Having convinced Wolfram to grab the opportunity that we both had to go to New Delhi for work to visit the Taj Mahal, we left for India one day earlier and arranged for a day trip to Agra.
Agra is a bit more than 200 km away from Delhi, which given the driving conditions in India can take anytime between 3 hours and forever. Yet it is possible to go to Agra and come back within one day. It just means a lot of time spent in a car.
For our comfort, especially mine, we booked a private car with driver and guide via the hotel. It would have certainly been cheaper to join a group but 1) we don't like groups and prefer our own pace and 2) travelling in a car is more comfortable than in a bus or a mini van, especially in India.
We arranged the car to leave at 4:30am. Yep, another super early wake up to go sightseeing. It's now a habit. Key reason for that was to arrive at the Taj Mahal as early as possible to limit the crowd and the heat. Ideally we would have liked to be there at sunrise, but this meant being there by 5am which was just too early for us.
The drive went quite fast as per Indian standards. There was almost no traffic and we arrived in a bit more than three hours. Wolfram had arranged for breakfast from the hotel that we took with us in the car and we were joined by a guide once in Agra.
By 8am, we were all set, tickets and cameras in hands, ready for it.
And here is what we discovered as we walked through the gate...
Simply unbelievable!
As the guide mentioned, from that distance, it almost look like the mausoleum is flying above the ground. Obviously it's not but it surely gives this impression.
And once we were inside, we saw the mausoleum and its reflection in the water. I know millions of people have taken that picture, but seeing it in real is just not the same.
Look at this!
I'll add more pictures and more details about our visit later, but I wanted to post a couple of pictures already. Today I was amazed with what I've seen and I wanted to share it!
This trip is my birthday gift from my dear husband. For sure, that's a gift I will not forget. Thanks again for taking me there!
N.B: unfortunately the weather was not great today. It was very cloudy which means grey sky on all the pictures. This said, it made the heat less and therefore it was easier for me to enjoy the visit. We also were very lucky as it started to rain about one hour after we left. Net, there were clouds but it could have been worse if it had rained.
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