City Orientation Walk

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1 Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 1 - City Orientation Walk Agra, the former capital of India under the powerful Mughal emperors, today is perhaps India's most popular tourist destination, in large part due to the magnificent Taj Mahal located here. Still, other than the iconic mausoleum, Agra is renowned for its colossal historic heritage manifested in numerous sites. To find out what else the city has to offer, take this orientation walk! Guide Location: India» Agra # of Attractions: 6 Tour Duration: 3 hour(s) Travel Distance: 6.5 km Please note: This walk is also featured in the mobile app "GPSmyCity: Walks in 1K+ Cities" downloadable on itunes App Store and Google Play. The app provides turn-by-turn GPS navigation to guide you from one tour sight to the next, so you will never be lost. The apps offer additional walking tours in Agra. Check them out! GPSmyCity offers self-guided walking tours in over 1,000 city around the world. Please visit for more walking tour offers. List of attractions included in this self-guided walking tour: A) Ram Bagh B) Chini-ka-Rauza C) Itimad-ud-Daulah D) Agra Fort E) Jama Masjid F) Kinari Bazaar Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 1 -

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The garden is a Persian garden, where pathways and canals divide the garden to represent the Islamic ideal of paradise, an abundant garden through which rivers flow.

4 Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 4 - A) Ram Bagh The Ram Bagh is the oldest Mughal Garden in India, originally built by the Mughal Emperor Babur in 1528, located about five kilometers northeast of the Taj Mahal in Agra. The garden is a Persian garden, where pathways and canals divide the garden to represent the Islamic ideal of paradise, an abundant garden through which rivers flow. The garden has numerous water courses and fountains. The name is a corruption of the Persian Aaram Bagh meaning 'Garden of Rest'. It is also variously known as Bagh-i Nur Afshan 'Light-Scattering Garden', Aalsi Bagh or 'Lazy Garden': according to legend, Emperor Akbar proposed to his third wife, who was a gardner there, by lying idle for 6 days until she agreed to marry him. The preserved, surviving architecture dates to Jahangir's reign and demonstrates the skill of his wife Nur Jahan as a garden designer. Opening hours: from sunrise to sunset. Address: Etmadpur, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India Image Courtesy of Flickr and varunshiv. Sight description based on Wikipedia. B) Chini-ka-Rauza (must see) Chini ka Rauza is a funerary monument, rauza in Agra, India, containing the tomb of Allama Afzal Khan Mullah, a scholar and poet who was the Prime Minister of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. The tomb was built in This outstanding mausoleum features eight beautifully indented arches in the octagonal chamber, wonderful multicolored glazed tiles, beautiful decoration, and a great Afghan-style bulbous dome. Chini-ka-Rauza is considered a milestone in Indo-Persian architecture, as it is the very first building in India that has been exclusively decorated by the glazed tile works. The most distinctive feature of the tomb is the colorful tiles or chini, from which the mausoleum gets its name. The tomb is rectangular in shape and is constructed mainly of brown stone. The walls of the tomb are adorned with inscriptions and colored tiles that give a distinctive look to the structure. Address: Chini-ka-Rauza, Agra, India Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Varun Shiv Kapur. Sight description based on Wikipedia. Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 4 -

Mahal. Along with the main building, the structure consists of numerous outbuildings and gardens.

5 Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 5 - C) Itimad-ud-Daulah (must see) Itmad-ud-Daula's Tomb is a Mughal mausoleum, often described as 'jewel box', sometimes called the 'Baby Tāj', and often regarded as a draft of the Tāj Mahal. Along with the main building, the structure consists of numerous outbuildings and gardens. The tomb, built between 1622 and 1628 represents a transition between the first phase of monumental Mughal architecture - primarily built from red sandstone with marble decorations to its second phase, based on white marble and pietra dura inlay. The mausoleum is set in a large cruciform garden criss-crossed by water courses and walkways and covers about 23 square meters. On each corner it has hexagonal towers, about 13m tall. The walls are white marble from Rajasthan encrusted with semi-precious stone decorations - carnelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, onyx, and topaz formed into images of cypress trees and wine bottles, or more elaborate decorations like cut fruit or vases containing bouquets. Opening hours: Monday - Sunday: from sunrise till sunset. Address: Itimad-ud-Daulah, Agra, India Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Núria Pueyo. Sight description based on Wikipedia. D) Agra Fort (must see) Agra Fort is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Agra about 2.5 km northwest of its more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled city. The 94-acre (380,000 m2) fort has a semicircular plan, its chord lies parallel to the river and its walls are seventy feet high. Double ramparts have massive circular bastions at intervals, with battlements, embrasures, machicolations and string courses. Four gates were provided on its four sides, one Khizri gate opening on to the river. Two of the fort's gates are notable: the "Delhi Gate" and the "Lahore Gate", also known as the "Amar Singh Gate". Because the Indian military (the Parachute Brigade in particular) is still using the northern portion of the Agra Fort, the Delhi Gate cannot be used by the public. Tourists enter via the Amar Singh Gate. Under Akbar's reign, 1,444,000 builders worked on the fort for eight years, completing it in The site is very important in terms of architectural history, some of the most historically interesting mixing of Hindu and Islamic architecture are found here. Agra Fort is one of five wonders for the Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 5 -

E) Jama Masjid (must see) Jama Masjid in Agra is opposite the Agra fort and overlooking the Agra Fort Railway Station.

6 Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 6 - Indian civilization. Opening hours: Monday - Sunday: from sunrise to sunset. Address: NH3, Rakabganj, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and David Castor. Sight description based on Wikipedia. E) Jama Masjid (must see) Jama Masjid in Agra is opposite the Agra fort and overlooking the Agra Fort Railway Station. The Jama Masjid is also popularly known as the Jami Masjid or "Friday Mosque" and is one of the largest mosques in India. The Mosque was built by Shah Jahan in 1648 and dedicated to his favorite daughter, Jahanara Begum. Jama Masjid Mosque is a very simple mosque of red sandstone with little white marble decoration and blue color paint wall and ceilings and is surrounded by a great bazaar. Still in use today, the mosque is one of the city's main landmarks, and serves as a useful reference point when exploring the crowded bazaars that sprawl from its base. Jami Masjid is beautifully decorated with paintings, inlaid stones, carvings and glazed tiles. Address: Jama Masjid, Agra, India Image Courtesy of Flickr and sayamindu. Sight description based on Wikipedia. F) Kinari Bazaar (must see) Kinari Bazaar is one of the most popular city markets, located to the northwest of Agra fort. This highly reputed market of Agra is the perfect place to find things for wedding ceremonies, including gorgeous bridal jewelry, wonderfully crafted gold and silver garlands, clothes for wedding ceremonies and other beautiful wedding accessories, no matter what the religion. Address: Kinari Bazaar, Agra, India Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Appaiah Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 6 -

Agra Taj Mahal Walking Tour

Copyright by GPSmyCity.com - Page 1 - Agra Taj Mahal Walking Tour Agra is most known for containing one of the seven wonders of the modern world - the Taj Mahal. This finest example of Mughal architecture