Agra is the home of the Taj Mahal and from what I can tell most people go to Agra and see only the Taj but we had two overnights planned and about 4 sights to see. The first day only one sight was planned as the road to Agra isn't that great and I didn't want to feel rushed. The road wasn't terrible (for notes about a terrible road stay tuned 'til next week) but I doubt we ever got above 90 kph (55 mph) and usually it was around 80 kph (50), plus the odd slow down for camels in the road here and there. One thing about driving in India is rest stops. They don't really exist, there are gas stations occasionally but quite often they are closed for some reason or other. So, my rule of thumb is the second you think that you might have to use the restroom tell the driver, that way hopefully within an hour or so you will find a place to stop. Such was the case on our drive (a 4-5 hour drive depending on traffic, took us around 4 1/2) and at the end of that hour we were saved by, of all things, a McDonalds. I never thought I would be so happy to see a McDs, but seriously a genius place to put one; tons of people make the trip to the Taj in a day from Delhi (a very loooong day) and I can just imagine that at about 3 1/2 hours into the drive that almost every foreigner doing the trip must stop there.
After being saved by the golden arches for a restroom break it was onward to Agra. Agra is a strange city, it seemed to be a much poorer city than other places I've been and it is extremely overpopulated; traffic was crazy, the streets were small and just packed with people and cows and goats, etc., etc., but then you have these absolutely amazing monuments. Just one of the many contradictions that is India. Yet another tricky thing about Agra was finding a hotel; I found super duper swanky hotels which were expensive (even in India) or hotels that are described as "rustic" or "quaint" which in India can mean bugs, etc., in the room. So I went for swanky but actually got a good deal and we lived like royalty for 2 nights...the restaurant has a view of the Taj Mahal (although it gets so foggy at night we couldn't see it at dinner, but we could see it at lunch).
As I mentioned, most people when they go to Agra just see the Taj, but I am not most people. So after a lovely lunch with our view of the Taj we went to the tomb of Itmad-Ud-Daulah. Our driver for this journey (we had my regular driver accompanying us along with another driver, long story and not actually important to know) knew the sights very well except for this one. Luckily the hotel staff knew and were able to give directions because it was beautiful and well worth the visit. It is one of those sights which if the Taj Mahal wasn't in Agra would probably be swarmed with visitors, but since the Taj is there is gets skipped over. Well, to anyone going to Agra I say go there. It is affectionately known as the "baby Taj" because it is quite a bit smaller but the decoration on the tomb and the gardens all around and just the general serenity of the location - it is located on the river - made it an absolutely wonderful start to our Agra visit.
I took over 40 pictures while there and have struggled about which one I should attach, but this one is, I think, my favorite of the whole thing with the sun setting over the river in back of the tomb (sigh, so pretty). I recommend clicking on the picture to open it full screen to really see it well.
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