We traveled to Agra which is the base camp for the Taj Mahal. It does however have some must-do sites itself. On the way we stopped at the Chand Baori stepped well. It’s from the 8th-9th century. There are 3,500 steps over 13 stories reaching a depth of 100 feet.
There are open rooms half-way down for the royal family so they could escape from the heat. It is 5-6 degrees cooler in the well compared to the surface.
And then we carried on to the huge fort at Agra.
The fort had a number of lines of defense. The first moat was filled with crocodiles. If you escaped the crocodiles, then you had to dodge the arrows fired by the archers on the ramparts. If you somehow still made it over the ramparts, then you were in the jungle moat filled with elephants crazed by being fed with opium. And there was still more walls, boiling oil, and swords to come.
Not a bad prison.
Next stop the Taj Mahal…
