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Once upon a time, there was an Emperor called Akbar. He went to see a Sufi saint called Shaikh Salim Chisti, who foretold that Akbar would have a male child. When this came true, Akbar was so impressed that he decided to move his capital to the Saint’s obscure hometown – Fatehpur Sikri. Note that Akbar had three wives and five thousand girlfriends, so this story isn’t exactly trustworthy.
When Akbar died, there was no longer any reason to keep the capital here, and the city was abandoned in 1585 after only fourteen years of habitation.
Today, the well-preserved ruins are nice excuse to go on a day trip from Agra. The only drawback is the swarms of postcard-selling touts, guides and various con-artists that swarm the area. You can avoid these guys by hiring one. We paid a guy two USD to accompany us, and people miraculously stopped approaching us. Believe me, it was far more pleasant this way.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 7:12 am and is filed under Uttar Pradesh. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
About Us
You know the saying, “to fly by the seat of your pants?” Well, that's been our philosophy for most of our adult lives – before and after meeting, falling in love and marrying. We're now taking that idea on an extended round-the-world trip. Follow us as we share the good, the bad and the downright nasty of life on the road.
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