Ok we’re back. A little behind track now but nevertheless needed to capture our day at the Taj Mahal. We decided to do the early morning visit i.e. just after dawn at 7am and what a good decision that was. The good news was that Joyce was feeling a little better and not wanting to miss out on this highlight of the tour. It was decidedly cool and a little foggy and in fact the sun didn’t manage to burn away the cloud all day. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see all the different colours on the Taj as the day progresses but I thought it looked mysterious with the mists.
There is no doubt about it visiting the Taj Mahal does take your breath away when you first walk through the gate into the paradise gardens.
Both Jane and I got a little choked up as we entered but for different reasons. Jane because she has always wanted to visit the Taj and me because it means THAT picture of Princess Diana. What’s that all about?
The gardens are really beautiful especially the water channels and fountains. And of course what everyone wants to do is have their photo taken on the ‘Diana’ seat. This is so weird- you expect that the Brits would want to do this but people of all nationalities wanted to do the same thing.
But of course the real gem here is the Taj itself. It is stunningly beautiful from a distance and when you get up close the craftsmanship of the stone inlay work is incredible. The semi- precious stones used came from all over the world including agate, turquoise, coral, cats eye, jade, bloodstone, which is amazing considering the Shah Jahan built this monument to his beloved 3rd wife Mumtaz between 1631- 1653.
Our guide for the day was Mujeep and he looked like a Bollywood superstar. So you can imagine that we were hanging onto his every word as he told us the love story behind one of the 7 Wonders of the World.
The fact that we were there early meant that it was relatively quiet and peaceful. We saw later on just how busy it does get so this was a great result. We also visited another monument nicknamed the Baby Taj which is kind of similar in style but on a smaller scale. People say it looks like a jewellery box and it too was exquisite and even older.
Then in the evening we went to a park on the other side of the river where you can look back to the Taj Mahal and watch as the sun sets. Unfortunately because of the mist, this wasn’t going to be a good sunset and because by now I had started to feel unwell, we came home. I think this also explains why the whole day seemed a bit surreal to me. And oh how much was I looking forward to another train journey…….
Where shall we go to next? 