Seeing that first glimpse of the Taj Mahal framed by the arches of the gate house, i was overcome with emotion. It is more beautiful than the photos you have seen. I had wanted to come here since i was eight years old and the place is magic. Take a wonder away from the crowds and find somewhere to sit and reflect.  I did find it a bit lifeless, even though it is beautiful, it is still a tomb. I wasnt really expected for that. I also loved the pictures i bought for about 100 rupees, three pictures, developed on the day.  Savour the experience, it is so very memorable.

Last night I arrived in Agra. The
next morning I got up to go see the Taj Mahal at
sunrise. I'm not too used to getting up early on
vacation but WOW was it absolutely worth it. Not only
was the temperature lovely, but the crowds were very
thin. I hired a rickshaw driver to take me around all
day since so many of Agra's sites are so spread out.
The rickshaw was only 300R...and even thought seeing
the Taj Mahal costs 750R it is more than worth the
cost.

There are these amazing red sand stone gates and walls
that surround the Taj and you can enter from the west,
east or south....to the north is a river. I went in
the west gate and when you first walk in there a big
open grassy area and then another sandstone gateway
that you walk through. And through this gateway the
beauty unfolds in an amazing symmetrical pattern.
There is a garden directly in front of the Taj that's
seperated into four quarters and has waterways
running down the middle of each section. Then to the
left of the Taj is a mosque and an identical building
on the right of the Taj that is supposed to have
housed travellers. Then the Taj itself is raised up
about 15 feet. It is such an incredible building. I
have to admit at the beginning of this trip I was not
planning on going to the Taj Mahal because I kind of
figured it was all hype and blah blah blah....but WOW
it truly is an amazing wonder.

First I kept walking around it a few times. Absolutely
stunned by the ultra intricate marble construction and
the amazing symmetry of the place. It is mind-blowing.
Every side is exactly the same and in pictures the
scale of things makes it look small but it is huge!
All around the building and alll in the inside as well
is marble-inlaid work. They took semi-precious stones
and artists and architectures working for years and
years on this gorgeous creation. Then I finally went
inside and it was so breath-taking. A lot of times you
can go to a place that seems to hold a certain energy-
how some places make you fell good and others
don't...I'm sure you know what I mean. This place
brought me to tears literally. It was constructed as a
symbol of love by a Mughal emperor, a tomb to house
his wife's body when she died giving birth to their
13th child I think. And you can totally feel the power
of not only his love for her but also the love that
these artisits had for their work. It is so
overwhelmingly amazing. Again I am lost for the right
words to truly convey the experience. I hope you all
get a chance one day to see it.

We saw the Taj Mahal as a day trip from Delhi on our last full day in India. The train ride from Delhi to Agra was one of the least enjoyable experiences I've ever had while traveling, and I can't say that Agra itself was much better. But the Taj Mahal is popular and famous for a reason, and it really is amazing! I went with a friend that really doesn't like "tourist" sites (even those considered to be "Wonders" of the world), and even she had nothing but good things to say about it. You don't realize until you're close up just how ornately decorated it is. It's incredible what the workers were able to do with marble! It is pushy and crowded there, and you'll never be asked to pose in more family photos in your life, but once you get past that it's a fantastic experience (though I have to admit, I thought it was kind of fun to pose in pictures with other people's families!). When my brother went to India in 2005, he had a bit of a problem though. He took his shoes off before entering the Taj, and left them with the other shoes that he saw lined up (not realizing that there was a check-in area for tourists to leave their shoes). Not surprisingly he came back to find his nice sneakers long-gone, and had to hop his way across the scorching marble to the lost and found to claim a pair of old sandals to get him home. When I visited in 2007 they offered us covers to put over our shoes once we got to the entrance to the tomb so that we all could avoid having to leave them outside. At first I still thought it was disrespectful to leave our shoes on even with covers over them, but tourists and locals alike were doing the same thing. So enjoy yourself, and keep track of your shoes!! :)

El Taj Mahal ( hindi : ताज महल, urdu : تاج محل; pronunciado /tɑʒ mə'hɑl/ ) es un complejo de edificios construido entre 1631 y 1654 en la ciudad de Agra , estado de Uttar Pradesh , India , a orillas del río Yamuna , por el emperador musulmán Sha Jahan de la dinastía mogol . El imponente conjunto se erigió en honor de su esposa favorita, Arjumand Bano Begum — más conocida como Mumtaz Mahal — quien murió dando a luz a su 14º hijo, y se estima que la construcción demandó el esfuerzo de unos 20.000 obreros.

Strategically located at the heart of India in the rich alluvial plains between the great Ganga and Yamuna rivers, Agra was a vibrant religious and commercial centre for 3,000 years. But it matured and perfected itself only when the Mughals chose to make it their home. Agra became the grand theatre in which they played out the entire range of human emotions on a titanic scale: their loves and passions for which they could kill and be killed, their tremendous energy, their mercurial moods and lust for power which made them drive their armies across vast swathes of inhospitable lands. And yet they can hardly be dismissed as rapacious invaders, or indolent, sybaritic rulers. What elevated them into grand figures that dominated Indian history was not simply their ability to consolidate territory, but their grace, their compassion, refinement, love of nature and, above all, devotion to the arts. This is what has endured. Among the legacies the Mughals bestowed, one emerged as India’s most enduring icon — the Taj Mahal. This monument to perfection sits by the Yamuna’s banks in the Mughals’ former capital, a short walk away from the red sandstone Agra Fort added to by three Mughal emperors, near the ruins of Akbar’s abandoned capital of Fatehpur Sikri. Across the river from the Taj lie the gardens laid out in remembrance of his Central Asian homeland by the founding Mughal, buried today under ever-growing Agra, and apathy.