Delhi & Agra Saturday, March 19, 2011

After an early plentiful buffet breakfast, our driver and guide took us on a tour of old Delhi.

India – Multitudes of people, wall to wall cars honking horns, beggars, garbage and stench everywhere except where the rich live.  Even in the large cities, there is garbage everywhere.  I didn’t see as many “holy cows” wandering around as I thought I would, but there were some.  Actually, there were more stray dogs than cows.

Our first stop was at a park where is found a monument honouring Mahatma Gandhi at the location where he was cremated.

Our next adventure was a ride in a rickshaw around the open market.  Unfortunately it was very early in the morning and most of the shops were still closed.  Some of the vendors were spreading their wares out on display on the ground.  It is difficult to show the real picture with a photograph.  The people are so desperate and poor.  I really felt awkward photographing this, so I don’t have any good pictures.

After this adventure, off we went to visit the largest mosque in Delhi.   In order to enter we had to remove our shoes and walk in stocking feet.  The women were given a robe to wear which covers them from neck to toe.  Since we had to cross a courtyard where there were a lot of pigeons, you can imagine what the bottom of our socks looked like when we left there.   However, what beautiful buildings these mosques are !  The carvings in the stone and marble is exquisite.   There are always a lot of people there chanting and praying.

Around 9:30 a.m. after driving to a few other points of interest our guide left us and the driver drove us to Agra.  What a drive that was!  It’s a good thing he is an excellent driver.   The roads are quite good and it is a 4 lane highway, but it’s wall to wall cars and any time there is a tiny space where they can pass the others, they honk their horn and go for it.  The drive took us about four and a half hours.  In Agra we met our new tour guide who took us to a  very nice Indian restaurant for lunch.  The food was typical Indian – spicy, plentiful and good.  We then went to the Red Fort, an ancient building which is huge and very ornate.  Some people consider it more imposing than the Taj Mahal. 

Here is the entrance way:

Here are some inside shots:

It is difficult to get a picture of something so huge.   Here we were walking through a double moat.  On the outside, there was a moat for water, then inside there was this moat type walkway between two thick walls.  The guide gave us a lot of details and a lot of dates and names of rulers who lived there, but after seeing and hearing so many details, I really don’t remember a lot about it, and you perhaps don’t want to hear it ! ! !   From the windows of this building, we got our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal.  And that is where we headed for when we left there.

The Taj Mahal – What can I say?  It was spectacular and well worth the trip.  As I was standing there looking at that beautiful building I thought to myself, “Imagine, two months ago this was just a dream, and now I’m actually here.”   Here is the picture to prove it:

Lovely hair do n’est pas?

The Taj Mahal was built by a ruler in memory of his much beloved wife who died giving birth to their 14th child.  It is made of white marble and is ornately carved and inlaid with precious jewels.  It is one of the seven wonders of the world as well as a World Heritage Site.

We stayed there almost until closing time and then were driven to our hotel where another delicious Indian buffet awaited us.  We retired early, because we were scheduled to get up before the crack of dawn to return to the Taj Mahal to see the first rays of the sun shine upon it.   More about that in my next blog report.