We arrived in Agra on Tuesday afternoon and spent the rest of the day doing schoolwork and relaxing. On Wednesday we didn’t do any exploring but rather focused on schoolwork and enjoying the amenities of the Courtyard Agra hotel. Then Thursday was the big day and the reason we had come to Agra: our sunrise tour of the Taj Mahal! I had booked a 5:30am pick up, and we all spent the days leading up crossing our fingers that the weather would be clear since India is still deep in the monsoon season. But we got so lucky and it was the clearest morning we had seen in awhile. It was rough to get up sop early (4:45am alarm!) but so worth it! It was less crowded, less hot and the light was beautiful. I found our guide through Get Your Guide, and he did a very good job explaining enough so we all learned but not too much to overwhelm us. It was a private tour so we got to go at our own pace.

We entered through the West Gate, into the Jilaukhana (courtyard) towards the Great Gate (or “Darwaza-i-rauza”) which was interesting and a great photo opportunity. It took 22 years to build the Taj Mahal, symbolized by the small domes on the top of the Great Gate. It also had some very impressive and intricate floral and geometric carvings. It is a true masterpiece of Mughal architecture!

We walked through the gate and caught our first glimpse of the beautiful Taj Mahal!

We took our time, walking slowly towards the Taj, enjoying the sunrise, the reflection in the pools and the beauty. We took a million photos (our guide was wonderful about knowing exactly where we should stand and which poses would be fun). Enjoy!

We also took some photos looking backwards, towards the Great Gate.

A look at the two main outbuildings: the mosque to the left and the guest house (that was never used as a guest house and built entirely for symmetry on the grounds) on the right:

And a closer look at the amazing craftsmanship. We were in awe! No photos allowed inside the mausoleum but there you could really see the very impressive “pietra dura”, a technique of inlaying precious and semi-precious stones into the marble to form complex designs.

After we spent a few hours exploring the Taj Mahal and surrounding area, our guide took us back to our hotel so we could have breakfast. On the way there, he said he wanted to show us a how they do the “pietra dura” and took us to a workshop where descendants of the original Mughal artisans continue to work with the same materials to create gorgeous marble inlay. It was fascinating! We got to learn about the different techniques and how the process works and even got to try a little ourselves.

After breakfast, we headed back out again, with our tour guide again, this time to Agra Fort. We weren’t sure if we wanted to go since we were all pretty tired and it was getting hot, but we are glad we did. Especially since our guide was able to take us through and explain the significance of different parts. The Fort is a 16th-century Mughal fortress and later, Shah Jahan (who built the Taj Mahal in the memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal) was imprisoned in the Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb after the Mughal war of succession. I like it when there is an interesting story to connect monuments and make them feel more “alive” after so many years.

A fun day where we learned so much! If you ever find yourself in India, a trip to Agra is a must! As a city, we liked it the most out of the three we visited. Starting in 1996, the Indian government has been developing the Taj Trapezium Zone, increasing tree-planting efforts to create a green buffer to reduce pollution near the Taj Mahal, and you can feel the difference from other Indian cities. It also felt a bit calmer but maybe we are just getting used to the chaos!