Our driver arrived to pick us up around 4.30am at the Jaypee Palace hotel in Agra. We were about to make the highly anticipated journey for sunrise at one of the most iconic buildings in the world. As we made the short drive through the deserted streets, the dark chill of the early morning mist hung drowsily over the city. Once the car was parked we were led down a dusty street, lined with early morning hawkers, to the main tourist gate of our destination. The Taj Mahal was described by the famous Indian artist Rabindranath Tagore as “a teardrop on the cheek of time”, and is one of the world’s greatest legacies, created by one lover as a memorial and eternal gift to another. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan constructed the magnificent white marble mausoleum to express his undying love to his second and favourite wife Mumtaz. The Taj Mahal is nothing less than the crown of India, lavishly created, extraordinarily unique, awe-striking, an irresistible beauty, luring millions of visitors every year, thousands daily.
