Monday 3rd February 2020 - Agra and the Taj Mahal

We left the hotel at 8.00 for our 4 hour journey to Agra. As our hotel was on the south side of Delhi and we had to travel south it should have been straightforward. However the main road was closed so our bus had to do a detour. No nice diversion signs, and surprisingly no gridlock, or at least not there! We were driven through areas that epitomise what you think of when you think of poor urban areas of India. Rubbish piled up, cows (turned loose by their owners when they are too old to be of use, they just roam the streets eating what they can), stray dogs, potholed roads, dust, dirt and I suppose squalor. On top of that the bus driver had to keep asking for directions! And we were heading north away from where we needed to go and back into the centre of Delhi.

Back on more main roads we are then sat in traffic jams. What I have so far failed to mention in my description of Delhi’s roads is that it seems to be perfectly acceptable to go the wrong way down a road! Be it a bike, tuk tuk, car or lorry you can expect to see someone coming the wrong way every so often, and nobody turns a hair! In places the central reservation is broken and vehicles cross it. Pedal cyclists mix in with all the other traffic on the roads, and there are people walking on them and crossing them too. Fortunately traffic is not moving quickly and there does seem to be an acceptance that everyone has a right to be there and ultimately someone gives way.

An hour after setting off we are still in Delhi and only now seeming to be starting to head in the almost correct direction! Now on the more major roads the traffic is still horrendous, but there are few cyclists or pedestrians, tuk tuks or rickshaws.

Just as we seem to be getting underway we reach the area of Noida, the IT centre of Delhi with some big multinationals having offices here. For 20 minutes we battle the traffic. As we look over to Delhi we can see very little. The smog is awful.

As we travel south on the Yamuna Highway, away from the city and its metropolitan area it becomes much more rural and very flat. The main crops growing are wheat, mustard, lentils and sugar cane. The mustard is used to make oil which is used for cooking in this part of India. In June when the monsoon comes they will plant rice which will take 3 months to grow. We also see a lot of brick works.

After just over a couple of hours on the road we had a short stop at a service station. Much smaller than ours, they were more pleasant and the loos weren’t too bad either! The bonus was a decent cup of coffee! 😊

The scenery didn’t really change at all and the 6 lane highway was very quiet and also straight.

We arrived at the hotel around 12.45 and had lunch straight away as we had to get away again at 2 for our trip to the Taj Mahal.

Now a bit of Hilary history! As a child I remember having some little hard back ladybird books. I think there were 6 in the set and each one was about a flight to a different country. I remember the one to Australia, have vague recollections about others, but the one I loved was the one to India, with its picture of the Taj Mahal on the front. I must try and get a copy of those books and see how much they have influenced my travel!!!

I was rather excited about seeing the Taj Mahal, but also a bit nervous. Would it live up to my expectations? It seemed to take ages to get there!! First the bus took us to the bus park. Then we had to get on an electric vehicle to take us to the entrance. They use electric vehicles because of the risk of dirt from the pollution of petrol/diesel vehicles, and cleaning it is a bit of a challenge. Once there we had to get into the site, but still you could not see it. And then we were given a load of history before we actually walked up to the Royal Gate and got our first glimpse. Wow!

This is the Royal Gate. I am making you wait too!!!

There were lots of people around as we had expected but we were still able to take photos without it being too difficult.

The Taj Mahal was built in the 17th century by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his late wife, Mumtaz Mahal. This was his third wife and from what I understand was a love match. Apparently she had 14 children in 18 years but only 6 survived, and she died whilst giving birth to the 14th child at the age of 38.

It took 22 years to build with 20,000 labourers. The marble was brought in from the mines at Makrana, some 400km away. There are many semi-precious stones inlaid into the marble from all around the world.

So what can I say? Not sure really! It was stunning, beautiful, it held your eye. You did not want to stop looking at it. I’m not really one for buildings and architecture. Give me the natural world any day, but this did take my breath away and I am so glad to have been able to see it. Childhood dreams can come true.

We are now back at the hotel with time to freshen up before dinner. Still managing the vegetarian diet!

Tomorrow it’s off to Bharatpur where we get a train to Ranthambore National Park. We have been told the WiFi there is unreliable so it may be a few days before I can catch up. Hopefully there will be news of tiger sightings 🤞