A group of four friends who were initially planning to go to Bhangarh and later changed their plan to go to sariska finally ended up going to Fatehpur Sikri .I wonder how great is our planning department because what we plan initially would never ever been converted into reality.Finally we all four of us embarked our journey to Fatehpur Sikri in Maruti Ritz(“Live the moment”).

A city that was once the proud capital of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century, Fatehpur Sikri now stands deserted as a well preserved ghost town. It was abandoned by its occupants after only 15 years due to insufficient water supply.

Fatehpur Sikri was established by Emperor Akbar from the twin villages of Fatehpur and Sikri as tribute to famous Sufi saint, Sheikh Salim Chishti. The saint accurately predicted the birth of Emperor Akbar’s much longed for son.

On the way

The most loved monument of world is outcome of someone’s passionate love for his beloved. With all of its hypnotic and magnetic power, Taj is simply irresistible.  After my last trip to Bharatpur I decided to go further this time on the same route and the obvious choice was Taj and later Fatehpur Sikri was also included in the list. Here we took a smart decision that since Taj is undoubtedly best among all so let’s see it in last otherwise it’ll be difficult to enjoy any other place.

We started little late, around 8 in the morning and covered the distance of some 190 km in 3 hours, from there the sign board indicating right turn to Fatehpur just few km before Agra. It was around 35 km from there to Fatehpur Sikri. The entire stretch is nicely built and drive is pretty smooth. Just after crossing the last Tole point, few local people will try to stop you for a receipt of municipality development fee, don’t bother to stop and drive through extreme right as they are simply hooligans.

Entry to Fatehpur Sikri is through ‘Agra gate’ and just at entry point there is a right cut to VIP entry which we used to save our time. I had my press card with me otherwise a little confidence would do the trick. Just before main palace area there s again a slight right cut which will lead you to Birbal Palace. This is open architecture and one can go upstairs to see the view.

Again back to main entry, and first we had encountered with a large area which used to have a Taksal (a place where currency and other luxurious items were manufactured). This place doesn’t come under main complex so completely ill managed.

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