Agra

(Backblipped on 24th as we had no internet in last night's hotel.)


Just a quick overnight stop in Delhi last night before heading off early this morning to Agra.  For this leg of the journey we have a coach and with only twelve of us on the tour there is plenty of room to spread out and relax.  After a stop for lunch we checked into our hotel before heading off to the Red Fort.  I've seen photos of the outside before but hadn't realised just how large it is, with several different complexes of buildings.  A fascinating place to visit; we managed to spend several hours there.

We were then taken to a place making and selling inlaid marble items from small to massive.  All undoubtedly beautiful stuff but I think the group are all seasoned enough travellers to have spotted the ploy a mile off.  A demonstration of how the items are made, followed by a talk about the products and their history, after which we were allowed to wander around the showroom pursued, of course, by a pack of salesmen.  I always have a policy of not accepting any hospitality from them and then refusing to enter any meaningful conversation with the salesmen, and they soon get the drift.  To be fair, this lot weren't nearly as bad as the carpet salesmen we experienced in Turkey a couple of years ago but I wonder why holiday companies feel the need to include this sort of thing on their itineraries?  I actually complained to the tour operator about the Turkey experience.

An early night tonight as we have a (very) early start in the morning; being picked up outside the hotel at 5.15am!