Travelling by train is an experience that I don´t think anybody should miss whilst in India. This can be complicated at times though and difficult due to many stations, different platforms and the general amount of people gathered there. The stations themselves are sights in India with families sleeping on the platforms, cows walking on the platforms too and dogs and people crossing the tracks as if it was an everyday occurrence.

Whilst waiting for the train to Agra, something happened that wasn´t even common in India. We were standing waiting for the train that was at the platform, it wasn´t ours but the next one due to arrive was. The train had started to leave, and had picked up a fair bit of speed, when we suddenly saw a backpack being flung off the train and the next second a blond American girl comes jumping off afterwards. Turns out she was on the wrong train, she was supposed to be on the train with us and had realized once the train had left that it wouldn´t leave early so it couldn´t possibly be hers. It takes a lot of guts to jump of a moving train, glad it wasn´t us that made that mistake.

So the next morning we arrived in Agra. Obviously the highlight of this city is the Taj Mahal and is must on anybody´s list if visiting the north of India. Our hotel had views of this wonder from the roof top terrace and from some of the rooms. We paid the extra money so we could have the view which was worth every penny.

Now lots of people do Agra in a whistle stop one day trip from New Delhi, but it doesn´t do it justice. The two days there were perfect to see everything that it has to offer, on the first day we went to the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Itimad-ud-dDaulah (the baby taj) and mehtab bagh (gardens). And on the second, we took a taxi out to Fatehpur Sikri.

On the bus tours that leave from the station, you apparently get 1.15 hours in the Taj Mahal whilst Javi and I spent a good 2 hours walking round and taking photos and also a trip to the mesuem, which is included in the price of the ticket. High expectations of a building or monument can sometimes leave you slightly disappointed when you get to see it, this however was not the case upon seeing the Taj Mahal. It was as beautiful and as impressive as I had hoped it would be. Since it is low season in India at the moment, there weren´t as many people visiting as per usual, but there was still many, which makes me think that if you were to go in high season it would be a struggle to enter and queues out the door.

There are many different entrances in, and we went in the east gate, which isn´t recommended in the lonely planet book. The entrance is about 1km from where the tuk tuk or taxi drivers drop you off, but what they don´t tell you is there is a free bus that takes you there and back so don´t worry if that is the one you are taken to. You also get a free bottle of water and shoe covers. I read that the shoe covers aren´t good for the environment and it would be better to take your shoes off, but warning - marble burns if it is hot.

Agra fort is also worth the visit, and it is where Shah Jahan was imprisoned, with only views of the Taj Mahal where his dead wife was buried to console him. The fort alone is an impressive building and has many great site of the taj over the water. It is meant to be better than the Red Fort in New Delhi, but since we didn´t get to see that, I can´t compare.

The baby Taj, isn´t on the whistle stop tour of Agra, but it was a relaxing area with views of the city and when we were there, children were jumping off into the river. The river looked cleaner than in Varanasi but still, I don´t think so.

We reached Mehtab Bagh, the gardens just before sunset to see the Taj Mahal change colour. In every light it is slightly different; this is one of the spectacular things about it. The gardens themselves were 100 rupees to enter and although the view is nice, the gardens weren´t and I don´t think I´d pay it again.

For the actual sunset, we made our way back to the hotel, where Javi and I had a romantic sunset dinner on the roof terrace with fantastic views of the Taj. This was the most expensive dinner on our trip, but we were aware of this before. We also tried Indian wine during this dinner, which I don´t recommend in the slightest. The setting was perfect, the food was delicious and the service (since being the only people there) was excellent.

Next day and Fatehpur Sikri. Tuk tuks don´t go there, so we asked the hotel how much it would be for a taxi, we were quoted 1000 rupees more than we paid when we went outside and stopped the taxi in the street so at 1500 instead of 2500 we got a bit of a bargain. The lonely planet book comes in very handy here if you don´t want to pay for a guide as the walking tour takes you round and explains more than the signs there do.

At Fatehpur Sikri there are two things to see, the palace and the jama masjid (mosque) and in total took us i´d say about 2.5 hours to see them both. In the mosque you must be covered up, t-shirts with sleeves and trousers. If you don´t, like Javi, they will give you something to put on, so not to worry. You also have to take your shoes off with marble all around with no option of shoe covers your feet burn if the sun is shining.

We were finished by midday and although there were other things we could have seen, we decided to ask the hotel if it were possible to use the swimming pool. If you don´t ask, you don´t get. So we spent the next few hours before catching the train out relaxing by the pool and enjoying our honeymoon.