Akbar's mausoleum, Sikandra

It took me a while to adjust to the scale of the monuments in India. Most of them, like this mausoleum, are set in large and beautiful gardens, so I was able to look at birds and enjoy the architecture at the same time.

This mausoleum was completed in the great Mughal building period of the early 17th century, shortly before the Taj Mahal. The craftsmanship in this ceiling is fantastic.

The contrast was stark between the beauty and serenity in the mausoleum and the noise, dirt and overcrowding in the streets of Sikandra and Agra.