Fatehpur Sikri is an ancient fortified city 40km west of Agra built in the 16th century. For a short time it was the capital of the Mughal empire but was abandoned because of lack of water.
It it contains three ‘palaces’, one for each of the three wives of the Emperor Akbar.
We travelled to Agra on a super fast train from Delhi- the Gatimaan Express. It turned out we had tickets in the extremely comfortable executive class which included a complimentary breakfast. This was just as well as we had been picked up from our homestay at 7am.
In this part of our trip organised by a company called ‘India Connections’, we have a driver and car for the next three weeks, and here in Agra we had s guide for the day. First stop was the Taj.
I’ve seen so many pictures of it, but when you’re there it is just exquisitely beautiful.
Our guide, Ricky, told us a lot about the importance of the number four to the Greeks and the Romans and then the Moguls in relation to architecture, symmetry and what is pleasing to the eye. He explained that the Taj complex is made up of combinations of blocks of four.
Namaste
