Running around the Red Fort

Another place that's worth spending some time in is the Red Fort in Agra, which like the Taj Mahal is on the Yamuna river.  The fort dates back to the 15th century (during which it was the capital of the Delhi Sultanates), but it's present form dates back to the late 16th/early 17th centuries.

The grounds and structures are large enough that it doesn't - unlike the Taj Mahal - get quite so packed with visitors.  Some areas of the structures are cordoned off and inaccessible now - of course these areas unfortunately have the best views of the Taj down the river (from past visits).

These pics are mostly of the forts' architecture....  Like other sites, this was designed to have a lot of running water features, but for a variety of reasons these spots are dry.  It would be amazing to see these places with water running through them as originally envisioned.

Editing these pics took a bit longer than expected, so I may do two more posts to cover the Taj Mahal and other spots around Agra.

As usual, please click on a pic to embiggen.

Main entrance gate:

Part of the zenana, the Harem area.  This must have just been stunning with marble pools, fountains, and water running though the spaces

The buildings and grounds are always being maintained and renewed.
You can see damage of years - from attackers, visitors and pollution - being repaired.

A view through the haze and pollution to the Taj.

Around Agra - Part 1

Well, I've decided to split this post on Agra into three parts.

The first two will be on places we went to around the town, the last post will be of the Taj Mahal.  This will just save a bit of wear & tear on my mousing arm, and keep the posts a bit more manageable than one large post.

As usual, please click on a pic to EMBIGGEN!

After our stops in Mathura & Vrindavan, we headed for Agra.  Agra is a huge world-wide destination, but the number of foreign visitors pales in comparison to the number of Indian visitors.  The easiest way to get around the city to see the sights is by car and driver (with the amount of traffic in the town,  auto-rickshaws mean driving around sucking in a grotesque amount of polluted air).  Our driver from Delhi, who comes here quite often, knew his way around pretty well and so not a problem for us.  The town is quite large and modernized, with large hotels spread all over to serve every economic category of guests.  Still, no matter what, not a cheap place to travel to.

A far far far cry from the Agra we first saw in 1979.  Back then, after flying in from Nepal to a nearby city (paid for by Johnny Walker Black Label!),  we ended up sleeping on a balcony outdoors on rope beds, with three feet of blankets on us, given it was freezing just before New Years.  We were really really lucky then, as entrance to the Taj Mahal was quite low - free on Fridays! - and we actually got to experience the Taj...at midnight...New Years eve 1979-1980....under a full moon! There were maybe a total of 12-20 people there that night.  Just.....just amazing walking around on the plinth  of the Taj under a full moon.  Completely disorienting and mind-blowing in the moonlight.

Midnight 1979-1980 under a full moon

Today....50 rupee entrance for Indians, 1,300 rupees for foreigners.  Huge crowds of people, running around trying to see everything, as now for your fee you get to be there for....only three hours!  On entrance you get a token that has a time stamp and it's checked on exit.  Any time over that and you're charged the full fee again.  The ticket entrance area is pretty crazy busy, to say the least, but we had picked up and pre-paid for an Agra guide with our great car driver.

On our way from Mathura to Agra on the highway, whenever we stopped for a toll booth, we would see these Myna birds (they are just EVERYWHERE in India) landing on and hanging on to the trucks that went through, flying away after the trucks moved back on the highway.

Note the one on the right giving orders.

Anyhoo....  Here's this posting on the Tomb of Akbar the Great, the Moghul emperor, just outside of Agra.  Built in the early 17 century, a spread out place with green space and spacious avenues.  It was trashed and plundered by a Hindu group later in that century, then repaired and restored by the British in the late 19th century.  Nice that the number of visitors was small.

At the entrance a place to get drinking water, being visited by school kids.

Just watching the visitors go into the tomb complex.

Having a good sniff at each other while scrambling around the trees.

Some spiral horned antelope on the grounds

Not sure if this lady was grounds staff, or even what she was going along plucking out of the grass

Some foreign visitors - flight attendants - doing a selfie.

First off, the main gates and buildings on the site

Buliding with Akbar's tomb

An assorted set of pics from the buildings above.  Doesn't really matter which ones.  They are all in a progressive state of decay and lack of maintenance. 
It would likely cost a fair bit to even try to restore some of the damage.

The black spots on this ceiling are bees nests.  Quite common in a lot of these buildings with high entrance areas.

And of course, our pal, 'accommodating Doug', having another 'selfie' with some local lads.

Alrighty then.  I will add another blog of buildings & sites we visited, hopefully,  in just a few days.