Our second stop In Agra was directly across the river from the Taj Mahal. Prior to going to India, I didn’t even know the Taj Mahal was on a river. Most pictures of the Taj don’t show the river. Our guide said that the builder of the Taj Mahal planned to build a Black Taj Mahal on this location across the river, identical to the Taj Mahal but with black marble instead of white marble. Eventually, his son killed his brothers and put his father, the builder of the Taj Mahal, in prison at Fort Agra. So the black Taj Mahal was never built, but the building site is still here. The gardens are very extensive and symmetrical but it was primarily a great opportunity to see the Taj Mahal from another angle and with practically no other people present.

I liked the first photo because it made me think about what it was like for people back in those days to be travelling along and all of a sudden, see the Taj Mahal sticking up from out of the foliage. I really enjoyed my first view of the Taj Mahal from here.

The second photo shows the Taj Mahal with the river in front of it. The river was at low tide when we were there and it was close to sundown.

I zoomed in to take the third photo. You can again see the river in front. I also was amazed to see so many people at the Taj Mahal. Also, the foundation level of the Taj is red sandstone with inlaid white marble, while the tomb itself is white marble with inlaid stones, much like at the Baby Taj.