Agra

First Impressions

Early in the morning we left from Jaipur to Agra by train. As usual, the train arrived late, but not much, because only an hour. This time, since we traveled by day, we could admire the scenery during the journey, but "admire" is not the right word. The area by the tracks, especially in the cities, is terribly dirty.

In the Garden Villa Hotel, the owner greeted us and immediately began to plan our entire stay in Agra. He advised us to go this day to see the Little Taj (Baby Taj) - the tomb of Itimad-ud-Dauli, and the garden Mahtab Bahg (Lunar Garden), which have a magnificent view of the Taj Mahal at the sunset.

The tomb of the father of the wife of Jahangir, beautifully decorated with a mosaic, seems to be a costly casket in the middle of the gardens of Paradise. Immediately behind the walls, there is the wide river Jamuna, where life is raging: cows are crossing the river, curious birds fly around, and kids play on the banks, calling to attract the attention of the tourists above them on the wall.

Gardens of Babur are probably best viewed at sunset, i.e. just when we arrived. Garden itself is quite ordinary, highly regulated and orderly. The main attraction here is the big Taj Mahal, which emerges from behind the bushes in its entire perfection. You can capture from here all the facets of this miracle of architecture: sometimes it appears to be as delicate as a mist, other times its explicit architectural details are as sharp as a razor.

Taking an ideal position in front of the Taj, on the banks of the river, snapping pictures occasionally, we waited for the coming sunset. The tourists came and went, sometimes kids passed by, sometimes some women pasturing goats. The birds raged in the background. Slowly, the whole world plunged into a fog of the sunset and the coming darkness.

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