I’m back with part two of my recent trip to India. This post covers days three and four.
On the third day, Pavina, Derek, Carol, Sushant, and I visited the Amber Fort (pronounced AH-mer), built in the 1590’s. Inside this massive structure is a palace of breathtaking beauty. It took most of the day to tour it, and we only saw a fraction of the entire thing.
Be sure to click on these photos for a closer look! The detail is amazing!
The royalty got some snazzy indoor plumbing (for the 1590’s, quite high tech!)
Again click on the images to see them bigger. It was ostentatious as anything, even to see in 2016. Imagine seeing it in the 16th century!
We left the Amber Palace after hours of wandering around. I’m not even showing half of the parts of the palace we visted. There was simply too much to see there! We could have spent a week exploring it. Then we drove a short distance to see the Jal Mahal or Water Palace. How on earth did they build this place?
Finally we visited a shop known for their famous Jaipur Blue Pottery. The owner (pictured) said he is the 9th generation in his family to make blue pottery. Very beautiful, very expensive!
Finally we returned to the hotel. The auto (the green vehicle pictured is called an auto in this part of the world) driver told us about his life as he drove us from the Amber Palace to the hotel. He is the same age as me, never went to school, and speaks excellent English by practicing with tourists.
Day four. Possibly a day I will regret for decades to come.
After an exhausting day three, I went to bed without charging my camera battery. Guess where we went on day four? Only the most famous and picturesque place in all of India: The Taj Mahal.
I’m getting ahead of myself. First Sushant, Gordon, and Carol left, leaving Derek, Pavina, and I to travel for the rest of the trip on ourr own. This morning, we met a driver Carol and the hotel arranged for us. He drove us the Fatehpur Sikri. There is an ancient palace that was briefly the capitol of the Mughal empire and a nearby complex that is a giant courtyard with a mosque, tomb, and escape tunnel that runs all the way to the city of Agra.
I only took three pictures because I thought I could save my battery for the Taj. Ha ha.
If you want to see more pictures of this place, click here.
Fatepur Sikri was an amazing beautiful historical site, but we were a bit grumpy when we left. After we got scammed by our tour guide, checked out some crappy souvenirs, and drove a few hours, we arrived in the city of Agra. It took a while to get through the city to the bit we wanted to see: the Taj Mahal! Fortunately, we bough our tickets to both the Fatepur and the Taj at the Fatepur, so we saved some money and got to skip the lines! Unlike the Fatepur Sikri, we were glad we hired a tour guide here. He told us lots of interesting stories and facts about the location, the buildings, and the people who made them.
Thanks to Pavina and Derek for the photos. My camera was totally dead, so I didn’t get a single shot! Like I said, something I’ll regret for years to come. But maybe it was a good thing, since it made me focus more on what I was experiencing rather than on taking good pictures. And it gives me incentive to get back here some day!
The minute detail, matched with the overwhelming largeness of the structure is awe- inspiring. There is one flower design inlaid in the inside of the the show tomb area that has something like 40 individual pieces of inlay in maybe a square inch of marble. The whole thing is inlaid with semi-precious stones that you can barely see until you are right up close. But the whole thing doesn’t feel tacky or over done. It is massive but looks as light as if it could just float away like a cloud, thanks to the cleverly placed arches. Really, you can’t get a sense of how amazing this place is without being there. Although if you think you won’t be in this part of the world for a while, I highly encourage you to tour the Taj on Google Maps! You can click on that link and tour the Taj Mahal, even go inside the tomb, where the public is not allowed. It’s the next best thing to actually going and seeing it in person!
After this, we went for a late lunch at a place I’ve been looking forward to visiting for months. Sheroes Hangout is a cafe run by women who have been victims of acid attacks, an all too common fact of life in India for women. Plus the food was really good!
Then we headed back for another night at the fancy Megh Niwas hotel.
I really will try to get caught up on this blog. I just have so many photos to edit and every week I get a little further behind. Hopefully if I post twice a week, I can get caught up before I go on my next trip to Nepal in a month, but if not, dear readers, I hope you’ll forgive me!
Thanks for your comments, emails, letters, prayers, and support. I really appreciate knowing that so many people care.
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