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Day
5
(October 21, 2014) Fatehpur Sikri and arrival to Agra
Before
This day will be spent on our trip to Agra. We should hire a
car
with driver to take us from our hotel in Jaipur to the one in Agra. In
our way we’ll have to stops in mind for visiting Abhaneri and Fatehpur
Sikri.
The spots marked on this route are:
A- Jaipur
B- Abhaneri
C- Fatehpur Sikri
D- Agra
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After
At 8 AM our car is ready. It looks new and we get into it
after a good breakfast and completing the check out from this fantastic
hotel.
 
On an around one hour’s ride we reach Abhaneri, in the
middle of what looks like a village in the countryside. Admission is
free, but the man in charge makes his best to help us on everything we
can need looking for a final tip.
 
We walk all around this peculiar well at our own and
enjoying being this alone. This place is wonderful and we are back in
the car 20 minutes and 50 Rs of tip later.
The way to Fatehpur Sikri is quite longer and we reach it like three
hours later. We’re thinking we can be in Agra for lunch time.
Our driver explains we can go to the historical
complex by bus or walking less than one kilometer and we choose wthe
walk as we have a lot of hours seated in the car. Somehow, at half the
way we already know we should choose the bus to save us from this heat.
 
Ticket boxes are just at the left of the entrance and we
get our tickets by 250 Rs each. Then we get the first courtyard of this
city, all in a particular tone of red.
 
The palaces are adding a magnificent environment to the
large courtyards. One of them is called “Pachisi” it was used as board
of a popular game which, in contrast to what the name can point, was an
antecessor of our current Game of the Goose.
 
 
We explore this great city until be sure we’re not missing
anything before leaving the fenced complex to approach to the Mosque,
which is out of it and free. We reach the monumental gate to the Mosque
and, as Eva doesn’t want to remove her shoes and there are a lot of
touts over us, I finally refuse to get in and go back to the spot where
the bus leaves back to the car parking. We pay 10 Rs each for the bus
and are lucky enough to get a seat as we can see they fill the bus
until can’t have another single standing person.
It’s around 3 PM when our driver delivers us in our hotel
in Agra. We pay the price we agreed at Jaipur’s hotel desk: 5500 Rs by
the trip from Jaipur to Agra with stop in Fatehpur Sikri, an extra of
700 Rs for the stop in Abhaneri and the tolls of the trip, which have
been 360 Rs more.
After seeing how our room is fantastic again we go to the
restaurant. We’re avoiding the spicy food one more time and order
spring rolls and lasagna.
The food is very good, but also slow, and our lunch takes almost two
hours. At the desk we’ve been recommended to get the tickets for Taj
Mahal now so we can go tomorrow morning to the monument with them. The
ticket office close at 5:30 PM and we have still time. In my way to it
I end talking with a rickshaw driver and close the deal to go to the
other side of the river to get the amazing views of Taj Mahal from
there by 300 Rs. When I get out from the ticket office with the
tickets, which cost 750 Rs each, he drives me back to the hotel for
free.
The next ride is long between this chaotic
traffic jam where Rangu, which is the name of our driver, can save with
expertise. We’re going directly to Mentab Bah, the garden with the best
views to the Indian wonder on the other side of Yamuna River, as the
sun is leaving quickly.
When we arrive the garden
is closed – it closes at 5:30 PM – but we can reach the edge of the
river by using a path along the fenced garden. There we can admire the
magnificent Taj Mahal. The special light of the sunset we imagined is
not here, though, as it is filtered by the resident cloud of pollution
over this city.
 
We’re not going to be able of visiting the baby Taj
today as the night is already here. In our way back to the hotel we
close the deal with Rangu for tomorrow until the time to take our train
by 600 Rs. He refuses to be paid for today and we will call him when we
check out the hotel tomorrow morning.
 
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