Satyaki, our local contact and direct employer, arranged a trip to Agra. We woke up early and caught a train at 6:30. The railway system in India is quite extensive, and serves around 15M people per day. Accommodations are extremely varied, and range from air-conditioned cars where they serve you food and drink on the trip, to normal cars with no AC where people pack in as tight as they can, regardless of the length of the trip.
Our first stop was the Taj Mahal, the place to see in India. We had a tour guide that helped us get around and gave us instructions and helpful hints. As we approached the Taj Mahal (and subsequent tourist attractions) we were immediately overun with hawkers trying to sell their wares. It was quite sad, especially since we had been conditioned to ignore them or they wouldn't go away.
While very impressive, there is not much to the Taj Mahal. It is a Mosque, which means there is nothing inside. The architecture, however, was spectacular, and the detailed engravings were amazing. You can seee that in the picture above with the two girls (neither of whom we knew but it was too cute to pass up).
Our second stop was at Fort Agra. Fort Agra was the home of King Akbar. It is a magnificent fort constructed from Red Sandstone.
We had lunch at one of the nicer hotels in the area. It was a welcome relief to get a decent meal that included meat. Many of the meals include vegetables only.
The final stop was at an old abandoned town called Fatehpur Sikri. This was an abandoned city that was potentially going to be used as the capital, however it was moved back to Delhi. One of the most spectacular sites was of the large gate entrance.
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