Agra 09.09.2017


Image for Agra

Agra is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. Famous Taj Mahal is located here.
THe easiest way to get here is express train. 180 kilometres in 2 hours. It's really quick! For example the train from Pune to Mumbai makes 150 kilometres in 3-3.5 hours.
To buy a ticket you have to fill a special form and write there destination point and list of travellers.

Photo 1380
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1380
(cc) by Rushan

It's crowdy on the train station.

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(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1381
(cc) by Rushan

The train is really good. Passengers even served the lunch (which is already in the ticket price). This express is one of the best in the country.

Photo 1382
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1382
(cc) by Rushan

Then we needed to get somehow from Agra to Taj Mahal. Uber doesn't operate, unlike in Delhi or Pune, So we had to find a cab. We also had to keep in mind, that it is not allowed to go on the gas or diesel car nearer than 500m to Taj Mahal, and South entrance is the less crowded one. With any sign of fraud (like "you have to buy a special car entrance permission" or stuff like that) just find another driver. There are a lot of them there.

Photo 1383
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1383
(cc) by Rushan

It was very hot in Agra in that day. +37 in the shadow.

Photo 1384
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1384
(cc) by Rushan

September is not a high season in Taj Mahal. It's still too hot. Not really a lot of tourists here. Next to the tickets window a local guy (well, he's not really Indian, he was born in India, but he's Australian cause his mother moved here) suggested as to be our guide. The price for service started from 1000 rupees (13 euro) for the entire group. However we didn't plan to hire a guide. The guy was really persistent and he finally offered us to be a guide just for 100 rupees (1.3 euro) (!). So we couldn't deny the offer.

Photo 1385
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1385
(cc) by Rushan

It was a good guide. We enjoyed him. He showed us a lot of shortcuts for foreign visitors, which we could easily miss if we were on our own. It really saved us a lot of time.

Photo 1386
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1386
(cc) by Rushan

The guide showed us a lot of ways to make a perfect photo and even made some on his own.

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(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1387
(cc) by Rushan

Some people say that Taj Mahal stone is not that white anymore. The dirt and bad environment make it a bit grey.
I don't know how white it was in the old days, but it is hardly possible to look at the stone without sunglasses. And the stone is really white.

Photo 1388
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1388
(cc) by Rushan

It really catches an eye, that locals love to simply sit on the floor and eat or talk there.

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(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1389
(cc) by Rushan

The colons around Taj Mahal are not straight. It's tilted for 7 degrees, so in case of earthquake it would fall outside and won't break the main building.

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(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1390
(cc) by Rushan

Taj Mahal is not just a tomb for Shah Jahan's wife, but also a mosque which still is working nowadays. Every Friday Taj Mahal is closed for tourists, here comes around 5-7 thousands of prayers. Only a small part of mosque has a roof and shadow. I guess in the best case about 200 people might fit there. The rest will pray outside. Under direct sun and +38 degrees outside it must be really hard.

Photo 1391
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1391
(cc) by Rushan

After the tour our guide made us to visit a souvenir shop. He promised that just in 5 minutes they will show us some stone work with materials like in Taj Mahal and how it looks like under night light. The prices are dozen times higher than it really costs. It doesn't worth it to buy something there.

Photo 1392
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1392
(cc) by Rushan

Once we run away from all the souvenir sales we headed to Agra Fort.

Photo 1393
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1393
(cc) by Rushan

From here you can see a beautiful view on Taj Mahal. According to old legend, when Shah Jahan's son took over the father, he put the father to the Fort. And Shah observed the Taj Mahal building from there.

Photo 1394
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1394
(cc) by Rushan

Here they also have buildings from white stone. It's hard to look at them under bright sun.

Photo 1395
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1395
(cc) by Rushan

And very green grass. They must spend really a lot of water on it.

Photo 1396
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1396
(cc) by Rushan

By the way, about the water. Near Baby Taj (Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah, the tomb which inspired Taj Mahal architects a lot) we were at the river side. And the water there was extremely dirty. But people swim there. They don't afraid of it :)

Photo 1397
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1397
(cc) by Rushan

The we headed to Akbar's Tomb. Looks like they really like tombs here :)
After a long way on rickshaw we understood why so many locals hide their face in scarf: it's really hard to breathe with all the dust flying in the air. With hidden mouth and nose it's really much easier.

Photo 1398
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1398
(cc) by Rushan

After dirty and dusty streets such tombs and gardens (especially very green gardens) really differs from the rest of the city.

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(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1399
(cc) by Rushan

There are way too many cows on the streets. Ah, by the way, don't mix cows and buffalo. It's allowed to eat buffalos :)

Photo 1400
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1400
(cc) by Rushan

You might noticed, that local cows are different from European cows. Indian cows have a hunch, which European cows don't have. It's cause of different ancestor.

Photo 1401
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1401
(cc) by Rushan

So it was already not too far from sunset, so we made the last selfie with locals and headed to the railway station.

Photo 1402
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1402
(cc) by Rushan

The road was really colourful.

Photo 1403
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1403
(cc) by Rushan

Sometimes even with a huge trash hills.

Photo 1404
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1404
(cc) by Rushan

In general it was an amazing day. Even though it was an extremely hot day with a lot of walking and endless argues on price with rickshaws and other nice things. Taj Mahal in real life looks much more beautiful than on pictures. The visit worth it.

Photo 1405
(cc) by Rushan
Photo 1405
(cc) by Rushan