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There are approximately 90 of us on a 3 day/2 night trip to Agra, India. The main purpose for this tour is to see the Taj Mahal!
Our group left the ship at 9:00 am and began our voyage with an overview bus tour of Goa. Goa is a resort town and their beaches attract regular vacationers from as far away as Russia, as well as from many inland areas of India.
The tour took us through the port area, down a road that was surrounded on both sides by what were spectacular houses built but he Portuguese in the 1800’s but now in varying states of disrepair and finally into the main part of town. The first stop was two very large Catholic churches that were across the street from each other.
The next stop was a local marketplace which had primarily fish and vegetables. Margaret didn’t get off the bus in time for this stop so Dale had to do it by himself. It was HOT! Then, we stopped at a retail shop that sold carpets and other miscellaneous handicrafts from Goa before heading to the airport.
The Goa airport is located only 5 minutes from the pier where the Voyager was docked. It is a small dual purpose airport as it serves as a military installation as well as a commercial airport.
The flight was uneventful and smooth until we arrived to the airspace over Agra. The pilot circled the airport a couple times then took a few more turns, banking each time so each side of the jet could see the Taj Mahal from 10,000 feet! Very cool, although it was pretty hazy and most of the time he had us directly over the monument. Still, a fun way to come into an airport and not common in a jet as large as a 737!
After landing we cleared customs and boarded the bus to the hotel. The ride to the hotel gave us a good overview of the poverty and slum conditions that are how many Indians live.
Agra not only has wild roaming monkeys and cows (both are sacred in the Hindu religion) they also have wandering water buffalos and dogs. This makes for an interesting drive around town.
Old Agra was once a very modern city; in fact it was more modern than London in the 1700’s. The beautiful old buildings are now crumbling and would be condemned in the U.S. There are approx. 2 ½ million people that live in Agra, a lot of them living in these crumbling old buildings. The dichotomy here is that 65% of the people own cell phones while 65% do not have access to clean water.
Our hotel, the ITC Mughal, Agra, is a very nice place set in an oasis of sorts just 10 minutes from the Taj Mahal monument. At the entrance to the property there was a gate with guards dressed in formal red & white uniforms and the guards sported turbans and big bushy moustaches.
Once off the bus we had to pass through a metal detector where they screened our bags and then a mild sort of “frisk search”.
Once inside, we were impressed with the expansive white marble floors and the scent of jasmine and roses in the air. Best of all, we had a nice size and beautifully appointed room.
We dropped off our bags and went to the lobby bar for a cocktail where we met the hotel sommelier. On his urging, we tried one of the local Indian red wines (2011 vintage), it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t too bad either. We didn’t know that they grew grapes for wine in India and he explained that they are just beginning to make wine here.
Later we would learn that people in India either don’t drink or are alcoholics. This is probably overplayed but not far from the truth. Because of this, wine isn’t popular with the locals, as they tend to drink to get drunk so, for the money, they opt for stronger liquors like whiskey or rum.
We had a buffet dinner that included a mix of Indian, Asian and American dishes. During dinner we were treated to a traditional “kathak” dance performance put on by a brother and sister team. The dances and songs play out scenes from famous Hindu myths.
The best part was a song that both the brother and sister took turns singing while the other danced. It was called Tee Tah Da Da (check it out) and was really entertaining. Click here to watch the video of the dances.
After dinner we were off to bed to try and get some sleep before our 5:00 am wake up call tomorrow morning. We are going to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise!
Cheryl - I look at these photos and ask? Do we really all live in the same world?