June 18 Day 123
Another early morning so that we could start our day trip before the day got too hot. The big leg was 40 km outside of town to see Fathepur Sikhi, the former capital city now reduced to ruins. Some Maharaja moved the capital here to be close to his guru but it was politically unpopular and had little water so the abandoned it once the maharaja died.
We were warned that our driver might not have English but ours was quite good. Meg rested most of the drive there was she wasn't feeling great and we asked our driver to find us breakfast before we went to the site. He picked the best place in town, probably because he didn't know what our foreign stomachs could handle. The prices were high and they didn't have a breakfast menu but we ordered parathas and tea and everything was good.
As we drove to the site, our driver picked up a "friend" who basically told us he was our tour guide. we had to be quite firm that we didn't want one and it took awhile to get rid of him. Meg liked that when we told him that we like to be alone and quiet in place he said that he could guide us quietly. We left him in the parking lot with our driver and had to walk the last kilometre to the site as cars were not allowed. We had planned to let the driver know when we were done but our phone (unlimited calls anywhere in India!) could only receive calls and texts so we told him to contact us and we'd do what we could.
The walk there took us through a fairly dirty part of town but with a long sidewalk, which helped. The site had a paid area surrounded by public ruins, including the still-functioning mosque where we started.
Many people tried to "help" us as we went in and the touts were thick on the ground. we ignored then, walked on and went in the opposite direction that any tout suggested. The mosque was open to the elements and many of the decorations were weathered but it was still impressive. A boy ran to get an old man who started to try showing us around, telling us he was not a guide but a holy man but we could still give him money. Right. we avoided looking at some picture of an elephant so that we could get away from him.
In the centre of the courtyard were two tombs. The first was elaborate carver marble with a tomb inside sparkling with its abalone shell cover. Childless women would come here and tie string on the marble screen in the hope of fertility. It was small but impressive, with a grouchy man at the door that wouldn't let us carry our shoes and handed out head coverings to the men.
The other building was just full of coffins and so we headed out of the mosque complex and found an entrance to the paid area of the old capital.
The main buildings were a series of palaces kept for his wives, one Hindu, one Christian and one Muslim. They all had elaborately carved sandstone and huge courtyards. At the back of the first one we watched a movie about the place in Hindi while two young boys shamelessly stared at us.
We then walked through the old harem and were relieved to see that it wasn't just tourists, as a Hindi couple were followed around and pestered by a guide until they finally ditched him. Meg crossed language boundaries in congratulating her afterwards. The other palaces had fine work, ornamental pools and multi-labelled columned buildings. One building had nature reliefs with the animals' heads chiseled off because they were inset with jewels. The scale of the palaces was impressive and combining it with the surrounding ruins gave an idea of how grand the place was in its day.
On the way out we went into the small museum attached to the site, which was well staffed with soldiers with nothing else to do but hold doors for us and suggest what order we should view the artifacts. They had some nice old Jain figures and good historical information displays but most of it was broken pottery and rusty swords.
The walk back was fairly hot but we found our taxi and headed back to town. The traffic had picked up by now and it as slower getting to Agra Fort. This was an old fort converted into a palace by the Maharaja who built the Taj Mahal. His son imprisoned him here so her could look at the Taj from his cell.
The place was crowded with tourists as it was mid-day. We saw a huge bowl cut from one stone to be used for bathing and then headed into the buildings, which really felt more like a series of palaces. Along one wall were views of the Taj and you could see some of the outer wall, but otherwise it didn't feel like a fort.
An interesting find there was on old wooden gate put up by the British. The description talked about how they put it up to impress the locals but the wood and style were all wrong and they lied about replacing something that wasn't there and it showed the colonial mindset. Most descriptions were just names and dates, so this one was much more entertaining. The gate was quite grand, but displayed in an enclosed area with dirty windows so you couldn't see all of the work clearly.
We went through a crowded maze, leading us through white marble areas with fine inlay work and a small marble mosque. There were many large courtyards, some of them multiple stories and several gardens. The place was in very good shape with many fine areas but we were tired and a little spoiled by not having to deal with crowds so we were glad to be finished with it. Probably each of teh places would be best viewed first thing in the morning, one at a time.
Meg took out her phone to look for messages just as our driver rang so we were picked up quickly. she needed a proper washroom so we went back to our hostel for this purpose. During the day the traffic was so bad in the narrow streets of Taj Ganj (where we were staying) they we left the taxi to walk to the hostel and our driver caught us with us 10 minutes later.
Back on our way, we headed to the baby Taj. this tomb has a similar layout to the big Taj but on a smaller scale. The grounds and approach weren't as impressive, largely due to the water channel being bone dry. The building itself had more elaborate carvings, inlays and paintings than the real Taj, looking more like Topkapi palace than anything else. It was a tomb for a Maharajah's father in law and was certainly a beautiful building. Again, if we weren't tired we probably could have spent more time admiring the decorations. As it was, we enjoyed the building, hung out at one of the gates overlooking a river and checked out the small museum at the entrance. This had pictures and a video display that wee either extensively touched up or the work has extensively weathered in the last few years.
During this whole time there were light showers but the rain never really picked up any further. Our driver drove us back and we ate in a nice restaurant close to our hostel. The food was good and we had the place to ourselves, lunching at 3 pm. It was annoying that the food took 45 minutes to come as we were both hankering for a nap after several days of early rising.
Back at the hostel we had our nap and got instruction from the very friendly staff about how to deal with our train trip the next day. Meg was putting on her newly purchased sari for our moonlight Taj visit but when she came out of the room I literally thought that she was wearing a duvet as it was too puffy. The hostel guy called for help and in 5 minutes three women with kids in tow marched Meg into our room. The activity was furious but when Meg emerged she looked great, thanks to their help and a pack of safety pins. She commented hat she was now baring more midriff than she had in 20 years.
We were told it was a 10 minute walk to the gathering point but the east gate was empty and we were pointed down another street to find the gathering point. After at least another 10 minute walk we saw a busy building full of buses and soldiers. We went for a security check and were told watches and room keys were not allowed and had to go in a locker. Only a camera, water, wallet and passport were allowed. Imagine the damage we might have done to the Taj with our watches!
We then went to security again and were put on a bus that recovered the ground that we had walked. We were searched again and then walked in a group to the east gate where we went through security again. 50 people at a time were allowed the viewing but our group had to be less than 30. The weather was not our friend as it was so overcast not a single star was visible, let alone the moon.
We were marched out to the entry platform to the Taj gardens and everyone sighed with relief when the distracting floodlights were turned off. It was us and the Taj in the evening, with it being more of a silhouette than anything. It was peaceful and well worth all of the bizarre bureaucracy to get there.
After 30 minutes (I think, we didn't have watches) we were marched out and put on the bus back to the centre. Having recovered our items we went out for a late meal. Joney's place was recommended by Ian and promised to have our food to us quickly. They were good on their word, making things fresh in a tiny kitchen right by our table and we finished before 10.
Back at the hostel we said goodbye to Ian, who was leaving on a late bus that evening, and set about packing for our early morning train. We fell asleep easily with the alarm unfortunately set for 4:30.
Another early morning so that we could start our day trip before the day got too hot. The big leg was 40 km outside of town to see Fathepur Sikhi, the former capital city now reduced to ruins. Some Maharaja moved the capital here to be close to his guru but it was politically unpopular and had little water so the abandoned it once the maharaja died.
We were warned that our driver might not have English but ours was quite good. Meg rested most of the drive there was she wasn't feeling great and we asked our driver to find us breakfast before we went to the site. He picked the best place in town, probably because he didn't know what our foreign stomachs could handle. The prices were high and they didn't have a breakfast menu but we ordered parathas and tea and everything was good.
As we drove to the site, our driver picked up a "friend" who basically told us he was our tour guide. we had to be quite firm that we didn't want one and it took awhile to get rid of him. Meg liked that when we told him that we like to be alone and quiet in place he said that he could guide us quietly. We left him in the parking lot with our driver and had to walk the last kilometre to the site as cars were not allowed. We had planned to let the driver know when we were done but our phone (unlimited calls anywhere in India!) could only receive calls and texts so we told him to contact us and we'd do what we could.
The walk there took us through a fairly dirty part of town but with a long sidewalk, which helped. The site had a paid area surrounded by public ruins, including the still-functioning mosque where we started.
Many people tried to "help" us as we went in and the touts were thick on the ground. we ignored then, walked on and went in the opposite direction that any tout suggested. The mosque was open to the elements and many of the decorations were weathered but it was still impressive. A boy ran to get an old man who started to try showing us around, telling us he was not a guide but a holy man but we could still give him money. Right. we avoided looking at some picture of an elephant so that we could get away from him.
In the centre of the courtyard were two tombs. The first was elaborate carver marble with a tomb inside sparkling with its abalone shell cover. Childless women would come here and tie string on the marble screen in the hope of fertility. It was small but impressive, with a grouchy man at the door that wouldn't let us carry our shoes and handed out head coverings to the men.
The other building was just full of coffins and so we headed out of the mosque complex and found an entrance to the paid area of the old capital.
The main buildings were a series of palaces kept for his wives, one Hindu, one Christian and one Muslim. They all had elaborately carved sandstone and huge courtyards. At the back of the first one we watched a movie about the place in Hindi while two young boys shamelessly stared at us.
We then walked through the old harem and were relieved to see that it wasn't just tourists, as a Hindi couple were followed around and pestered by a guide until they finally ditched him. Meg crossed language boundaries in congratulating her afterwards. The other palaces had fine work, ornamental pools and multi-labelled columned buildings. One building had nature reliefs with the animals' heads chiseled off because they were inset with jewels. The scale of the palaces was impressive and combining it with the surrounding ruins gave an idea of how grand the place was in its day.
On the way out we went into the small museum attached to the site, which was well staffed with soldiers with nothing else to do but hold doors for us and suggest what order we should view the artifacts. They had some nice old Jain figures and good historical information displays but most of it was broken pottery and rusty swords.
The walk back was fairly hot but we found our taxi and headed back to town. The traffic had picked up by now and it as slower getting to Agra Fort. This was an old fort converted into a palace by the Maharaja who built the Taj Mahal. His son imprisoned him here so her could look at the Taj from his cell.
The place was crowded with tourists as it was mid-day. We saw a huge bowl cut from one stone to be used for bathing and then headed into the buildings, which really felt more like a series of palaces. Along one wall were views of the Taj and you could see some of the outer wall, but otherwise it didn't feel like a fort.
An interesting find there was on old wooden gate put up by the British. The description talked about how they put it up to impress the locals but the wood and style were all wrong and they lied about replacing something that wasn't there and it showed the colonial mindset. Most descriptions were just names and dates, so this one was much more entertaining. The gate was quite grand, but displayed in an enclosed area with dirty windows so you couldn't see all of the work clearly.
We went through a crowded maze, leading us through white marble areas with fine inlay work and a small marble mosque. There were many large courtyards, some of them multiple stories and several gardens. The place was in very good shape with many fine areas but we were tired and a little spoiled by not having to deal with crowds so we were glad to be finished with it. Probably each of teh places would be best viewed first thing in the morning, one at a time.
Meg took out her phone to look for messages just as our driver rang so we were picked up quickly. she needed a proper washroom so we went back to our hostel for this purpose. During the day the traffic was so bad in the narrow streets of Taj Ganj (where we were staying) they we left the taxi to walk to the hostel and our driver caught us with us 10 minutes later.
Back on our way, we headed to the baby Taj. this tomb has a similar layout to the big Taj but on a smaller scale. The grounds and approach weren't as impressive, largely due to the water channel being bone dry. The building itself had more elaborate carvings, inlays and paintings than the real Taj, looking more like Topkapi palace than anything else. It was a tomb for a Maharajah's father in law and was certainly a beautiful building. Again, if we weren't tired we probably could have spent more time admiring the decorations. As it was, we enjoyed the building, hung out at one of the gates overlooking a river and checked out the small museum at the entrance. This had pictures and a video display that wee either extensively touched up or the work has extensively weathered in the last few years.
During this whole time there were light showers but the rain never really picked up any further. Our driver drove us back and we ate in a nice restaurant close to our hostel. The food was good and we had the place to ourselves, lunching at 3 pm. It was annoying that the food took 45 minutes to come as we were both hankering for a nap after several days of early rising.
Back at the hostel we had our nap and got instruction from the very friendly staff about how to deal with our train trip the next day. Meg was putting on her newly purchased sari for our moonlight Taj visit but when she came out of the room I literally thought that she was wearing a duvet as it was too puffy. The hostel guy called for help and in 5 minutes three women with kids in tow marched Meg into our room. The activity was furious but when Meg emerged she looked great, thanks to their help and a pack of safety pins. She commented hat she was now baring more midriff than she had in 20 years.
We were told it was a 10 minute walk to the gathering point but the east gate was empty and we were pointed down another street to find the gathering point. After at least another 10 minute walk we saw a busy building full of buses and soldiers. We went for a security check and were told watches and room keys were not allowed and had to go in a locker. Only a camera, water, wallet and passport were allowed. Imagine the damage we might have done to the Taj with our watches!
We then went to security again and were put on a bus that recovered the ground that we had walked. We were searched again and then walked in a group to the east gate where we went through security again. 50 people at a time were allowed the viewing but our group had to be less than 30. The weather was not our friend as it was so overcast not a single star was visible, let alone the moon.
We were marched out to the entry platform to the Taj gardens and everyone sighed with relief when the distracting floodlights were turned off. It was us and the Taj in the evening, with it being more of a silhouette than anything. It was peaceful and well worth all of the bizarre bureaucracy to get there.
After 30 minutes (I think, we didn't have watches) we were marched out and put on the bus back to the centre. Having recovered our items we went out for a late meal. Joney's place was recommended by Ian and promised to have our food to us quickly. They were good on their word, making things fresh in a tiny kitchen right by our table and we finished before 10.
Back at the hostel we said goodbye to Ian, who was leaving on a late bus that evening, and set about packing for our early morning train. We fell asleep easily with the alarm unfortunately set for 4:30.
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| The elaborate pillar in the abandoned city. |
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| The baby taj. |
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| Meg in her sari with Ian, taj in the background. |
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