We arrived in Agra in the early afternoon and stopped at Agra Fort enroute to our hotel. The city of Agra rose to prominence during the reign of the Mughal emperor, Akbar; he built the double walled Agra Fort of sandstone and marble over an eight-year period beginning in 1565.
Akbar’s predecessors continued to build and expand the fort but it was during the reign of his grandson, Shah Jahan in the 17th century that the fort and Agra became known for its beautiful inlaid marble structures. It is ironic because Shah Jahan was imprisoned in Agra Fort for seven years by his son, Aurangzeb, in a beautiful marble hall.
Although I was in Agra five years ago, I did not have time to visit the fort. It was well worth the visit. The detail of the inlaid marble and carved sandstone in the fort’s structures was exquisite and just a preview of what we would see in the Taj Mahal and other buildings in Agra.
We toured the fort structures and the well-manicured grounds for about two hours and then headed into the chaotic streets of Agra to our hotel.
Monkeys and cows are sacred in India and these animals are everywhere; in fact, we saw many monkeys climbing the walls of the fort. Cows share the roads with cars, bicycles, motorcabs, motorcycles and pedestrians, which makes driving here an art form.
When we arrived at our hotel, the Oberoi Amarvillas, we were welcomed by Indian dancers and musicians.
Not only is the Oberoi a gorgeous hotel, but it is less than a block from the Taj Mahal. All rooms in the hotel have a balcony view of the Taj and although we were on a lower floor, the beautiful marble dome was visible through the flowers surrounding our balcony.
We had an interesting presentation before dinner by the co-founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS – a wildlife conservation organization that has made great progress in eliminating the trafficking and capture of sloth bears used for ‘dancing’ in India. ‘Dancing’ bears have a hook drilled into their noses which is pulled to create pain and make them dance. One of the strategies this non-profit has successfully used is to train rural villagers in marketable skills like weaving and sewing and to give them microloans to start businesses, so they are not economically dependent on ‘dancing’ bear performance income.
It began to rain so our ‘Taste of India” dinner and entertainment had to be moved inside. We sampled a variety of Indian dishes and enjoyed two different Indian dance performances. The emcee of the entertainment was the man dressed as a ‘monkey’ who wandered among the tables startling people and making us laugh.
It was a fun evening; once the performances were through we turned in for the night; tomorrow, we plan to watch daybreak over the Taj Mahal.