India • Agrar / Taj Mahal

On the journey west, we made a stop at the Taj Mahal. In Joey's Hostel we found a wonderful place with a view of the Taj. People from all over the world lined up around the campfire on the roof terrace to enjoy the view of the Taj Mahal, an Indian employee of the hostel who is an Elvis fan and played Hotel California and other soul songs for us with his guitar. A green dream - this hippi café ;)

A little unfortunately, the UNESCO World Heritage Site Taj Mahal was shrouded in fog during our visit, which was also very magical, even though we got up at 6:30 for not many people at the Taj Mahal. Since it is a mausoleum, the tomb of the king and his wife is located inside, which is more than 350 years old (see information below). It was indescribably beautiful to stand in this magnificent interior, a very wonderful place, with countless and valuable decorations, as well as a very special energy.

Pictures of Janis and me.

Background knowledge of Taj Mahal (excerpt from Wikipedia on Taj Mahal):

The construction of the Taj Mahal began six months after Mumtaz Mahal's death in 1632, and the building was completed in 1648. Over 20,000 craftsmen from many parts of South and Central Asia and various architects, including Ahmad Lahori and the one from Badakhshan (today Afghanistan) native Persian Abu Fazel . He fused Persian architecture with Indian elements to create an outstanding work of Indo-Islamic architecture . The building materials were brought from India and other parts of Asia with the help of around 1,000 elephants .

The white marble came from the Jaipur area ( Rajasthan ), black marble from Charkoh , yellow marble from the banks of the Narbada . [ 28 different precious and semi-precious stones were set into the marble: jasper from the Punjab ,carnelian from Baghada , agate from Yemen , crystal from the Empire of China , lapis lazuli and sapphires from Ceylon , corals from the Red Sea , garnets from Bundelkhand , diamonds from Panna , onyx from Persia , blood jasper ( heliotrope ) from Fatehpur Sikri , as well as various other stones such as turquoise .