The View From Mehtab Bagh

The park across the Yamuna River is the perfect spot for one more view of the Taj Mahal, and we took in sunset here. The sun sets with the light hitting the white marble, seemingly making it change colour as it goes down.

The garden was part of a series of parks along this side of the river, built by Emperor Babur, long before the Taj was there. You now need to pay an entry, and are restricted from getting down to the river's edge, but the park is well maintained now, making it a pretty peaceful place to sit and stare in awe at the monument to love across the river.

It also seemed, at the time we were there, to pull just a small crowd, and so it was a really lovely, quiet end to the day in Agra.

(I have let that photo hang over the edge on purpose - it has to be big to be fully appreciated!)

This park is also the site of the much rumoured Black Taj, the mirror mausoleum that Shah Jahan was going to build for himself, before his son imprisoned him at Agra Fort. But no trace of such plans, or foundations, have ever been found. Perhaps one more of those fierce rumours of the history of Agra.

The garden lines up perfectly with the Taj, and this side of the river also affords you a full view of the symmetrical mosques on either side, and complete vision of all four minarets around the dome of the Taj.

The Taj is such a special place to visit, and take in from all angles possible. One of the most beautiful, magical and breathtaking places I have been to, in all of my travels.