India - Agra and the famous Taj Mahal

Oh what a glorious name ..... Taj Mahal ....... mysterious tomb for love separated too early by tragic death ..... but before we got there we visited the old capital of the Mughal empire "Fatehpur Sikri".

The "Diwan-i-Khas" – Hall of Private Audience, the building is supported by one single central beam spreading cross beams to the 4 corners.

The mosque in Fatehpur Sikri, one of the largest in the world. It was kind of funny that on the one hand they make you of our shoes in respect, but it was totally cool to talk on the cell phone.

A kitchen in one of the local restaurants, finally I understood why preparing food for 12 people at the same time can be a challenge with only one gas burner.

A typical construction project in India, lots of people and primarily manual labor, no machines or sophisticated tools. Well, it gets the job done!

After a quick lunch on a roof top restaurant we continued our journey to Agra.

You walk through the gate and ..... wow ...... suddenly you look at the Taj Mahal and get all giddy and excited. It was definitely the highlight of the trip.

Of course we could not just take simple photos, jumping for joy to be there and see this magnificent building.

Taj Mahal viewed at sunset from the front, with the reflections in the pools.

Some monkeys posing for photographs in return for food.

The Red Fort in Agra looking at one of the main gates. The Fort was rather a collection of palaces than a military facility designed for warfare.

For those of you who would like to read some more facts:

Fatehpur Skri

It was the political capital of India's Mughal Empire under Akbar's reign, from 1571 until 1585, when it was abandoned, ostensibly due to lack of water. It is located in what is now Uttar Pradesh. Built in honor of Sufi saint Salim Chishti in 1571 by Mughal emperor Akbar. Fatehpur Sikri shared its imperial duties as a capital city with Agra, where a bulk of the arsenal, treasure hoards, and other reserves were kept at its Red Fort for security. During a crisis, the court, harem, and treasury could be removed to Agra, only 26 miles away, less than a day's march. Innovations in land revenue, coinage, military organisation, and provincial administration emerged during the Fatehpur Sikri years.

Diwan-i-Khas – Hall of Private Audience

It is regarded as emperor Akbar's crowning architectural legacy. Indeed, its numerous palaces, halls, and masjids satisfy his creative and aesthetic impulses, typical of Mughals. Fatehpur Sikri is a World Heritage Site. Some contemporary Indian architects, notably B. V. Doshi, have cited it as an important source of inspiration. Architect or layperson, this city generally captures the imagination and wonder of all who experience its urban spaces and see its buildings. Charles and Ray Eames, cited Fatehpur Sikri in the landmark 'India Report' that led to the conception of the National Institute of Design, India's premiere design school. It is here, that the legends of Akbar and his clever courtier Birbal must have arisen. Another of his navratnas, Tansen, perhaps had performance spaces integrated within the architecture of this fort.

Agra and the Taj Mahal

Agra is a medieval city on the banks of the Yamuna River in India. It was founded by Sultan Sikandar Lodi in the year 1506. It lies currently in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It achieved fame as the capital of the Mughal emperors from 1526 to 1658 and remains a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings, most notably the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Agra is a medieval city situated on the banks of the river Yamuna. It is generally accepted that Sultan Sikandar Lodi, the Ruler of Delhi Sultanate founded it in the year 1506. After the sultans death the city passed on to his son Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. He ruled his Sultanate from Agra till he fell fighting to Babur in the First battle of Panipat fought in 1526. With the Mughals started the golden age of Agra. It remained the capital of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan later shifted his capital to Shahjahanabad in the year 1649.Since Agra was one of the most important cities under the Mughals, it witnessed a lot of building activity. Babar, the founder of the Mughal dynasty laid out the first formal Persian garden on the banks of river Yamuna. The garden is called the Aram Bagh or the Garden of Relaxation. His grandson Akbar raised the towering ramparts of the Great Red Fort besides making Agra a center for learning arts, commerce and religion. Akbar also built a new city on the outskirts of Agra called Fatehpur Sikri. This city was built in the form of a Mughal military camp in stone. His son Jahangir had a love of gardens and flora and fauna and laid many gardens inside the Red Fort or Laal Kila. Shah Jahan known for his keen interest in architecture gave Agra its most prized monument, The Taj Mahal. Built in loving memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the mausoleum was completed in 1643. Shah Jahan later shifted the capital to Delhi during his reign, but this son Aurangzeb shifted the capital back to Agra and had his father imprisoned in the Agra Fort. Agra remained capital of India during the rule of Aurangzeb till he shifted it to Aurangabad in the Deccan in 1653. After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the city came under the influence of Marathas and Jats before falling into the hands of The British Raj in 1803.

Taj Mahal

Agra's Taj Mahal is one of the most famous buildings in the world and has been declared a World Heritage Site. It is the mausoleum of Shah Jahan's favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is closed for visitors every Friday in observance of Muslim holy day.

Agra Fort

Agra's dominant structure, the Agra Fort (also called the Red Fort), was built by Akbar in 1565. The red sandstone fort was renovated and converted into a palace during Shah Jahan's time, and reworked extensively with marble and pietra dura inlay. Notable buildings in the fort include the Pearl Mosque, the Diwan-e-Am and Diwan-e-Khas (halls of public and private audience), Jehangir's Palace, Khaas Mahal, Sheesh Mahal (mirrored palace), and Musamman Burj.

India - Keoloda Bird Sanctuary

At one point this must gave been an amazing place. In the days of the last Maharajah wealthy people from all over the world travelled here to hunt and shoot water foal. After many years of draught and not many funds to maintain the place it has pretty much dried up and hardly any migrating birds stop here to wait for spring anymore. Really said ....

One of the few large birds we saw .... grey ???? I am definitely not a twitcher (British for bird watcher) as you can tell by my vast knowledge.





"Kitsch photo" .... for lack of other interesting objects I took about 20 sunset shots :-)

A group of deer suddenly came to the water front to drink it was interesting to watch, especially when to male deer got in a little fight over the territory.

One of the many Parakeets, they were everywhere.

India - On the road again ....

Just a few impressions from our trip to the Keoloda Bird Sanctuary.

A bicycle repair shop on the roadside.

The area we passed through was full of brick factories. Usually there a large fields were clay is mixed with water and the raw bricks are dried in the sun before they are carted to these ovens to "burn" them.

A closer look of one of these brick factories.

India - Jaipur (The Pink City)

Jaipur .... the "Pink City". One could wonder why the city has this name. The colour pink, well it seems that there are many different interpretations ..... for me pink looks like pink, however wandering through the streets of Jaipur it seems that pink has a different meaning. Nothing I saw reminded me of pink. Well, Jodhpur the "Blue City" was at least partially blue, meaning that many houses were painted blue, but the colors in Jaipur looked more like (red) ochre to me. Our guide did not really have a good answer to our question and was a little evasive. Maybe ochre turns pink at sunset?.... oh well. Maybe I am just picky because I did not like Jaipur much ... it was too busy, chaotic and too dirty for my taste. Especially after visiting the beautiful and peaceful Udaipur with its amazing location on a lake there was not really much that I like about Jaipur. Most of the sights, except the City Palace were not well maintained and pretty run down, however there seem to be some recent effort to restore some of the former glory.

The Amber Palace beneath the Amber Fort in in Amber, the former capital of the Kachhwaha Rajputs on a hillside overlooking Maotha lake, 11 km from Jaipur. There were many construction workers busy trying to restore the palace to its old glory, but I am afraid that many things such as the wall paintings will be gone forever.

Bamboo scaffolding on the outer wall of the Amber Palace. After many years of neglect it seems that efforts are under way to partially restore the palace.

Elephants waiting to transport tourists up to the palace.

Different ways to transport goods I - amazing what you can stack on a bike riksha.

Different ways to transport goods II - a little more?

Different ways to transport goods III.

A roadside barber shop. I was amazed that there were actually quite a few and most of them frequented quite well. This one also provided head massages before a haircut, but it looked to me more like a serious head bashing since there was no gentleness at all in the massage, but rather heavy beating with the flat hand.

The Wind Palace .... built for the wives and concubines of the Maharadja near a busy business street full of shops, so that they could watch the "real life" going on in the streets below without being seen.

This is how the women would see the street and shops below through viewing slits carved in the marble.

Construction workers scraping of old mortar from marble slabs so that they could be reused for the renovation of the Albert Hall, which houses the City Museum.

The City Palace. The only sight I really enjoyed, well maintained with interesting museums.

For those of you who would like to learn a little more facts:

Jaipur (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaipur for more info), also popularly known as the Pink City, historically sometimes rendered as Jeypore, is the capital of Rajasthan state, India. Jaipur is also the capital of Jaipur District. Jaipur is the former capital of the princely state of Jaipur. The city was founded in 1728 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber. The population in 2003 was approximately 2.7 million.
The city was built of pink stucco in imitation of sandstone, and is remarkable among pre-modern Indian cities for the width and regularity of its streets. The city is laid out into six quarters, separated by broad streets 111 ft (34 m) wide. The urban quarters are further divided by networks of gridded streets. Five quarters wrap around the east, south, and west sides of a central palace quarter, with a sixth quarter immediately to the east. The Palace quarter encloses a sprawling palace complex (the Hawa Mahal, or palace of winds), formal gardens, and a small lake. Nahargarh Fort crowns the hill in the northwest corner of the old city. Another noteworthy building is Sawai Jai Singh's observatory, Jantar Mantar. Jaipur, with its rich and colourful past, resplendent with tales of valour and bravery is now one of the most important heritage cities in India, and is a must-see for tourists coming to India.
Jaipur is considered by many urbanists to be one of the best planned cities. Almost all Indian towns of that period presented a chaotic picture of narrow twisting lanes, a confusion of run-down forts/temples/palaces and temporary shacks that bore no resemblance at all to the principles set out in Hindu architectural manuals, which calls for strict geometric planning. Thus, for Sawai Jai Singh II and the Bengali Guru Vidyadhar (who belonged to the 'Shaspati' order of Hindu Priest Architects), the founding of Jaipur was also a ritual and a golden opportunity to plan a whole town according to the principles of Hindu architectural theory. The town of Jaipur is in fact, built in the form of a nine-part Mandala known as the 'Pithapada'. In the 19th century the city grew rapidly and became prosperous, with a population of 160,000 in 1900, and the city's wide boulevards were paved and lit with gas. Its chief industries were in metals and marble, which are fostered by a school of art, founded in 1868. There was also a wealthy and enterprising community of native bankers. The city had three colleges and several hospitals.

Nahargarh Fort Amber Palace

The Amber Palace complex overlooking the artificial lake south of Amber town is one of the most popular tourist sites in the city, famous for its mixture of Hindu and Muslim architecture, and offering elephant rides from the town up to the palace courtyard. However, although the structure is today known as Amber fort, the complex was initiatlly a Palace Complex within the Fort of Amber which is today known as Jaigarh fort.

Jaigarh Fort

The Jaigarh Fort on the hills above the Amber Palace complex offers stunning views of the foothills of the Aravalli range, as well as attractions such as immense underground water-storage tanks, a medieval canon foundry and an impressive collection of medieval cannons including the Jaivana which is reputed to be the world's largest cannon on wheels. Historically this was the original Amber Fort, although it became known as Jaigarh from the time of Sawai Jai Singh II onwards. Jal Mahal is located in Jaipur India, which is the capital of the State of Rajasthan. It is on the way to Sisodia garden. The rajput style "Water Palace" sits in the center of the Man Sarobar lake. The lake is often dry in the summer but winter monsoons frequently turn it into a beautiful lake filled with water hyacinths.

India - Udaipur

Our next city to visit was Udaipur. Udaipur (उदयपुर) is a city and a municipal council in Udaipur district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the historic capital of the former kingdom of Mewar, and the administrative headquarters of Udaipur District. Udaipur was the capital of the Rajput kingdom of Mewar, ruled by Ranawats of the Sisodia clan. The ancient capital of Mewar was Chittor or Chittorgarh, located on the Banas River northeast of Udaipur. Legend has it that Maharana Udai Singh came upon a hermit while hunting in the foothills of the Aravalli Range. The hermit blessed the king and asked him to build a palace on the spot and it would be well protected. Udai Singh established a residence there. In 1568 the Mughal emperor Akbar captured Chittor, and Udai Singh moved the capital to the site of his residence, which became the city of Udaipur. As the Mughal empire weakened, the Sisodia ranas, and later maharanas, reasserted their independence and recaptured most part of Mewar except the fort of Chittor. Udaipur remained the capital of the state, which became a princely state of British India in 1818. After India's Independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Udaipur acceded to the Government of India, and Mewar was integrated into India's Rajasthan state. For more info see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udaipur,_Rajasthan

For me personally Udaipur has been one of the nicest places in Rajasthan so far. It is a cute and especially clean city (at least in the touristy old part of town near the Palace) and I enjoyed my stay very much.

The Lake Palace seem from the lake itself at sun set.

Local woman doing the laundry in the lake. Also many people use the lake as a big bath tub.

A sweets store in the shopping area of Udaipur. They serve delicious (but very sweet candies, and deserts) that they make on the premises. Here one of the employees cooks milk to evaporate most of the water and provide a naturally sweet base for a desert.


A construction project in the Lake Palace. It was always amazing to watch how simple, yet efficient these projects moved forward. However, again I had the impression that the women are doing the more physically challenging labor, e.g. carrying the mortar and bricks.





A dancer balancing clay pots on her head. She reached a maximum of 11 clay pots that reached almost 1,50 m high above her head, while dancing or marching on glass pieces.

Off course we need another "Kitsch" photo. The lake at sunset.

A view from the roof deck of our hotel. It had amazing views over the lake.



A view from the hotel roof deck.


A 5 star hotel in the lake itself where many scenes of the James Bond movie "Octopussi" have been shot.

Mode of transportation. Woman commonly carry large loads of fire wood, water and other goods n their head.

Cooking class ..... for several hours we learned how to prepare Indian meals, Massala Chai, Chiapati, vegetable cutlets and curries. It was a lot of fun and we got to eat what we cooked .... it was actually quite good. Here you see Liz (a.k.a. Frodo) and myself.

India More Impressions (Bhenswara)

More text will follow soon now that I have Internet access again.