Experiences in Āgra

Agra has Taj Mahal ( by SunilYahoo in Āgra, India )

SunilYahoo — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:01:27 +0100

This is wonderful place, It was built by Mugal Emperor Shahjhan. It was completed in 22 years by 22,000 workers. I liked the Taj most

How to Like Agra ( by camillaskye in Āgra, India )

camillaskye — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:17:02 +0000

It’s hard to like Agra: the air is so polluted that some days you can’t see the Taj Mahal from just across the river, the children – unlike the shy, smiling kids you see elsewhere in India – have seen enough backpackers for foreigner-pinching to be game, and the tourists at the Taj, having paid their 750 rupees, seem to feel immune to the usual rules of etiquette. In parts, however, it’s magical – in a tragic fairytale sort of way. Take the Taj itself. There is very little to say about it that hasn’t been said, and the very nature of the place lends itself to hyperbole and cliché, but from across the sandbars and slow channels of the Yamuna the white marble spires and domes are indeed breathtaking. And then there’s the Itmad-ud-Daulah, the red sandstone and white marble tomb built by Nur Jahan for her parents, and completed over a decade before the Taj was dreamt of. Perhaps because it lacks the crowds, the Itmad-ud-Daulah is the most peaceful of the sights o...

Taj Mahal ( by Christian in Āgra, India )

Christian — Thu, 17 May 2007 09:30:16 +0100

“A teardrop on the face of eternity” as one Indian poet described it, might be going a bit far, but certainly the Taj, reputedly built as a tomb for the beloved of a great Raja, is one of the World’s great buildings and a must-see global landmark. To make a day of it I hired a bike (haggled a deal of Rs100 or about US$2.50 for the day at a bike shop) and headed through a chaotic mix of cows, rickshaws, hapless pedestrians, spluttering buses and speeding cars to the other side of Yamuna river to take a look at the building from the same vantage point as the cowherds, peasants who work the land here. Great views and intriguing backdrop, if you don’t mind a steady pestering by urchins – one postcard? one rupee? take photo? etc – even though I’d missed the very best light, which must be around dawn from this angle. Pedaled back in the company of a Dutch girl who’d made the same trip but wanted male protection from local lads stone throwing stones at her (didn’t see a...

Cheeky trip to Agra to see the Taj and the Red Fort ( by Hugo in Āgra, India )

Hugo — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 22:46:00 +0100

Whilst visiting the first online travel conference ever in India, being held in Delhi I took a cheeky 2 days off for a flying and un-intrepid visit to see some sites. I'm afraid I copped out of the real traveller stuff and hired a driver (Mr Gurudev) who whisked me away from Delhi to the sites of Agra. My main regret is that i did not video the drive, which was by far the highlight of the journey. I witnessed the unpleasant aftermath of 3 accidents on the 3 hour drive there. For those of you who have travelled to India you will poo-poo my horror but suffice to say it was not unusual to have oxen carts and motorbikes heading towards you in the fast lane, which mixed in with random sacred cows snoozing in the road, mad lorries with a passion for hooting and zippy little rickshaw carts made for rather a precarious drive. I think a video of the driving carnage would be famous on YouTube or on here or there? for that matter. Anyhow I rustled up a few pretty standard pictures of the ...