I caught my first glimpse of the Taj in the smoggy distance, and stopped walking and breathing before calling a few of the others back to see it.
Inside the thick fort walls, a spunky guide showed us the former royal palace, which once housed the creator of the Taj Mahal and his wife, for whom it was created. When he later waned to build a second one all in black marble, his son thought he had already wasted enough money ($40 million at that time, billions today), and imprisoned him inside Agra Fort instead. Comparatively not a bad place to be imprisoned. There were beautiful courtyards, expansive lotus gardens and fountains, and huge marble rooms with inlaid stones and gems that look painted on.
The capital was moved from Agra to Dehi, and the fort was unused, but the legacy of the emperor and his love for his wife lives on in the Taj Mahal.
Inside the thick fort walls, a spunky guide showed us the former royal palace, which once housed the creator of the Taj Mahal and his wife, for whom it was created. When he later waned to build a second one all in black marble, his son thought he had already wasted enough money ($40 million at that time, billions today), and imprisoned him inside Agra Fort instead. Comparatively not a bad place to be imprisoned. There were beautiful courtyards, expansive lotus gardens and fountains, and huge marble rooms with inlaid stones and gems that look painted on.
In the late afternoon, we pulled up to the main attraction, and it was packed. Through the tall main gate, the Taj made its first full and grand appearance at the end of the long fountains.
Breathtaking. Gigantic. Ornate, grandiose, perfectly symmetrical, reflective, excessive. We slowly approached, winding through all the gardens for different angles as the sun lowered and cast its gold on the white marble. Inside was frantic and unpleasantly overcrowded as everyone pushed to see the tomb of Mumtaz and, beside it, ruining the perfect symmetry, the tomb of the emperor himself. In the relative calm back outside, the grandeur of the place was in the detail of the inlaid stone designs, all hand carved, and in the sheer size, with the top point reaching 80 metres. It's no wonder it's a Wonder of the World.
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