Immense, beautiful, magnificent ~ seriously not enough adjectives to describe this place. I was not sure what my reaction would be seeing the Taj Mahal. Not one of my expectations prepared me for this most incredible place.
The Taj Mahal was built in the 16 century and it took approximately 16 years to build. It was built by the 5th emperor of India, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his third wife who died during the birth of the couples 14th child. This was a love marriage for them. The emperor had 2 other wives but neither bore him children. His 3rd wife, Mumtaz Mahal was pregnant 17 times and only delivered 14. I think she deserved something magnificent just for being pregnant that many times. :) A love marriage in India is not common now and especially during this time period.
The Taj Mahal means "crown of all palaces". It is a mausoleum of white marble. It houses the tomb of Mumtaz and the emperor. It is universally admired as one the of masterpieces of the historic heritage.
Quite frankly you can't even image it's size and beauty until you are up close and to think the entire building was built by hand. The site averages about 10000 visitors a day. Mostly are Indians, we did not see to many westerners. Yes it is a tourist attraction but not how I have encountered tourist sites. The Taj Mahal has 2 building flanking each side. One is a mosque and the other is a guest house. The guest house has never been used it was purely built for balance. The emperor wanted a mosque to pray at but thought the Taj Mahal needed to be balanced with another matching building on the other side hence the building of the guest house. The mosque to this day is active therefore the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays to the public so the worshipers can attend services.
India still follows a very strict class system. Entering the Taj Mahal we were put into the line of high value western women line. It was a very strange feeling of being rushed to the front of the line with all these Indian faces looking at us. An Indian woman held back the line for us westerners to go through the metal detector first. Now let me tell you our tickets cost somewhere in the 7$ US dollar range. For me rather cheap but for them that's 420 rupees, not so cheap.
This is the lines to get into the Taj. The value of your ticket and whether you are a man or woman determines which line your in. The one that was empty was our line. As we walked through the line all these people turned and stared at us. The feeling of walking to the very front was very strange and not a good feeling.
The grounds of the TM are exquisite and so well maintained. Woman walk around picking up sticks men are constantly pulling weeds and trimming trees and shrubs. We have our own path to walk up to the TM. We don't walk with the commoners (their words) not mine. We are given shoe covers or you can walk barefoot. You can't imagine the amount of people pouring into the building to see the tombs. The inside is dim and dark. As you can see from the picture above our day is very foggy. At one point when we get close to the entrance it begins to feel like cattle being shoved into a small doorway. We are shoulder to shoulder, back to back, if I was claustrophobic I would not have made it in. No special entrance for us now. We are all one but it is so worth it and you don't even mind being pressed against one another. It was awesome.
This photo was taken on purpose so you can see the hand carving into the marble. The actual thickness of the entire piece of marble is out to the flowers. The marble was one giant piece carved down to reveal the flowers. You can't imagine the detail. Remember this has been standing since 1648 and it still looks the same. The hardest marble in the world was used. The entire Taj Mahal is made of marble from the steps to the floor to everything.
Precious gems are used for the flowers. A family that specialized in this form of marble carving was commissioned to do all the inlay work. To this day this family still specializes in this craft and sells very rare and expensive marble carvings in the town of Agra.
We were also a bit of a tourist attraction as well. These were just some of the children that followed us around. I think we got our pictures taken as much as the Taj Mahal.
This woman was a new bride and had been getting her bridal pictures taken on the grounds of the Taj Mahal. When traditional Indian woman become married they wear an arm full of bracelets and their saris are very bright and typically red. She was very beautiful and her husband was very proud.
In the area where you buy tickets for entrance is pure chaos. Men are everywhere trying to sell you anything and everything. Our tour guide Azim had asked us to not buy anything. He strongly urged us to keep our purses close and not show any money. Children, teenage boys, and men swarmed us trying to sell us tacky Taj Mahal memorabilia. These people are desperate. It was a very uncomfortable feeling.
Of course being at the Taj Mahal we all kind of wanted the tacky souvenirs. Come on how often can you come home with a snow globe of the Taj or a refridgerator magnet from the actual Taj Mahal. Secretly we all wanted the tacky souvenirs. How are we going to tell Azim we want these things. Being grown woman we fess up to our wants. He laughs and says he will figure something out. After lunch we climb into our van (what I have begun to call our bubble) and Azim says we have a stop to make for our souvenirs. Thinking we will getting out of the van we don't get to comfortable as the van pulls to the side of the road. A man approaches the window where Azim is and proceeds to start pulling out boxes out of his bag. Azim brings them into our van and starts revealing all the tacky souvenirs our hearts desire. It begins to look like a cross between an auction and an episode of the home Shopping Network but in a van. He is pulling them out one after another and we all comfy in our seats start yelling out what we want and how much. We start with the figures of the fake marble tiny Taj Mahal, then the snow globes and finally the fridge magnets. It was absolutely hysterical. While this man outside the window of the van is showcasing his wares the other vendors catch on to what is going down and now our entire van is surrounded by men trying to sell us anything and everything. It got completely out of hand for poor Azim but we sat safe and secure inside our bubble just handing out the cash and Azim trying to handle all the transactions made through the window of the van. This man earned every penny of his tip that day. Poor guy having to handle 7 over 40 women wanting tacky souvenirs.
Unfortunately the photo opportunity was missed we were WAY to busy shopping. Lol
The town of Agra is where the Taj Mahl is located. Don't visit for the town. Wow talk about poor, approx 3 million people in 73 square miles. It actually is the 3rd most literate city in India. Cows, monkeys, dogs, goats, pigs and people everywhere. Filthy too.
We also visited the Red Fort of Agra. It was really beautiful. It was built before the Taj Mahal.
Entire thing is carved out of sandstone.
Overall this trip was a once in a lifetime experience. I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to see something so magnificent. 8 months ago I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I would travel with 6 women that hadn't known that long, we all would get along fabulously and I would see one the the seven wonders of the world.
Cheers from the other side
😘 M
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