rediff.com Travel: Safarnama: A travel feature on doing India by road

Day 12: Agra - New Delhi

Route: Gwalior - Agra: NH 26

Location:Uttar Pradesh;

Population:: 956,000

Accommodation
A lot of the hotels are close to the Taj in Vibhavnagar. Each a stone's throws away from each other. You might want to find a place here instead of staying in the city.
Altitude: 169m

Popular Attraction: The Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort.

We woke up the next morning at an unearthly 5am in order to get to the Taj. Before 7.30 am there is a special 'anti-pollution' fee of R. 100 extra. Not that I minded paying it at all, if it will help maintain the Taj. While I had seen the Taj before, I was still amazed. Especially in the morning light, without the crowds, this mausoleum was enchanting.

Did I say some other site was my favourite? Well that would've been before the Taj. The Taj is breathtakingly beautiful. Never thought a building would be able to move me. The pictures one sees of this monument have not come close to capturing it. An amateur myself, I didn't think I'd be able to do justice to her. If you haven't seen the Taj -- don't waste another minute -- get on that bus, plane or train and get the Taj experience!

After that experience I was up for a sumptuous breakfast. Having run out of money we had to find a place that accepted credit cards, so we stopped at the Mughal Sheraton but were disappointed with the service and fare. We were soon headed out of Agra on the magnificent new Agra-Delhi highway. The surface is excellent and in the morning there was not much traffic. We took full advantage of the road and were able to hit over 120km/hr. But beware before stepping on the gas: Many of the farmers from the villages still continue to charge down the wrong side of the road in the fast lane in their bullock carts.

Once we reached Delhi we found ourselves in a jam. In Bombay we had wanted a car bigger than a Matiz (since we were not sure if the small 800 cc engine of the Matiz would make it up the hills) and so had arranged to trade in our Matiz for an Esteem in Delhi. In retrospect we really liked the Matiz and are quite sure it would have been no problem. In any case, having reached New Delhi on a Saturday afternoon we found that the manager at Europcar who was to have arranged our new vehicle was out of town and the car was not ready.

Traveller Tips: Taj Mahal
Parking: You cannot take cars right up to the Taj. There is a parking lot about a kilometre from the Taj. From there you either walk or give in to the exorbitant rates charged by the rickshawallahs. They start at something crazy like Rs 100. We ended up paying Rs. 50 for a round trip (which itself is a huge amount given the distance). But nevertheless we paid it. We heard from others that the rickshaws would not go for less than Rs 100. We might have been able to haggle because at 5.45 am the rickshaws were unlikely to get any other fares. Judge for yourself before settling on a price. For someone out for a nice stroll, it is not a bad walk at all. Photography: Although not officially permitted at the Taj, we saw many people disregard the signs. The officials did not seem to particularly care…

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