Today I met up with my new Czech friends for breakfast in Café Coffee Day.
It was a little bit of a stress as the place had no milk and no food, so I got my drinks only and then went to Joneys Place for a proper breakfast. Not the end of the world, but it took longer than I had anticipated, so was really hungry!
I agreed meet my new friends again tomorrow, to get the bus to a place called ‘Mathura’. It’s famed for being the birthplace of Lord Krishna and it is one of Hindu’s seven sacred cities.
Today, however, I decided to take the bus to Fatehpur Sikri, an ancient fortified city 40km from Agra. It was, for a short while, the capital of the Mughal Empire (1571-1585).
Emperor Akbar visited the village of Sikri to consult with a prophet who predicted that there would be an heir to the Mughal throne. The prophecy came true and Akbar built his new capital here. The site included a huge Mosque, three palaces (one for each of his favorite wives) and other buildings needed such as a Mint to make the shiny things and a Treasury.
Sadly the city was built on an area that suffered from water shortages, so after Akbar died the city was abandoned. It now has only tourists and monkeys gracing its doorways and footpaths.
I thought it was amazing. Inside the walled area it was interesting to see the three different palaces built:
– The largest, Palace of Jodh Bai, was home to Akbar’s Hindu wife, said to have been his favorite.
– The Palace of the Christian wife was used by Akbar’s Christian wife Mariam…I think that she has a very normal name considering that she was the wife of an Emperor.
– The tiny but elegant Rumi Sultana, the palace built for Akbar’s Turkish Muslim wife.
Whew! That’s a lot of building…
I really want to know where he put the rest of his wives if his three favorites got their own palaces. I bet the others were annoyed and/or jealous…or is that not a very good trait for the wife of an Emperor?!
I walked out to the old city ruins after the fortified city, but there’s not much left to see other than pigs and goats chomping away amongst the ruins!
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