The road to Agra and Fatehpur Sikri (Lorie in India, Blog #3)

On Day 2 in Delhi, we took a long car trip with a hired driver to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is.  We also wanted to see another site from the Moghul period, Fatehpur Sikri, a short term capital of India during the reign of Emperor Akbar.  While we started at 6 AM, our driver got lost finding Fatehpur Sikri, so we drove through the countryside for 5 hours before we got there.  This was a blessing in disguise, although somewhat annoying (he was trying to avoid paying tolls on toll roads), because it was great to see small villages with goats, water buffalos, huts, markets, and the agricultural fields.  This is a well farmed area- a great flat plain near Delhi.

We stopped on the way for breakfast, and I ate my new favorie traditional northern breakfast consisting of a potato chapatti (forgot its name) which is dipped in a semi-liquid yogurt called curds.  The yogurt is tart and delicious.  This is served with massala tea, or chai, cooked with milk and generally drunk sweetened.  It is also sometimes serve with dal, a lentil mash or stew.  Yum.

The old and the new- always side by side

Fatepur Sikri is a red sandstone palace of great dimensions, a city really, which was built by Emperor Akbar after a Sufi Saint there prophesied that he would have three sons, and he did.  He built it in gratitude, and made the capital there for a time.  Akbur is famous for trying to heal the rift between religions.  He had three wives, the story goes, one Christian, one Hindu, one Moslem.  The castle has sections built for each wife, according the architecture of each group.  This makes the city good architectural history, especially since it was deserted so things are intact.  This pillar is decorated in three parts, to also represent these different religions of India.