I arrived at Fetehpur Sikri at 7am, way too early that I had to wait for the ticket seller to come before I could go in. I rode on a bus from Agra, and asked the driver to drop me off at Fatehpur Sikri. From where I alighted, this WHS could already be sighted -- it only took me a leisurely 15-minute walk to get to the entrance. I passed through the defensive city wall and Agra Gate, and I also explored the ruins of a marketplace on the way. I had the palace grounds all to myself for at least 30 minutes before I was joined by a group of five local tourists; hence, I enjoyed walking around and getting into areas I might not even had been supposed to be entering. Indeed, Fatehpur Sikri is not short of the "chattris" it is quite known for and almost everything is made of red sandstone! I spent some time sitting at a nice spot by the western edge, looking out towards the Elephant Tower. There were peacocks and locals going about their morning routines on that side, too.

When I entered the Jama Masjid, I was surprised at the sudden change of scene: while the palace grounds were almost empty, the mosque was already busy with tourists and devotees alike. Aside from being an active place of worship, the mosque does not require any entrance fee to get in (back in 2015, it was 250 rupees to get in FS palace grounds, in 2019 it is already 600 rupees). I remember being greeted by lot of butterflies in between the palace grounds and the mosque, of which I was truly fascinated by. I checked out the tomb of Salim Chisti, an exemplary architectural work in white marble, and went around the complex. The Buland Darwaza is immensely monumental, so much so that it dwarfs not only the mosque complex but also the town below it. It is said to be the tallest gateway in the world. I hurriedly explored the town a bit before hiring a tuk-tuk to take me to the bus stand where I could get a ride to proceed to Keoladeo National Park, an hour trip away.

Fatehpur Sikri is said to be the realization of a city that is purely Mughal terms. While it was not a disappointing site --it is architecturally very playful!-- and while I enjoyed my experience there, having seen Agra fort the day before, I could not help but to compare the two: Agra fort was more remarkable sans the crowd.