Agra took the shape of a city under the ruling of Akbar, the Moghul Emperor. It became the capital of the Moghul Empire in 1566. Today, it is most famous for being the home of the architectural wonder the Taj Mahal. It was built by Shah Jahan as an eternal symbol of his love for his favorite wife nicknamed Mumtaz Mahal ("Jewel of the Palace") who died during child labour. The construction started in 1641 and took 20 000 laborers 22 years to complete.

We arrived in Agra, found a hotel and went out for supper. We had read that the food in Agra was nothing special and many tourist actually get sick because of the food so we stuck to our guide's recommendations. The food was not good at all but since we had to eat, we stuck to the safest choices and hoped we wouldn't get sick.

Our first morning, we went to eat at the rooftop restaurant of our hotel and ate breakfast while enjoying a view of the Taj Mahal in the distance. The food was bad but the view was great. Since we arrived on Thursday night and the Taj is closed on Fridays, we had a day to walk around and explore the city. The tourist area seriously lacks sewage and smelt disgusting most of the time. We walked to the train station to buy our tickets out of Agra and on the way discovered a lovely park home to many monkeys. We also saw the Agra fort, which was impressive with its size.

The next morning, we headed to the Taj Mahal around 5h45 to buy our entry tickets. They start selling tickets at 6h00 and the gates open at 6h30. We were told by many people that it was best to arrive very early to get the best pictures because later in the morning there are too many people. Though there was already a big line-up, we got in relatively early and managed to snap a few good pictures. We left the Taj around 11h30 and it was completely full of people. The spot we had taken pictures just a few hours earlier was filled with families and tourists all wanting to take pictures. We were glad to have gotten up early and take advantage of the good picture opportunities.

That evening we ate at a restaurant where we had eaten the night before and we knew the food was decent. this time was different. I was horribly ill the whole night and the next morning we had to catch a train at 6h00 to Jaipur. I did not sleep at all and the train ride was very uncomfortable!