Samuel just gave me a kiss, so I'm energized now and can write about Agra Fort! I love Agra Fort almost as much as I love the Taj Mahal. It's old, gorgeous and enormous, and I love that you can guess which emperor built which sections based on their favorite building materials.
Akbar, who also built Fatehpur Sikri and was apparently really in to red sandstone, was the first to leave his mark in the 1500s. These photos are from the Amar Singh Gate, the tourist entry.
The colors are the original vegetable dyes ...
The fort is absolutely infested with monkeys, enormous, scary-looking monkeys that could probably beat me up ...
Shah Jahan (Akbar's grandson and builder of the Taj Mahal) turned part of the fort into a palace, complete with courtyards, throne rooms and mysterious underground labyrinths. His building material of choice was white marble.
There was restoration work going on during our visit ...
The palace/fort later became Shah Jahan's prison. But at least he had this view ...
You can see that Shah Jahan was in love with pietra dura ...
One of the fort's current residents ...
This courtyard was used as the ladies' bazaar ...
The Hall of Public Audiences is an open-air arched room ...
This is where the emperor would sit to meet the public ...
There's a huge well in the courtyard outside the Hall of Public Audiences, and last time I was here the kids stood peeking down the well and trying to guess what was down there. Well, now I know! There's a secret passage, of course! You can see the platform leading into a tunnel here. Our guide told us there are several passages that lead from inner rooms to various places, like the well or out to the river. Awesome!
The oldest part of the fort, built by Akbar, reminds me a lot of Fatehpur Sikri.
This is on the ceiling in a tiny side room ...
Since my three visits make me an expert (ha!), I recommend that you see the Taj and the Fort without a guide but with some reading and research before you go. The guide really didn't have much to say that I didn't already know about both sites (except for the tunnel in the well), and I felt like we sort of ran through without getting to sit and absorb the places. Others in our group wouldn't agree, though, and probably would have been dead sick of me by the time they dragged me away from all my sitting and absorbing. To each his own.
Akbar, who also built Fatehpur Sikri and was apparently really in to red sandstone, was the first to leave his mark in the 1500s. These photos are from the Amar Singh Gate, the tourist entry.
The colors are the original vegetable dyes ...
The fort is absolutely infested with monkeys, enormous, scary-looking monkeys that could probably beat me up ...
Shah Jahan (Akbar's grandson and builder of the Taj Mahal) turned part of the fort into a palace, complete with courtyards, throne rooms and mysterious underground labyrinths. His building material of choice was white marble.
There was restoration work going on during our visit ...
The palace/fort later became Shah Jahan's prison. But at least he had this view ...
You can see that Shah Jahan was in love with pietra dura ...
One of the fort's current residents ...
This courtyard was used as the ladies' bazaar ...
The Hall of Public Audiences is an open-air arched room ...
This is where the emperor would sit to meet the public ...
There's a huge well in the courtyard outside the Hall of Public Audiences, and last time I was here the kids stood peeking down the well and trying to guess what was down there. Well, now I know! There's a secret passage, of course! You can see the platform leading into a tunnel here. Our guide told us there are several passages that lead from inner rooms to various places, like the well or out to the river. Awesome!
The oldest part of the fort, built by Akbar, reminds me a lot of Fatehpur Sikri.
This is on the ceiling in a tiny side room ...
Since my three visits make me an expert (ha!), I recommend that you see the Taj and the Fort without a guide but with some reading and research before you go. The guide really didn't have much to say that I didn't already know about both sites (except for the tunnel in the well), and I felt like we sort of ran through without getting to sit and absorb the places. Others in our group wouldn't agree, though, and probably would have been dead sick of me by the time they dragged me away from all my sitting and absorbing. To each his own.
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