I spent the sunrise and sunset hours at the Taj Mahal, the mid-day hours exploring Agra Fort, and then the post-sunset hours in devouring chaat at the chaat gali.
BHPian Dr.AD recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
It was always an embarrassment for me and my better half to admit that while claiming to be travel enthusiasts, we had not seen the Taj Mahal! One of the seven wonders of the world right here in our home country, and we had never seen it. That always felt bad. Finally, we cleared this fault, and glad to say that we not only saw the Taj Mahal, but we saw it under different lights, at sunrise and sunset, from very close quarters and from a distance too, and from some other iconic locations too such as from the historic Agra Fort.
Now there is a direct flight from Bangalore to Agra, and that made it easy for us to reach Agra by that direct flight on a Friday afternoon. And we spent the entire weekend (the next two and half days) exploring all angles of the Taj Mahal, and had an amazing time there.
We stayed in Radisson Agra, and we had what they called a “Taj view room”. The hotel is nice. The rooms were spacious, comfortable and well-appointed and the breakfast spreads etc were quite good, just like any other Radisson hotel. No complaints whatsoever about the hotel. But the “Taj view room” is more hype than worth it. The Taj was about 2km away, and in the haze and smog of Agra, the view of the Taj from the hotel room was nothing great. Thankfully, we got plenty of amazing views of the Taj in the next couple of days and we did not care about this hotel room view anymore after that.
This trip was in early November, just before the smog and pollution there became very bad. In just a few days after we came back from Agra, we read news that the Taj Mahal was hidden in smog and pollution, and was invisible from the gardens in front of it. We were lucky to have finished this trip just in time before the usual winter air quality problems in that area. Although not as bad as in late November, there was plenty of haze and smog in early November too. The light quality was always bad, and the visibility was just about good enough for the naked eyes but not at all good for photography. The sunrise and sunset views were nowhere close to what I had expected. Not the best time of the year for photography there. Nevertheless, I took a few photographs that I am sharing in this report.
The evening after we reached Agra, we went to see the Taj from a viewpoint across the Yamuna River, just outside a garden known as Mehtab Bagh, at sunset time. This is technically the back side of the Taj if you consider the most photographed water fountain side as the front side. However, the Taj Mahal is symmetrical and identical from all four sides, and hence it does not matter which side you look at. It is equally beautiful from all four sides.
Unfortunately, when we reached Mehtab Bagh that evening, it was very hazy and the light was very poor. It was not the best view for sure, but it was still breathtaking considering this was our first real view of the Taj Mahal!
Our first view of the Taj Mahal (not counting the view from our hotel room), through the hazy and low light conditions, from across the Yamuna River:
I learnt the lesson that sunset time was already too late in that smog. It had become too dark already by then. The real good light was about an hour before sunset time. With that learning, over the next two days, we went to Mehtab Bagh again in better times and got far better views from this beautiful garden, which I will share later in the post below.
By the way, Agra has much more to see and experience than just the Taj Mahal. Agra Fort is another iconic and historic site there, and we spent a few hours exploring this fort too. This is indeed a lovely fort and requires a lot of time to see it in detail. Agra is famous for its food too. Being vegetarians, the famous Mughlai cuisine did not have much for us, but the street food of Agra – the delicious chaat and sweets – was great and we enjoyed the street food. We went to a famous chaat galli and had a delicious time there.
On the two full days I had there, I spent the sunrise and sunset hours at the Taj Mahal, the mid-day hours exploring Agra Fort, and then the post-sunset hours devouring chaat at chaat galli. Thus, I ended up seeing the whole Agra Fort twice, once on each day (in fact, repeated the whole agenda twice, once on each day)!
Before sharing photographs of the Taj Mahal, please allow me to share photos of Agra Fort first and then a few street and food photos from chaat galli. And then finally I will share the Taj Mahal photos in the third post below.
Agra Fort
Agra Fort, which is similar to the Red Fort of Delhi in color and construction, is a historic fort in Agra.
Here is a quick intro from Wikipedia page:
The Agra Fort (Qila Agra) is a historical fort in the city of Agra, also known as Agra’s Red Fort. Mughal emperor Humayun was crowned at this fort in 1530. It was later renovated by the Mughal emperor Akbar from 1565 and the present-day structure was completed in 1573. It served as the main residence of the rulers of the Mughal dynasty until 1638, when the capital was shifted from Agra to Delhi.
Agra Fort offers distant views of the Taj Mahal from most parts of the fort. Shah Jahan built exotic marble structures in Agra Fort that offer breathtaking views of the Taj Mahal. Ironically, his own son, Aurangzeb imprisoned Shah Jahan in the same fort in 1658.
The front portion of the fort, and you can see why it is called Red Fort too:
The exterior of the fort walls, with a moat around the fort (the moat was filled with water and had crocodiles in it as a defense mechanism during the heyday of the fort):
The decorations and stone work at the entrance gate:
Jahangir Palace, one of the main buildings inside the Fort:
Another view of the Fort walls and the moat, as seen from Jahangir Palace:
Distant view of Taj Mahal from corners of Jahangir Palace (you can see the hazy conditions):
Beautiful corners of Jahangir palace with Taj view in distance:
This is Musamman Burj, an incredibly beautiful marble building built by Shah Jahan, and offers views of Taj Mahal which can be seen in front:
The decorated marble structures inside Musamman Burj:
One more photo of the structural beauty:
Views of Taj Mahal from the balconies and windows of Musamman Burj:
The interiors of an octagonal room inside Musamman Burj, with all marble construction with detailed carvings and decorations, and open balconies on the sides with Taj views:
View of the balconies of this octagonal marble room, with the Taj in the distance:
One of the many beautiful corners of Jahangir Mahal:
Parting shot of Taj as seen from the windows of Jahangir Mahal:
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