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We left Jaipur and headed to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, stopping at Fatehpur Sikri on the way. Fatehpur Sikri is a ghost city that was the capital of the Mughal empire between 1571 and 1585, but was abandoned after water shortages left a lot of the city dead! It was built to be the 'perfect city', designed to reflect all religions. The city was good, and we found it quite interesting, until we found, and got distracted by, some little puppies... ahh!
When we arrived in Agra we were desperate to get a glimpse of the Taj Mahal and so we were taken, with a guide, to a rubbish tip!! We watched the sun set over the Taj, that was in the distance - they have stopped cars getting near to the Taj in an attempt to reduce pollution discolouring it, so this was the only place we could see it without paying the entrance fee.
The following day we got up in time to visit the Taj at sunrise, it was a little foggy but still AMAZING!!!! We were worried that we would be disappointed because of all the hype, but we weren't at all. The guide took us for a quick tour around, while it was still relatively quiet then we headed to the Agra Fort (yes, another Fort!!).
The fort was built in 1565 by Emperor Akbar, the grandfather of the man who built the Taj. The guide, Gonzales, gave us a very quick tour of the fort, which, although quick, was really interesting. It had two moats, the first filled with crocodile-infested water and the second filled with elephants and tigers! Luckily there was only rubbish in them now! We had a slower walk around ourselves and then decided that we wanted to go back to the Taj for the rest of the day, even though we would have to pay the 10 pound entrance fee ourselves! This time allowed us to learn a little more about the Taj and take lots of photos, as it changed colour during the day. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan, between 1631 and 1653, for his second wife Mumtaz Mahal, who is buried there. It took 20,000 people 22 years to build it, and some of them had their hands or thumbs amputated, so the work couldn't be imitated. The Emperor wanted to build a second Taj Mahal, behind the first, for himself to be buried in, in black stone and you can actually see the foundations. His son, however, imprisoned his father once he came into power, thwarting his plans, as he thought it would be a waste of the taxpayers money. The Emperor is now buried next to his wife in the Taj Mahal. The actual tombs are still housed deep inside the Taj, which isn't accessible to tourists, but exact replicas of the tombs are shown directly above the originals. The Taj is inlaid with semi-precious stones, that all have meanings, such as luck, wealth, long life and peace of mind. We visited the decendents of the family who did this work. They are not allowed to leave Agra, in order to stop them copying the work in the Taj. This was a good demonstration of how the work was done, but ended with the sales pitch which spoilt it a bit, but we did get a free Masala Chai!
The Taj was one of our most memorable experiences of India, the photos really don't do it any justice!
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