It took about 5 hours to drive to Agra. Flat countryside with very busy and dirty towns along the way. The city of Agra is not pretty. The Taj Mahal on the other hand is beautiful and is protected by a wall. I met a camel just inside the gates and it kissed me on the head!
The construction of the Taj Mahal was started in 1631 and took 22 years to complete. It has 22 Turrets on top its gates, took 22,000 people to build it as well as many elephants, camels and donkeys (not monkeys which I thought the guide said. This had us in fits of laughter for a while imaging what monkeys would do with pieces of marble. Mike suggested that they would probably try to sell it!). Anyway the Maharajah who built the Taj for his 3rd wife's burial site wanted to build a black one across the river for his tomb. The foundations were started but were never finished as the youngest son killed all his brothers and imprisoned his father in the Agra Fort to seize power. The Maharajah died in prison on the 22nd of the month. 22 is therefore a very special number. The evil son was a brutal king and it does not look like Agra ever recovered.
The Taj Mahal is built of marble and the decorations are semi precious stones which sparkle in the moonlight!
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