The Background : The discussions of a Day trip to Agra
started here.
The Plan : Wanderlustsoul, who had to come from Mumbai (The only one from outside Delhi), had booked flight tickets to Delhi & had made hotel booking also near CP, which is close to my office. We were supposed to leave on Sunday early in the morning. Before that we all had decided to attend the
BCMT dhaba meet on Saturday evening. I had work at office on Saturday also & hence I offered wanderlustsoul that I'll take her to Dhaba meet, as she was not aware of the venue/location. Her flight was supposed to land at 3:00 PM after which she had to call me. Manik came to my office around three in the afternoon. From there we went to CP for some time pass till wanderlustsoul calls. After not receiving the call till 5:30 PM we decided to head to the meet. On the way I had to pick Raji as well so Manik headed for meet directly & I went to Raji's place. In heavy evening traffic of Delhi We could manage to reach dhaba only by 7:15 PM & had Manik, Piyush, Khushboo (those who had to go to Agra) waiting there apart from other BCMT members. No signs of wanderlustsoul. Finally we took it the way it was & understood that wanderlustsoul has gone somewhere wandering & decided that five of us will go next morning by my car.
The Travellers : Me, Manik, Piyush, Raji & Khushboo .
The Trip : Manik reached my place in Vaishali,Ghaziabad at 4:25 AM and after safely parking his bike in my apartment, we left the place at 4:30 AM heading towards Hauz Khas from where we had to pick Piyush & Khushboo. At 5:00 AM both were ready waiting for us at the entrance gate of Piyush's apartments. We picked them, further picked Raji from her house & headed towards Agra road only to stop in Delhi once for a tank full. The Sun started rising once we crossed Faridabad, cruising smoothly at around 100 kmph. Stopped to catch the beauty of sun rising from the horizons :
Crossing the first toll we stopped twice before hitting the second toll for clicking these beautiful scenes :
Busy photographers
A flower on the divider of the road :
The true INDIA, with temple & mosque at same location, notice the beautiful reflections in the water body :
Heading towards Agra after these short breaks, we crossed Mathura in no time & decided to have a breakfast at this dhaba :
We reached the outskirts of Agra around 9:00 AM & I called up Ajay who was supposed to meet us in Agra. He had returned from Lucknow the same morning & told us to wait immediately after the first bridge in Agra which we did. Ajay caught us in less than 5 minutes & took us to a famous shop for Lassi. :
Ajay had to get his car serviced, so he exchanged his car with a friend of his & we started towards tha Taj with Manik & Ajay in one car & rest four in mine. Reached the car parking of Taj at near 10 AM, parked the vehicles & hired a tanga to Taj, as we were not willing to walk in such heat :
There was hardly any rush for tickets, in fact Ajay was the first in queue & he returned happy with tickets in his hands :
The security at Taj was strict but it took only five minutes in the frisking & we entered the beautiful world of Taj Mahal.
The Photo-perfect Taj Mahal :
Couldnt resist myself from clicking these kids, for their wonderful smiles :
Standing Tall :
For the sake of posing :
We spent some descent 2 hrs at this monument of love & then decided to head towards Fatehpur Sikri, stopping only once in Agra for some Beer. We took only one break between Agra & Fatehpur Sikri for Lunch.
We managed to reach Fatehpur Sikri around 2:15 PM, parked our cars near to the ascent of the fort (didnt park at the main parking to avoid the long walk from there), hired an auto for the fort & soon we were in the Fatehpur fort.
The Buland Darwaza :
It was Urrs season & the atmosphere at fatehpur was festive. we hired a guide at Fatehpur just for the sake of listening to the stories of fatehpur Sikri & spent very good 1:45 hrs there, clicking the beautiful fort from different angles.
Finally after a darshan at Chishti Saheb's dargah we decided to head back to Delhi at around 4:00 PM with same seating arrangement. Stopped for a cup of tea at the junction where roads for Agra & Delhi seperate & from there Ajay went to Agra & we moved towards Delhi.
Now was the time to click the sunset, which was the last photography opportunity on this short trip. :
With only one break in between Agra & Delhi for a cup of tea & some pakoras we made it to Delhi border at 9:00 PM.
Tea Break :
Dropping everyone to there respective places We (me & Manik) reached vaishali at 11 in the Night from where Manik took his bike leaving for his home. I had a dinner & went to a sound sleep. Next day was supposed to be hectic in office.
Total Distance travelled : 550 kms
Total Duration : 18.5 hours
Expense : Rs 550 per head
(Piyush & Raji : Please upload your clicks also in this thread)
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