World Cruise – Days 12 and 13 – The Taj Mahal (Continued)

One of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World

After the long haul of getting here, it has finally arrived! Standing in line was hot and crowded. I think the temperature was around 100 degrees. Being from Arizona and Las Vegas helped us deal with the heat for sure.

After getting through security, we could see the one of the gates to the entrance. The gate in itself was impressive.

Walking through the gate, you could see the Taj Mahal in the silhouette. What a sight!

Once through the gate, we could see the Taj Mahal in all its splendor. Quite impressive to say the least. It was built by the Emperor Sha Jahan to house the remains of his wife in 1632.

After a short photo session (the last one is the members of our bus - 3 buses came from the ship), we walked toward the Taj Mahal through the gardens and fountains. Leslie and I both got stopped by at least 100 locals while we were there wanting us to take pictures with them during our 2 hour stay there. I kind of felt like a celebrity, but I think it was because of our blonde hair.

We made the walk and was able to go into the mausoleum, but no pics allowed inside.

Looking back at the gate.

After the Taj Mahal, we stopped and had lunch at a very nice hotel, then headed to the Agra Fort, which is where the Sha Jahan had to spend his days in “house arrest” until he died. He was exiled by his son, who thought his father would bankrupt the people because he (Sha Jahan) wanted to building another Taj Mahal in all black marble right next to the white one. The red sandstone and architecture were amazing. You could even see the Taj Mahal from the Fort.

Monkeys were roaming around everywhere at the Agra Fort.

After a quick stop at a carpet factory, we headed back to our hotel (4.5 hour drive by bus), exhausted and happy from the day.

We arrived at the hotel at 9:15pm, had a late night dinner, and flew back to Goa the next morning to meet back up with our ship. The airport had nice reclining chairs that I was happy to relax in while we were waiting to get on the plane.

Next up - Mumbai, India.