Agra - November 18th

Today we actually get up early because we want to keep our body clocks conditioned from the early start yesterday, as we have an even earlier start tomorrow.  We have breakfast in our hotel’s lovely courtyard (again I will stress it is amazing the space we have so close to the Taj Mahal).  Today we are going to Fathepur Sikri, an old former capital of India. When we leave our hotel, to our surprise all the vendors, and most of the rickshaws, are not there.  The Taj Mahal is closed on a Friday, as it is a working Mosque, and obviously all the people who hang around trying to get money out of tourists don’t bother.

We have decided to brave the local bus to Fatpheur Sikri.  This could have been disastrous, but when we get to the bus station there is a bus, not very full, pulling out, so we have absolutely no waiting time.  When we arrive in Fathepur Sikri we walk through the bazaar for a bit, which is as chaotic as anything we have seen, and then we ascend up to the great mosque that overlooks the town and is an entrance to the main site.  Our enjoyment of the mosque is curtailed by a tout hassling us, so we get into the safety of the paid-in site as quick as we can.

As with the other sites we have been to, this is essentially a set of palaces for a king, and his various queens, that are linked together.  It is a lot of sandstone and intricate carvings.  The Emperor, Akbar (who I always thought was an Admiral), was supposedly the most enlightened of his time, having three wives, Muslim, Hindu and Christian, yet we still see where his elephant executions occurred.

We finish with lunch in another rooftop restaurant, and then get the bus back, again proving uneventful, and showing the lies of the taxis drivers who tell the tourists it takes ages, breaks down etc. When we get back we enjoy a peaceful, hassle free walk among all the closed shops, and we stumble upon hotel with a band playing outside, which we learn is preparation for a groom riding off to his wedding.  After that it is back to our hotel for dinner, sorting the beautiful Taj photographs, and early to bed for an early start.

I apologise for the small Star Wars joke in this blog.