Agra

Agra is a medieval city situated on the banks of the river Yamuna. It is generally accepted that Sultan Sikandar Lodi, the Ruler of the Delhi Sultanate founded it in the year 1504. After the Sultan's death the city passed on to his son Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi. He ruled his Sultanate from Agra until he fell fighting to Babar in the First battle of Panipat fought in 1526.

The city has little else though. Pollution, especially smog and litter, is rampant and travellers are pestered by swarms of touts and hawkers at every monument, mosque, temple or palace. That said, the sites are some of the wonders of the world and no trip to India is complete without at least one visit to the Taj.

Ironically, Agra's greatest builder, the Emperor Shah Jahan, was also responsible for the subsequent decline of the city. His decision to move the capital to the new city of Shahjahanabad in Delhi marked the beginning of the eclipse of Agra as well as the Mughal Empire. Despite its importance as a military town during the days of the British Empire as well as in independent India, Agra lapsed into a second tier town on the banks of the Jamuna, and that's what it remains to this day.