16.2.19

We got up in time to see the sunrise over the Taj Mahal from Joeys roof terrace but sadly the sun didn’t rise and it was very chilly up there. Sat enjoying the silence and watching the monkeys playing.

Breakfast is ‘served’ on the large table outside our room. I say served..

There was a a kettle of hot water, a toaster, a few bags of bread for toasting, a huge jar of peanut butter, butter, hard boiked eggs cornflakes, chocoflakes and bananas.

Crockery is a hit and miss hotchpotch and mismatched saucers serve as plates. I’m glad I have my own cup with me as I really couldn’t have used one of theirs.

I was a total pig and had 6 slices of toast because the salted butter was divine. In any case they’re only saucer sized slices.

It was nice chatting to people over the chaos. Some had been to the Taj already, it opens at sunrise and closes at sunset. They said it was very busy, so assuming it would get worse as the day went on we finished breakfast and set off early.

Right outside our entrance are these beauties.

The narrow streets weren’t as seedy as they felt in the dark although I did change and put my handbag under my jacket after seeing a couple of kids looking intently at Johns pockets.

We are staying literally minutes from the West Gate. The hassle at the gate to buy souvenirs, have a guide etc is just mad. Some of the sellers are just children. You literally daren’t make eye contact or stop and look at anything for a second.

The queue was short, we were surprised at how relatively quiet it was.

And then THE moment…

It brought a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye. Just incredible. Made all the journey to get here worthwhile.

You have to wear paper fabric overshoes to go inside the mausoleum.

A man was advising tourists where to stand and get the best photos near where we got the shoes. I was quite pleased with his archway suggestions and then he took several of the reflection of it in my eyeball.

Impressive, even if my mascara is terribly blobby.

We weren’t allowed to take photographs inside the mausoleum. Although we did see people flouting the rules, we behaved ourselves and this is from Google.

‘The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan, the builder. Wikipedia‘

Then we visited the museum building and afterwards spent ages watching the many chipmunks.

We took so many photos, the sun was trying very hard to break through and blue sky would have been fabulous, it did get clearer and better as the morning went on but not totally blue.

It’s a really hard place to leave, you just have this never ending ‘just one more photo’ feeling.

Feeling sad to leave we made our way to the Agra Fort. It’s only a 30 minute walk away, but the tuk tuks, rickshaws and electric tuk tuks were relentlessly persistent.

We love to walk but this and the noise made it a bit unpleasant. Once again Google maps took us some of the way along tiny roads and we saw how hard life is here.

We were pretty hungry by this time and when we reached the Fort there were a few stalls selling food, but we were hassled relentlessly by magnet and souvenir sellers, food vendors, beggars, children asking for money etc, the food and cleanliness of the surroundings all looked a bit scary so we settled on 2 bags of crisps and a bottle of water that they tried to overcharge for and after dodging a few more beggars we got our tickets to Agra Fort.

‘Agra Fort is a historical fort in the city of Agra in India. It was the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal Dynasty until 1638, when the capital was shifted from Agra to Delhi. Before capture by the British, the last Indian rulers to have occupied it were the Marathas. Wikipedia

Architectural style: Islamic architecture
UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription: 1983
Owners: Lodi dynasty (1504–1526), Mughal Empire (1556–1785, 1526–1540)
Function: Fortification, Monument.

Agra Fort is the place where Shah Jahan was imprisoned for eight years by his son Aurangzeb.’

It was another place which was impossible not to keep photographing.

In many ways it’s more interesting than the Taj Mahal, but lacks the romantic story and not quite so wow.

There were so many sections of it and different rooms to go into, just wow at every turn.

And loads of chipmunks.

Another favourite photo of the day is this one :

Feeling the need for coffee and a beer for John, #2 on TripAdvisor El Classico fitted the bill for both of us and has excellent reviews.

A 45 minute walk along a much quieter road, the worst thing here was loads of horses and carriages, grossly overloaded, super skinny horses, some were limping, cruel beyond belief.

Worse was to come, Google took us down tiny streets again, 3 of the tiniest donkeys we have ever seen came running round a corner, laden with loads of house bricks, pregnant dogs and puppies everywhere, all terrified and know nothing about affection.

Saw more men urinating in the street, an outdoor urinal, and even a small boy having a poo onto a piece of cardboard balanced across a water gully.

The last part of the walk was along a tourist police controlled area with ‘no honking’ requests and was surrounded by a nature walk. Lovely.

There were some reasonable looking eateries but John said having dragged him this far we should keep going.

El Classico is next to a car park, it is a football themed bar. No beer, no licence, although they could get us some, at double the normal price, and the coffee machine is broken.

Settled for 2 Pineapple juices, which was in fact from a carton and 2 chicken, cheese and mushroom burgers which sounded lush.

They were the weirdest ever with sort of chicken rissoles in a by now soggy bun, mayo, cucumber, tomato, mushroom, loads of cheese, something that looked a bit like sage and onion stuffing but was spicy, sweetcorn and peas.

I couldnt attempt to get into mine and asked for a knife. A waiter came out with a huge carving knife on a tray and proceeded to push my bun down with his hands and carve it in half.

Just hope he wasn’t peeing in an alleyway just before, or worse having a poo on a bit of cardboard.

To top it off the chips were hard but the street dogs liked them.

When they asked how our food was, interesting was the only word we could think of.

I am absolutely not using Google maps in walking mode anymore.

The road way back to Joeys hostel via the main roads was just fine and uneventful.

John has had a little nap while I’ve typed up todays adventures.

Oh, and we have seen protesters, at the airport yesterday when we arrived, and 2 lots in town today. It follows a suicide bomber killing 40 people in Kashmir yesterday, it seems one was local to here. How very sad for all concerned.

We decided to venture out for food in the evening. Johns garlic soup yesterday put him off eating at Joeys again. We opted for Joneys, just 140 metres away.

People were lighting candles at the crossroads on a large marble plinth to commemorate those who lost their lives in Kashmir.

Joneys was nice, friendly people, nice decor and the tiniest kitchen you have ever seen. Still full from the interesting burger I just had some garlic naan, curd and honey and a mango lassie. John had room for a biriyani. Of course.

It was all lovely and they deserve all the amazing comments in their guest book.

Tomorrow we go to Delhi. I asked staff in Joneys if it was as noisy as here. Worse they said, but they have sidewalks.

Great. We will enjoy that 🙂