3 world heritage sites in 3 days do I win a prize?

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  Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Site number 1 Agra fort. This place is huge - you think you have finished and you go round the corner and there is another massive palace/temple! And you are not able to visit it all -some parts are still closed. It is a combination of marble and  red sandstone. In the audience rooms and other marble rooms there are beautiful inlays made of prcious stones and other coloured stones as well as stunning screens - one of the most beautiful separating the women's quarters from the rest of the palace. There was a small hole in the middle of the screen so that the ladies of the harem could see things for sale in the courtyard below without being being seen by anyone. Thankfully those days are over! There is one spot where you can see the Taj - I hadn't sen it yet so was hoping for a view of it from accross the river- I forgot one think - the smog (read pollution) in Agra. Nothing was visible on the opposite side of the river - helaas the Taj would have ro wait! This was very close to the area of the palace where Shah Jahan who built the Taj was imprisoned by his son - legend has it he spent his last days gazing whistfully at the Taj from here. Nice story the romantic in me wants to believe it is true......
My paprazzi experiences continued here - more pictures requested but this time with a twist I'm on video!

Immediately after the fprt I went to the "Baby Taj" the Itimed-ud-daulah. Similar in design but much smaller than the Taj Mahal. This was the first building in the style that you see in the Taj Mahal so it is itself an important building. It is the tomb of the chief minister and father in law of the Emperor. It is competely made up of marble with inlay work just as good and fine as the Taj and the fort. One problem I can see is that it suffers having the Taj and fort in the same town - I have a feeling that it doesnt get as much money or care as the other two. In places there were some rather dodgy restorations - everything concreted over and in different colours of concrete -Yikes! It sits in the centre of a garden with a pavilion at each side - symmetry very important in the design - here and at the Taj. Overlooking the river a pavilion which would have had a fab view when it was built - now it's not so nice!

After contending with (yet another) rickshaw driver trying to rip me off and taking me to shops and restaurants where they got commission I decided to go to one of the hotels near the Taj and sit on a roof terrace. Rickshaw drivers were the bane of my life here - really hard work to get where you wanted to go and for a reasonable price.
Site number 2
So off I went to the Shanti Lodge, went up to the roof turned the corner and there it was the Taj Mahal in all its glory/ Words failed me and still do to a certain extent - it was stunning even from a distance. As the sun started to go down the colours on the marble really did change. Had lunch and sat in disbelief (I couldn't believe that I was sat looking at the Taj Mahal!) and marvelled. I know believe everything that everyone who has seen the Taj says! 

Ok end of part one of my Agra World Heritage sites, my guy from Kashmir has arrived to get his money - went shopping this afternoon - didn't have that many rupees on me so he said he would come and collect the rest later (not that it was very much in euros or pounds in the first place......!) so the rest will follow....to come my morning at the Taj and Fetephur Sikri - the abondoned capital of one of the rulers of this part of India.

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