It took plenty of travel time to make it happen starting with a three-hour car ride to Jabalpur airport, followed by a two-hour flight to Delhi, an overnight near the airport then a four-hour drive to the first WHS, Fatehpur Sikri. It is the site where Akbar, one of the Mughal Emperors, built a fort in 1571. It is huge and impressive especially for its time. I had a good guide and learned some Indian history. However, the weather was not ideal for photography. I did take my first Indian Tuk Tuk ride to get to the bottom of the steps that lead to the fort. My guide said the soldiers used the steps to stay in shape and I can say it works. He also said the main gate had the largest single arch in the world built at the time. Several honey bee queens had started colonies and built huge nests that hung from the bottom of the arch.
The tour was completed in about an hour and a half and then we were off to the town of Agra, where Agra Fort is located. It is bigger and even more impressive than Fatehpur Sikri. It sits across the RiverYamuna from the more famous Taj Mahal, and on a clear day you can easily see it. This was not a clear day. It was still quite interesting and I much prefer learning history while at the site, rather than from a book. I had an even better guide and he was to be my guide for this fort, and the Taj Mahal.
I had booked a sunset tour from the gardens across the river and a sunrise tour at the Taj Mahal. The weather cleared enough to see the sun and that is the image you see above. Unfortunately, the next morning the fog was as thick as pea soup, but not green. It was rather a shade of gray that I was hoping would turn to pink, or orange, or yellow–something other than gray, but it never happened. So you are stuck with the photographs you can see here.
My guide did show me the Diana bench, with various pictures on his cell phone of other celebrities with a very clear and stunning Taj Mahal in the background. It was not meant to be this time. The tour was good despite the weather, and I enjoyed my ideally located one night at the Homestay in Agra and the visit to the shop where they described how the inlays were done in stone and how not a single drop of paint was used to make the monument that was promised to a favorite wife. It was back to the car again to the promise of pollution in Delhi and an evening flight to the western coastal town of Goa.