Agra and the Taj Mahal go hand in hand and is often the first or second city many tourists see. Most fly into Delhi and either do a day trip to Agra or spend one night in Agra so they can beat the crowds and see the Taj at sunrise. Delhi, for its size is actually quite nice with lots of tree-lined and well manicured boulevards. There are definitely many bad areas but our first impression over all was positive. We arrived into Agra on Monday January 22nd to one of the ugliest, dirty, smelly and congested cities we have seen in India to date. Fortunately this wasn’t a “first impressions of India” for us but for those who it was, well I’m sure they were in for a very big surprise. The Taj is magnificent and that’s all Agra has to offer. Our hotel, (the Ganga Ratan, don’t ever stay there) was disgusting with mice running around the bar area and one very large mouse or small rat making a quick exit when we entered our room. We nearly gagged all night long smelling the putrid polluted air and then dealt with the worst management you can imagine over our breakfast not being included because we didn’t book through a hotel booking web site. Anyway, crappy place with an amazing Mahal.
