Agra, Jaipur and Goa, India – what to visit

Hey hey! In my previous post about India I promised you that my story will be more positive soon. Here it comes the positive side of India and most specifically what to visit while in Agra, Jaipur and Goa. 😀 Well…positive, at least most of the time…

Agra

Our next stop was Agra. We had only one day here so the plan was to visit as much as possible during our stay. The hotel that we picked -Aura Mumtaz Mahal (the hotel itself was ok, not the best one, but absolutely fine for one night) had a beautiful view towars Taj Mahal, unfortunately the weather in the morning was a bit cloudy and we couldn’t enjoy it that much.

The city itself is not that big, it looks quite poor, relatively dirty, but nothing compared to New Delhi. We learnt our lesson and we used tuc-tucs as transportation all the time. Some of the vehicles are not big, usually for 4 people, but in a tuc-tuc there is always space for one more, so from time to time the six of us traveled one on top of the others in order to fit. It was actually quite funny.

As you can imagine our main priority was to visit one of the Seven world wonders – Taj Mahal. I read an article that in several years the monument won’t be open for public and will disappear because it is drowning. The marble construction is really heavy and the bases cannot handle it as river Yamuna is passing just right next to it. I don’t know if this is true, but we decided to visit it just in case, you cannot miss this unique wonder. Couple of years ago I decided that in the next few years I will visit all the 7 wonders and I am working on it! Taj Mahal was my number 2. There are several entrances, but we had to go to the main one (there is a wall that is surrounding the area), because we booked our tickets online. Unfortunately we didn’t receive any tickets, even though they charged us, but we had the confirmation that we had bought them. We exchanged several e-mails with their customer service department and they assured us that we have a reservation, but we still were not absolutely convinced. We arrived there and of course there was a problem with the reservation, so we had to spend more than 1-2h outside, discussing with the employees the situation. We had printed the whole e-mail chain, but they couldn’t find our tickets. We requested a refund and then we bought new tickets. I told you, India works differently.

Taj Mahal deserves to be one of the seven wonders. There is a strict security check before going inside. In India all the lines are divided by genders and women are always being checked behind curtains. You are not allowed to take food and drinks inside, they take even your bubble gum!

I was afraid that I will be disappointed in the end, because this is what usually happens when you have heard so much about the place.. but not in this case. I was mesmerized! It is crowded, that is true, but you can easily find a free spot and make the most stunning picture ever! In front of the mausoleum (yes, Taj Mahal is not a palace, but a mausoleum, built to house the tomb of the favorite wife of  Indian emperor Shah Jahan), there are beautiful gardens and several fountains. Just in front of the ivory-white building you have to put some overshoes that they give you together with the ticket. This way it remains white and clean.

The building is so beautiful from outside! Every single detail is on the right place! At the far end of the complex are two grand red sandstone buildings that mirror each other, and face the sides of the tomb. The backs of the buildings parallel the western and eastern walls.

The western building is a mosque and the other is the jawab (answer), thought to have been constructed for architectural balance although it may have been used as a guesthouse.

You can go inside the white building where the tomb is, but to be honest, it is not that impressive, because it is quite dark and really crowded. Here again, as usual we were being photographed quite a lot.

After leaving Taj it was already lunch time and we decided to visit the most famous restaurant right next to the monument, called Taj Restaurant (afterwards we realized that most of the restaurants in Agra are called Taj 😀 ). It had really high rate on Trip Advisor. When we entered we were quite surprised and not really sure if we want to eat there, but this was our only option so we decided to risk it all. The food is served in something that I have seen in a lot of movies, movies about prison. Its like a big tray that has several sections where different parts of the meal are placed. I think I ordered chicken masala or something like that, but there were other dishes in the plate as well. We ate just those that looked safe enough (we had a long ride planned for the next morning and squatting next to the local people along the road didn’t look as the most appealing idea, if you know what I mean 😁)

Our next stop was Agra Fort. Another beautiful place to see. You can see it from Taj and vice versa.

The tuc -tuc drivers around Taj are really greedy, we negotiated a lot, but couldn’t lower the price and we left walking. One stubborn driver started following us and in the end we got inside his tuc-tuc. Was not the price we wanted, but we appreciated the efforts. Sometimes in countries like India you realize that the difference in the price you negotiate is just few euro cents and it doesn’t make any sense. But it is more about the principle. People there lie so much about the real price that it is so hard to understand who tells the truth (even the police officers lie! ). Most of the time nobody. You are always seen as an ATM.

The fort is also amazing. It can be also called Walled City. We were convinced that our ticket for Taj gives us the right of free entrance in the Fort, but this was not true and we had to buy new tickets. The place consist of beautiful red sandstone and marble buildings in a typical Indian style, with a lot of ornaments, gardens and free monkeys running inside. The fort, as I mentioned before , reveals picturesque view towards Taj Mahal.

After leaving we had only one thing left in our agenda-a famous market -Sadar Bazaar and Kinari Bazaar being the most famous, but we were so tired that we decided to go back to the hotel and have a rest. We had to leave the hotel really early in the morning – at 4.30 a.m.!!

Jaipur

On the next day we headed to Jaipur. It was a 5 hours ride and we had to leave early in the morning. The hotel offers transportation services, so they found us a big car to take us to Jaipur. Advice – when you request a transport and they offer you a price and you agree on that, double confirm and have the confirmation in written, because as usual they will try to lie to you and to higher the price in the end. We paid around 70 euro for the whole car.

On the way to Jaipur there is an interesting temple to be seen Chand Baori, but when we arrived, it was early, it looked closed and some shady looking men offered to take us there, but it was so suspicious and scary that we left and continued our way to Jaipur.

When we arrived I instantly liked Jaipur. It is my favorite Indian town! Let me tell you the story behind. When I was 10 I was into art and my aunt gave me one art encyclopedia for Christmas. It was about architecture and paintings. There I saw one gorgeous Palace – the Palace of the winds. I was so fascinated by it, I couldn’t even imagine that people who are not from India are able to see it. And I was so jealous, it was a dream of mine to see it one day. 18 years later when organizing the trip to India I remembered this book and I knew that I have to visit this city. And here we were, in the hometown of Hawa Mahal.

Jaipur is also known as the Pink City, because of the color of the buildings in the old town. The population of the city is 7 millions, exactly as Bulgaria. We had 2 days there and many places to visit in our agenda.

The most famous one is Amer fort and palace. It is a bit far from the city center, but it is a must see. There is a lot of hiking included, because it is located on a hill. Many many stairs. You can spend more than half day inside, it is huge! The palace has several buildings, squares, gardens, gorgeous frescoes and stunning view from above. One of the most amazing places I’ve seen so far! Before entering the palace itself there is a free walking area, many street sellers, elephant ride offers and many more. To go inside the palace you have to buy a ticket that also gives you the right to access the fort as well.

In order to get to the fort you have to pass a two km long tunnel, one part of it is under the ground and the other is outside. It was a bit hard to find it in the beginning but you can ask the guards, there is one at every corner! When the tunnel is over you have to climb another hill and hopefully in the end you will reach the fort!

Here again we had a lot of fans, two guys followed us for 2 hours in order to take the perfect selfie with us. I guess I reached my point of tolerance in Jaipur, because it was really annoying to be followed by a huge crowd of people who take pictures without even asking!

On the way back to the city we stopped to see Jal Mahal – the Water Palace. It is located inside a big lake and you can see only couple of its floors, the rest are under the water. It is really impressive view!

For the night we have selected one rooftop restaurant – Umaid Mahal Restaurant and it was the best choice ever! This time we decided to use Uber and it is actually really good!

The restaurant is on the top of one of the most expensive hotels in Jaipur. There was a live performance – local dances and music. The girls were dancing with many things placed on the top of their heads – plates, jars,etc.  It was really interesting experience. The food was delicious and the service was excellent! This will be probably the only restaurant I’ve been in India that I strongly recommend!

For the next day we planned a tour in the old Pink city where Hawa Mahal is located.

This palace is even more stunning in the real life. The story tells that the royal women were not allowed to go outside the palace and they were observing the city from their windows. Right in front of the palace there are some coffee places where you can sit on the terrace and enjoy the mesmerizing view.

The whole old city is so…pink. The architecture of the buildings is so typical, there is a big market situated there, way cleaner than the one in Delhi. It is so nice to walk around and admire. We also decided to buy our souvenirs from Jaipur and visited some local shops. Can you imagine how much negotiation this exercise included?! In the end we had scarfs, magnets, clothes and other typical Indian gifts for friends and family.

The last stop of our trip was Goa.

Goa

It is the best beach region in India and we had really high expectations. We had to spend 6 relaxing days there. We had a flight from Jaipur to Goa and we have confirmed a big car to pick us up, because our village was far from the airport -1.5h drive. When we arrived we saw a small car waiting for us and we had to find another one. Nothing goes smoothly in India!

We picked a resort in Ashwem beach, the North District of Panjim. We were supposed to stay in bungalows  – L’amore Beach Cottages ,(there was a two floor building with hotel rooms) but after arriving we realized that something is wrong. The only part that was open was the hotel part, the bungalows were under construction and they had to move us to the hotel rooms. It was actually the more expensive part of the resort. It was late and dark so we couldn’t see how it actually looks, but if the hotel part was the more luxurious one, I don’t want to imagine how the rest looks. On the next day we saw the whole picture…. The hotel didn’t have anything to do with the pictures we saw in booking.com . Before booking we checked the ranking, the reviews, the Instagram account of the place, we couldn’t even imagine how this could be the same place! We knew that September is still out of the season time, but this term has different meaning in India. Out of the season nothing works! Because of the weather  and the ocean the huge beach that we were supposed to have in front of the resort was gone, just few days before we arrived there was a huge storm and everything was broken by the hurricane. Afterwards the locals told us that they have to rebuild everything every season.

All the main attractions that the area offers were not working – waterfalls, spice farm tour, hiking, etc. So basically we couldn’t do anything. We were the only visitors, the restaurant was under construction most of the time, there were ducks and chickens walking around, there was not a single bar or restaurant in the area. And I don’t even want to mention how disappointed we were – dirty towels, not properly working showers, dust in the restaurant, construction work while eating and a mouse. Yes, a mouse in one of the rooms… When we made a complaint the owner said – oh, yes, the mouse, it comes from time to time. WTF?!?!

Anyway, we had to entertain ourselves for 6 days. Couple of days the weather was not good for sunbathing so we walked around the area. The beach is huuuge and large! We visited the closest villages, the forest, ate in a “restaurant” on the road, it was actually nice walk.

One of the crew members had a childhood dream to ride an elephant and we went. It was the only attraction that was still open. I didn’t know if I want to do it, but in the end I did. And I regret it so much now. It was uncomfortable and scary sometimes, but it was also so sad. I didn’t let the guy to hit the animal while riding, but still, you can see how sad it was. I felt so guilty that I did this. This is the only thing I regret doing while traveling and I would never do it again!

The elephants are located in Sahakari spice farm, so you can book a spice tour instead.

Everything else was closed. The rest of the days we spent at the beach, we visited the closest mall, we were basically drinking beers and relaxing at the beach.

And of course taking a lot of optical illusion pictures. At least the food in the restaurant was super delicious, cheap, the staff was nice and friendly and we had a great time by ourselves.

The best thing in Goa was the sunset.

The most amazing sunsets I’ve seen in my life! So colorful and stunning! True color explosion!

It was time to leave India.

See you soon when Travelista goes to…