Greetings from vacation! Our posts will be a little more spaced out as we are enjoying our last week here traveling and meeting new people! Yesterday we left bright and early for Agra, where Taj Mahal is. Our drive was 3 hours long. We stopped real quick at the hotel and changed into our new Indian inspired outfits. Taj Mahal was literally down the street from our hotel, so we headed that way to hop on a bus for the East Gate. Before we get to the good parts a pictures here is a little about the Taj Mahal. It is one of the most visited places in India and a hot spot for tourists since it is listed as one of the 7 Wonders of the World. It is also part of the Golden Triangle, which includes New Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. Shah Jahan, the 5th Emperor of the Mughal Dynasty built Taj Mahal following the death of his third wife, Memtaz Mahal (means “Chosen one of the Palace”). She passed giving birth to their 14th child, a son. Construction took 22 years from 1631 and 1653 AD, and took 20,000 workers to construct it. Ustad Ahmed Lahori, was the architect from Turkey. The beautiful white color of the palace is from white marble, and there are 28 varieties of semi-precious and precious stones. The Taj Mahal sits on the banks of River Yamuna, a holy river. Across the river Shah Jahan was planning to build a black version of the Taj Mahal for himself, but that site never saw completion as his son believed that he was wasting the tax payer’s money. The Taj Mahal is often looked at as the “epitome of love,” and its beauty continues to dazzle tourist from all over.
Our first site walking through security.
All the gates you could enter through (only the King could enter through South gate but now that gate is for locals)
Getting ready to walk through to see the Taj Mahal.
Back to our story, we entered the East Gate through a very crowded security check and learned that there was a center line from which you could see the Taj Mahal, this was the King’s entrance. We journeyed forwarded through another gate and the entire courtyard opened up with the glowing white Taj Mahal as its center jewel. I think we were all in awe. The sun above it made the Taj seem to shine. We journeyed forward and took some pictures along the way. We then put shoe covers on and ascended the steps to the main entrance. There sat the replicas of the tombs of Memtaz Mahal and to the right of her was that of Shah Jahan. We circled the area (sorry no pictures were allowed) and headed to the back of the Taj Mahal. Here was were the Yamuna River was located and across the river we could see the foundation of the Black Taj Mahal which never came to be. We circled back to the front and sat for awhile taking in what we had just saw. Leaving the area we had mixed feelings of excitement and admiration for what we just saw, but also an odd desire to stay longer and fully take in this place notarized for being one of the most beautiful on Earth. Our tour guide assured us this would not be our last view of the place.
Our first site of Taj Mahal.
I think you can guess what this is.
All of us!
Classic OHIO pose.
Yamuna River
We found our rotation friends!
We then grabbed a quick lunch, and headed on to see how the stones are laid into the marble. Lacey even took a turn at trying to cut the marble. We looked at some of their creations inside which were beautiful. We loved the tables and statues, but those were a little bit out of our price range. After that we went to a jeweler in the area and took a look at some of the stones that they used and that were also used in the construction of the Taj Mahal.
Process of putting stones in marble.
Lacey almost gave up medicine to become a stone cutter.
One of their tables made from black marble.
The day ended with heading to where the foundation of where the Black Taj Mahal was to be built. From across the river we again got to see the Taj Mahal one last time. Reflecting on how beautiful the place was and how excited we are still about our week left we headed back to our hotel to rest up for the long journey to Jaipur tomorrow.
Taj Mahal from across the river.
Our last picture