A is for...Agra

Uttar Pradesh, INDIA

There are two things that get your blood pumping while in Agra. The first is the traffic. In fact, this point applies to the entire country. The drive from Delhi to Agra was relatively calm. And by calm, I mean the camels alongside our van on the highway were travelling at a decent click and nobody fell off the roof of the tuk tuk in front of us.

But then you reach the city limit. Entering the city area of Agra and expecting to reach the actual city of Agra soon is the equivalent of crossing from Manitoba into Ontario and expecting to swiftly be in Toronto. Two hours of bumper to cow’s bum to bumper traffic later, we were there. But our journey into Agra, from just outside of Agra, was so long we had missed our tour to see the city’s sights.

This brings me to the second awe-inspiring thing about Agra: the Taj Mahal. Since we missed the end-of-day tour around 5 p.m., our only option was to go the next day at dawn (a little over 12 hours later). It was worth the extremely early rise.

Built by the Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, this edifice truly takes your breath away. Perhaps it was just the time of day, but I could swear it was glowing. While my sister paid a guy to take her picture in front of the Taj, posing as if she were touching the top, I stood in awe of how it was perfectly reflected in the pool that divided its walkway. Up close, it was just as stunning. The “inlaid marble work” – a term our tour guide Sonny used so much we should have made it a drinking game – was art in its greatest form.

Maybe the loonngeestt drrriiivee eeevvverr was a blessing in disguise because I can’t imagine the Taj ever looking as majestic as it did when the sun came up that morning. One of the best parts was how few people were around, too. Because when you wake up at 5:30 a.m., you tend to beat the traffic.

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