This article is part of a weekly series on cruising in The Sun Herald, Sydney. If you are interested in being featured, please send an email to jane@janeefraser.com.au.
WHO David Farrell, of Cremorne Point, Sydney, on his seventh cruise.
WHAT Visiting the Taj Mahal in India. The excursion also included a visit to the nearby Agra Fort.
WHERE Passengers taking this particular excursion to the Taj Mahal left the cruise ship in Goa, on the west coast of India. They later re-joined the cruise further north at Mumbai.
THE SHIP David cruised with his wife, Marie, on the Regent Seven Seas Cruises vessel, the Seven Seas Voyager (rssc.com), on a 37-night cruise from Singapore to Athens, via the Middle East.
“We got off the ship in Goa and flew to Agra; there were about 90 of us, on a chartered flight.
“We were taken to a five-star hotel in Agra, where we were staying for three nights. The hotel was behind high walls, and if you went up to the viewing platform on the roof, you could see the Taj Mahal in the distance.
“The next morning we got up very early and got on an airconditioned coach to get to the Taj Mahal in time for sunrise.
“India is a chaotic, messy, dirty place and it was a bit of an assault on the senses. As we were driving through, many of the city’s inhabitants were stirring and waking from where they had slept at the side of the road.
“Once we were inside the wall of the Taj Mahal, it was… (click here to keep reading)
