Agra the home of the Taj Mahal

Agra After a 3 hour bus journey we arrived in Agra and checked into our digs. for a couple of quid a night gets you a roof top view of the Taj as well... as well as the street bustle that is. As we were running low on cash we spent a couple of hours tracking down an ATM that was actually working and dispensing money.

Not a bad roof top view.

Decided to track down some of Agra's less know attractions so we hired an auto rickshaw and headed to the North side of the Yamuna river. Our first stop was at Chini-ka rauza an ancient temple which is only now having some money thrown at it to restore some of its faded charm. The surrounding gardens were the play pen for some of the local wildlife including Mongoose and Chipmunk.

Chini-ka-rauza

Local Wildlife.

Our next stop was the more renown Itimad-ud daulah temple complex, it has now just started to rain..and when it rains you tend to get really wet, very really wet, soaked in fact, our Lonely Planet booked has required some serious drying out since.

Itimad-ud daulah

Itimad-ud daulah

Itimad-ud daulah through the star window.

Our final jaunt in the rain was to a view point and a park opposite the Taj Mahal, if the weather had been good I am sure we would have caught some great pictures. Even the local Camels had to put on their wet gear..

The Taj Mahal from the North Bank ( Mehtab Bagh )

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Even Camels need some sort of protection from this rain.

Another day and its still raining, overnight thunder storms and rain have left many streets awash and resemble small rivers rather than roads. As the outlook was no better for the next couple of days we decided to do the grand tourismo and take in the Taj. From the outside the Taj is without doubt beautiful and the icon of India's tourist attractions. However in the rain it does lose a little of its charm ( only a bit tho ) The inside of the Taj was a bit drab and really nothing special at all, this is one place where the outside really outshines the inside ( except on the day we were there in the rain ) did I mention the rain?

The not quite so classic Taj photo

Wouldn't it look good in the sunshine !!

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Eeerr I said Sunshine !!

Taj West gate

Yes another of those silly through the holes in the wall shots.

In the afternoon we trundled over to the Agra Red Fort ( still raining ) but we had been back to our digs to get a change of clothing and dry out a bit. The Red Fort is an imposing red sandstone fort occupying the centre of Agra, even its seemingly impenetrable walls failed to keep us dry for long tho.

Linda in Poncho Red Fort Agra

A wet Red Fort

Tomorrow we are up early again to catch the bus to Bharatpur. Saw this old bike near to our digs and thought it may look good as a picture.

Bike through window with green bits.