Magnifique!

There are buildings that are ordinary, then there are some that are ok, then some good, some very good and then there is the Taj Mahal

  Before sunrise this morning we were picked up by Ashok and our guide for the day Minesh and drove to where this building sits on the banks of the River Yamuna.

Minesh Gupta, tour guide

Completed in 1648 after being started in 1632 it was built by Shah Jahan, the 5th Mughal Emperor to house the tomb of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is built in white-ivory marble and it is perfectly symmetrical being designed for a Muslim as they favour symmetry of sharp.

Also on site is a guest house to the right of the Taj and another mausoleum to the left, both being identical 

Taken from the rear of the Taj, the mausoleum is the red sandstone building

All the work on the building is hand crafted inlay using semi-precious stones there being 20,000 workers and artisans employed during the construction.

Some examples of the inlay are

This panel contains words from the Koran created by inlaying a black stone into the marble.

It is a structure that just asks to be looked at from all angles 

Leaving this beauty we returned to the hotel for a late breakfast before venturing out again to visit what is colloquially called the Baby Taj, but which is in fact Itmad-ud-Daula.

It was built in the years 1622-1628, predating the Taj Mahal, and is of Mughal architecture using white marble and the Parchin Kari technique (inlay using semi-precious stones) as was followed by those constructing the Taj Mahal 3 years later.

Again it is a perfectly symmetrical building and unlike the Taj you are able to photograph the inlays inside the mausoleum 

It is widely thought that the Itmad-ud-Daula was the inspiration for the Taj.

As if we hadn’t seen enough we then went to the Agra Fort, a huge red sandstone construction set in 94 acres and constructed at least prior to 1504. On arrival you are greeted by the Delhi Gate

Inside there are areas of open space typical inside a fort

and from the rear wall you can see the Taj Mahal which seems to be saying “Look at Me”

Having wandered around inside the walls for a while we departed, returned to the centre of town, thanked our guide and sat in Starbucks for a late lunch trying to take in all that we had seen over the day. The three monuments make coming to Agra worthwhile as, seriously, you would be hard pressed to find any other reason to do so.

For a few hours after lunch we wandered down the main street looking in the odd shop, being accosted by tuk tuk drivers and  one young entrepreneur trying to sell us magnets before standing aside to let a herd of buffalo thunder down the street as we made our way back to the sanctuary of our hotel.

Videos today

Traffic outside Baby Taj.           Travelling through old Agra

A statue depicting a God of the Krishna faith we drove passed today