Agra - and The Wasps..

Just come back from a couple of days in Agra, back to the enjoyable hell that is Delhi! Agra as a town is pretty darned scruffy, a fitting setting for the jewel that is the Taj Mahal. I managed to plan my trip well, arrive Thursday to give myself Friday to watch the Sunrise and Sunset illuminate the white marble of the Taj... only my cultural ignorance let me down, it's closed on Friday. This actually worked in my favour as I ended up seeing a lot more of Agra than I might otherwise have done.

The Taj itself is utterly stunning, I arrived ready to be disappointed, expecting the hype to supersede the reality... it pretty much took my breathe away... I imagine due the combination of seeing something that I've only ever seen in postcards and the intrinsic opulent beauty of it. The myst that descends on the region only added to the mystical quality, unlike anything I've seen before... and again the words fail me.

By the by more photos attached: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cosimo-roams/sets/

It being closed on Friday allowed me to explore some of the other sights of Agra, and there are a few. In the morning I visited Agra Fort and Sikandra. Agra Fort, much more beautiful that the Red Fort in Delhi, was lovely. Not willing to shell out for guides I remain more than a little ignorant of the history but click the link and thank Wikipedia... really lovely peaceful place, wonderful range of imposing and also delicate architectural styles, pretty cool. Then onto Sikandra, the resting place of Akbar the great. Again, pretty damn stunning, although unfortunately much of the main complex is closed to the public. The grounds however were really nice; dear, monkey, squirrels ran free... that and the hornets. Fuck me, I have never been so scared in my life... walking up to one of the gates surrounding the main tomb I decided to keep my head down whilst walking up to it in order be awed by its splendour when I was right beneath it... when I got there and looked up to my horror there where about ten massive hornets nests, thousands of them flying around... flying into my face, everywhere.... I walked away, adrenalin pumping, I have no idea how I didn't get stung or how they hadn't put up a warning sign or something but I was pretty fucking lucky! Anyhows, lovely place, minus the pissing hornets!

In the afternoon I got a taxi with a fellow traveller 40km out to Fatehpur Sikri, a city built by the aforementioned Akbar. It's a ghost town, abandoned hey say due to a lack of water... amazingly preserved, probably the most impressive place I've visited since getting to India. Had the place pretty much to ourselves too, which is ridiculous considering what it is, I guess there are just so many stunning places in India the visitors are spread a little thin... all the better I'd say.
And that was Agra, surprisingly enjoyed it have heard not the best reviews... I am now killing time writing this stupidly long post before heading off to Udaipur tomorrow evening... a change of pace that I am longing for after the frenzied experience of Delhi. I hope to relax... and perhaps sleep without earplugs... keep you fingers crosses.