Fatehpur Sikri

We arrived nice and early (having risen so early to literally catch the 'early birds' in Bharatpur), and I checked out a couple of places, staying in the nice Goverdhan. Pretty much straight away we walked up towards the city complex of Fatehpur Sikri, stopping first at the very impressive mosque.

Inside the mosque was a beautiful pure-white marble mausoleum, accessed via a massively impressive front gateway. So we strolled about here for a bit, passing a group of schoolkids all learning the Koran off by heart. I've always felt sorry for muslim kids having to learn the whole thing by heart, as it reminds of messing in school and pretending to make Jim McMahon and Bobby White learn the Bible off by heart and recite it backwards. Anyways, these kids seemed to be enjoying themselves, waving and laughing at us as we passed.

It's only a short stroll to the main city complex, and in this case the entrance fee was well justified. I was very impressed with the whole city, and it's amazing to think the place was deserted for lack of water after only a few years. I was particularly struck by the Diwan-i-khas, which I thought was well-cool (pictures on that Wikipedia site above).

So we spent a few hours strolling around the grounds of the city, and then headed back to the hotel. We could have, and probably should have, just gotten another bus straight to Agra, as it was still only early afternoon, but I'd agreed to stay a night and the place was pleasant enough and the restaurant recommended.

We strolled back through the new town in the late afternoon (it's a very typical Indian town, although regarded by many as somewhat dirtier and smellier than most), and made our way to the Sunset View Hotel, which we had been told had good views for sunset. We had to negogiate our way through a rubbish tip to get there (as the guy who recommended the place had told us), but unfortunately the sun was obsured by cloud, so we didn't get much of a sunset. The views over the extensive plains was nice for a beer or two though.

Next morning was a leisurely stroll to the bus stand to get a local bus the 40km to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.