Agra India Part 2 of our 10 day trip in India

Agra India Part 2 of our 10 day trip in India

7am breakfast this morning as our driver was meeting us at 8am for our drive to Agra, the drive to Agra took just over 4 hours from Delhi and it’s along a very good 3 lane road, but the road doesn’t present a lot to see, as the road is nearly dead straight for a high percentage of the journey, but occasionally it does pass around some villages, but it’s mainly farm land to see, we did stop for a comfort break and coffee midway.

On reaching Agra our first stop was to check in at our hotel. Our driver unknown to us made a little mistake here as he pulled into the sister hotel of the one we should have been staying at by mistake, the sister hotel was much more up market as it’s set in about 2 acres. We both looked at each other and went this isn’t our hotel, but hey maybe they’ve changed it. On arrival at the reception we were greeted with flower lei’s as today it’s Diwali, which is the festival of lights and one of the most important events in the Hindu calendar, we were given welcome drinks and directed to the reception desk, as we were sitting there we look at our driver and we sensed he'd made a mistake, we smile, laugh and go this isn’t our hotel is it, no your hotels across the road.

Not an issue for us, as the hotel we are actually staying in was very nice and is just across the road, here we got another welcome drink but no flower lei’s, just as well we kept the ones from the other hotel, but it does have a roof top infinity pool which the posh one didn’t.

We had about 45 minutes free time at the hotel, just enough time for a freshen up, then it was back off in the car and a stop for lunch. Lunch was another place down a side street, but again it was a great place to eat and this time it was a buffet arrangement, slightly different to the UK as they serve you 8 different starters first, then it's the buffet.

After lunch we met our afternoon guide for our tour of Agra.

First stop was the magnificent Agra Fort which is one of the most remarkable monuments built in India during the reign of the Mughals. This 94-acre structure is situated along the banks of the Yamuna River, and is about 3 km away from the renowned Taj Mahal.

Next stop was the Taj Mahal, this didn’t disappoint and we spent several hours here exploring and being shown around by our guide, and we also got to watch the sunset here as well.

As today was Diwali on arrival back at our hotel, we did a quick change and went up to the roof top pool for an evening swim, some drinks and snacks, and we watched the evening fireworks, the noise from the fire crackers that were being set off in the local streets was like the town was under armed fire.

Tomorrow we’re of to Ranthambore Tiger Reserve for 2 nights.

#robandann