{"id":7628,"date":"2018-02-27T16:20:01","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T16:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/AFRICAtime\/?p=7628"},"modified":"2020-07-13T11:34:40","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T10:34:40","slug":"imperial-india-travel-agents-trip-2018-part-2-agra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/imperial-india-travel-agents-trip-2018-part-2-agra\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperial India travel agents trip 2018 – Part 2 – Agra"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Agra<\/h3>\n

On arrival, we were whisked off to a fantastic interactive show\u00a0that would prepare us well for the following day\u2019s adventure.\u00a0Every evening there is a musical performance entitled\u00a0\u201cMohabbat E Taj\u201d which depicts the romantic love story of\u00a0Emperor Shah Jahan and his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, and\u00a0following her death, the Taj Mahal would become her
\neverlasting memorial. It is a very touching story showcasing the\u00a0lavish lifestyle of the Mughal Empire.<\/p>\n

\"Taj<\/a>

The group at the Taj Mahal<\/p><\/div>\n

Taj Mahal
\nOur guide offered us the choice of a dawn visit to the majestic\u00a0Taj Mahal or a slightly later visit after breakfast. Whilst in the\u00a0past the gates were opened before dawn to allow for a sunrise\u00a0photo opportunity, this is no longer the case, and the gates\u00a0open at dawn, but after going through the security precautions,\u00a0the sun is already up, and our guide explained that we could\u00a0have an equally amazing experience having had breakfast first,\u00a0which we all decided was the right choice.<\/p>\n

\"Beautiful<\/a>

Taj Mahal detail<\/p><\/div>\n

Having been dropped off at the outer entrance to the complex,\u00a0a jeep shuttle took us the several hundred yards to the boundary\u00a0of the main site. The weather was amazing, so our first glimpse\u00a0of the Taj Mahal was everything we had expected, and more!\u00a0Our guide gave us an introduction to the visit and then left us\u00a0free to experience the whole site in our own time, so we were\u00a0able to take photos and experience the incredible views from\u00a0every conceivable angle. It is only when you get close up that\u00a0you can see the intricate detail of the ornate artwork that you\u00a0cannot appreciate from afar.<\/p>\n

\"Agra<\/a>

Agra Fort<\/p><\/div>\n

Our next stop was the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Agra\u00a0Fort, again echoing the might of the Mughal Empire.\u00a0We were treated to a show around of the Oberoi Amarvilas, a\u00a0lovely property whose rooms all overlook the Taj Mahal. We
\nwere offered \u201ca cup of tea and a slice of cake\u201d which turned\u00a0out to be a full-blown afternoon tea including a mix of tasty
\nsavoury and sweet delights. We thoroughly enjoyed this\u00a0experience and would recommend it as an optional extra, and
\nwould be very happy to book it in advance for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[440,442,575,605,443,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-family","category-india","category-inspiration-the-indian-subcontinent","category-luxury","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/small-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7628"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11002,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7628\/revisions\/11002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}