The Taj Mahal

Yesterday the 4 of us took a trip south to the Taj Mahal. as we where planning on only spending a day there we decided to hire ourselves a car and driver for the cost of only £20 each. The 6 hour 450km round trip was completed in relative luxury and we arrived before we even knew it.

Towards the end of the journey we arrived in the city of Agra, this 3000 year old city is known for its iconic red bricked buildings and of course being home to the Taj Mahal. To get the most out of the trip we had chosen to spend a further 500rs (about £5.50) to hire a guide for the day. This proved invaluable. He made life easy,  Although you may think that this takes away from the adventure of the experience, with around 10,000 visitors a day I think we can be forgiven for letting somebody else do the leg work. The temperature also hit an impressive 37 degrees. so hot, I even had sweat patches on my knees...

The Taj is a beautiful building that comprises of the main tomb in the center, a mosque on stage right and a guest house on stage left. The guest house wasn't necessary but it ensured the symmetry that the Taj is famous for. The mosque was constructed on the western side as that is the direction that muslims face to pray. This confused me far more than it should and took me quite awhile to work out that as we had flown over Mecca the direction had changed... the architecture and masonry that went into the Taj Mahal was truly incredible, So was the forward planning. For example the 4 large pillars that surround the Taj are angled 3 degrees away from it, so that in the event of an earthquake the main mausoleum is not damaged.  Pretty nifty stuff, however this does not justify the sheer amount of selfies being taken at every possible moment...

Obligatory Taj Picture.

the sweaty bunch.

Makrana with inlay of semi precious stones.

nice one Ellie...

Filip deciding which plastic key ring he likes the best.

After we left the Taj our guide took us to a store that made items out of Makrana stone, the famous translucent white marble that makes the Taj Mahal glow in the moonlight. Although our guide was definitely on commission it was really nice to see the incredible craftsmanship that went in to these hand made pieces and we couldn't help buy some presents for home. After spending awhile looking round it was back to the safe haven of the air-conditioned car to whisk us away back home. Although it has only been a week sometimes it is just really nice to sit back and be a proper tourist, and to top it all off,,, We even treated ourselves to pizza hut on the way home.

hand cut stones.

shaping the stones.