This is your New Year's gift, " The Magnificent TAJ MAHAL"

This last post is dedicated to: Marry, Aruna, Zayna, Kaya,  Zaheen, Sultan, Nawal, Dan  and all those who followed our adventures in India through my blog.

Through these pictures, I hope I succeeded in bringing to you all, the Taj Mahal as my littlle daughter Marry asked me before our departure.

Brief history:

The Tai Mahal is one of the eight wonders of the world and was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife Mumtaz Mahal who died during the birth of their 14th child. The construction started in 1632 and ended in 1648 but the surrounding buildings and gardens were finished five years later.

Emperor Shah Jahan himself described the Taj in these words:

Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be washed away.
The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has been made;
To display thereby the creator's glory.

 Wikipedia

 Top of first entrance from the road.

The First entrance from the road.

 Metal detector and ticket check. Rs 20 for Indians and Rs. 750 for tourists.

 This is how you should see the Taj Mahal from the 2nd entrance door. It was built with this in mind. Incredible...

This is the 2nd entrance door from inside. 
The Man is our Guide "Joney" and he did not know where the toilets were..... crooks everywhere in India, so beware.... 
 I read all about the Taj Mahal and view lots of documentaries so he could not lie to us then he started talking about legends that do not appear in any books... lol

 The best monument to visit in India.

The mosque on the left of the Tai Mahal.

Some close-up fotos to appreciate the craftsmanship of that time.

  
The door that leads to the two tombs - fotos are not allowed inside and without flash it's not possible. 
At the Taj Mahal every part is symmetrical except the two tombs because the emperor's  tomb was not planned during the building of the Taj Mahal and was added next to his wife later.

River Yamuna at the back of the Taj Mahal.

 

This photo of Feeroza and I was taken by my friend Pradeep.

I took this photo of Pradeep and Aneeza his wife. I was very happy to know them and we lived the adventures together.

The Mosque on the left side of the Taj Mahal.

A water well.

With these fotos I conclude our tour of India in pictures. Thank you for participating in our adventures. A big thank you to Sultan who was the blog coordinator and who took care of  everything in our absence. I know you are a good cook now because the welcome food was excellent, keep it up!

Please feel free to visit the blog and view the fotos again and send the link to your relatives and friends who are planning to visit India.

See you all in our next adventures planned Incha Allah for Dec. 2014 on the "Great Wall"  in China.