Another shot
from the
trees.
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Almost
gone
.
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The final tree shot
with a little of the mosque on the
left.
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This was my guide. Apparently he
was very well known and respected. Many guides would greet
him, then turn and tell their guests how important my guide was
- or something to that effect. I never really found out why or what
his experiences were, but I do know he's traveled a lot and was
pretty well educated.
Most of the toursists had
guides. There were groups of Japanese, Germans and Americans
all with guides. There were only a few tourists going it
alone.
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Parting
shot.
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On our way back to
the car we passed these
Dromedaries. A Dromedary is what we
usually refer to Camels as, but Dromedaries have only one
hump. Camels have two. Camels, Dromedaries, Llamas and Alpacas all belong to
the same
species.
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We
also passed these monkies. Having now seen them quite a
few times in the wild I have a whole new view of them (at least
this kind). At first they're pretty cute and do many human-like
things. In the end they're no different then squirrels or other
such mammels that scavenge and live in
trees.
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The final place of the visit in Agra was the
fort. Fort doesn't exactly capture what this place
was. Yes it has walls, a moat and the military still occupies 3/4 of
it, but it was also a palace and cultural center of a
nation. The fort, or some variation of it has been around for
centuries. It was the great Mughals (yes them again) that made this
place great.
How was it great? This particular courtyard was
a rose garden in the cooler months of the year. While the roses were
blooming, they would collect all the rose petals. In the summer when
the roses wouldn't grow, they made rose water from the petals and
pumped it through the fountain in the center. See the two story wall
on the far side with the red awning on top and red stripe though the
middle over the arches? The red in the middle has sandstone eyelets
periodically placed around the three walled sides of the courtyard.
Through the eyelets they would run poles to hold up canopies across
the courtyard and provide shade. At the back, of
course, is white marble like the
Taj.
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You can see at the left, there's some gold
coloring. The ceilings and some of the walls had gold detail. Over
time vandels have stolen most of the gold, but it was there. It was
just one part of
the
beauty.
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Like I said, it was also a fort. Here's a shot
of the two outer walls. It was really quite amazing. Outside the
first wall was a moat with crocodiles and such. Between the first
and second walls was another moat of sorts, but it apparently held
tigers or other land carnivores. What I found the coolest was that
once inside the second wall, you still had to climb a hill to get to
the fort/palace. It was the ultimate
defensable
ground.
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