A Day at Taj –the Symbol of Love

The time of the Moguls in the 16th and 17th centuries, Agra was the capital of India, and its superb monuments date from that era. The Taj is a miracle enough and today is considered one of the wonders of the world. Here in Agra, this marble cloud anchored by a sacred river is superb finale to so many splendours. A daughters love shines at the jewelled Itmad-ud-Daulah's tomb. So exquisite in its refinement that it's only equal is the Taj across the river. Sikandra, a noble monument to the great Mughal emperor Akbar. Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's capital where phantoms ancient pomp and splendor fill a deserted city, silent witness to a vanished dream. While in the evening as the sun sets the red sandstone of the Agra Fort is set on fire, but in the city the narrow, bazaars come to glittering life. Agra has all this and it also has the Taj Mahal, which blendsevery mood of the sky and season, merging into every variation of time and weather.

0700hrs:
After breakfast drive by coach/car for Agra (203 km / 5 hrs). Stop enroute at Sikandra - Akbar's Mausoleum built with sandstone and marble. Akbar started its construction himself, blending Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Christian mofis and styles. Arrive city tour of Agra, visit Taj Mahal - built by a grief-stricken emperor, Shah Jahan, as a memorial of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. It took twenty two years to build and the finest of skilled artisans inlaid the white marble edifice with precious stones and conjured a lacy stone screen around the cenotaphs the emperor and his beloved. We now take a lunch break. After lunch, we visit Agra fort built the Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1565 AD, have a last view of the Taj Mahal from a little octagonal tower in the Agra Fort just as its builder Shah Jahan had when he was kept a prisoner here by his son. Later in the afternoon visit Marble Factory to see artist working. Later in the evening back to Delhi. Arrive Delhi at 2200hrs. of Tour