Agra

From Ranthambore we travelled to Agra to see the magnificent Taj Mahal along the worst road I have ever been on - I mean ever! It was semi tar sealed with enormous pot holes. It took about 6 hours to travel 200km. Our driver said this was the good road! Eventually we arrived in Agra and had enough time to go and see the sunset on the Taj Mahal from the river. This was luckily free of charge. The next day we paid for entry into the Taj Mahal which cost us 750 rupees or about $17.50. When we purchased the ticket a tour guide approached us and said he was a government tour guide. His price was 900 rupees for foreigners, we haggled and he offered us the Indian price 500 rupees which was written on his badge. We still thought this was way too much and he offered us 200 rupees. We decided this was too much again and walked away. 5 mins later another guide came up to us and offered us 50 rupees. We were very glad we didn't go with the first guide. Our guide explained the Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan the Mughal ruler in 1653 and took 20 years to complete. It was built in memory of his beloved 3rd wife Mumtaz Mahal who died giving birth to her 14th child. Shah Jahan wanted to build another Taj out of black marble for himself across the river, but was succeeded by his son and imprisoned in the Agra fort where he died. He was later buried next to his wife in the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was indeed amazing, up close it is much bigger than you would think. Just the top spiral which was previously solid gold is 10m high. The inlaid stone carving is also very impressive.

All inlaid black marble which gets bigger toward the top to give the impression of uniformity when looking up from the ground.