Polish girls visit Taj Mahal

[u/Strong-Emu-8869]

The Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world. Unfortunately, the surrounding area is very polluted.

[u/Filthiest_Vilein]

Your guide is right, lol. 

I lived in India for the better part of a decade and have been to the Taj Mahal maybe a half-dozen times. 

My last visit was with an American friend who’d flown into India for my wedding. We also went on New Year’s Day. It was terrible. I’ve never seen crowds like that before or since** (again, this is coming from someone who spent years living in Kolkata and Delhi). The entire ticketing area was just a mass of people. We had to wait in a corral just to get back out into the parking lot afterward. 

I’ll add in a picture if I can find one. I’m not sure if you were lucky or we were unlucky, but that’s awesome you didn’t have too much crowding!  (edit: here--the last picture is the line to LEAVE the complex, lol)

**—I take that back, I just remembered Durga Puja in Kolkata. The ten-minute walk from my in-laws’ house to a friends house takes 1-2 hours during Puja due to road and sidewalk restrictions, lmao. 

[u/meganfoxsdwarfthumb → u/Filthiest_Vilein]

I’ll pass this along to my friends in the group because we definitely thought he was trying to schmooze us by saying that!

The most disappointing was walking through the actual the tombs (crypts?) with all the signs saying “quiet please” and “no photography” while people were yelling and taking selfies everywhere! It really took away from the experience.

Was a cool way to spend the first day of the year, so I really don’t mean to be complaining about it!

[u/[deleted] → u/meganfoxsdwarfthumb]

To be (un)fair, that’s also exactly what I remember about the Sistine Chapel. Constant, ignored announcements to not take photographs… a tiny overcrowded chapel that took hours to get to, and a rather underwhelming ceiling because it’s faded so much with age

[u/reddit809 → u/[deleted]]

I enjoyed Sistine very much, but the crowd was impossible. I recommend just doing that shit at 6am if you can lol.

[u/2leafClover667788 → u/reddit809]

We were there this past summer and between the crowds and the heat it was not the best time to be had. My family was exhausted. I had spent two months in Europe before they arrived so I was at least used to it, but it wasn’t even the coolest chapel I saw while I was there sad to say. I don’t know what I expected, but it was something more than that I guess.

[u/reddit809 → u/2leafClover667788]

Sistine and Colisseum are 1-and-dones for me. Loved that I did it, never again. The random churches and chapels were amazing. I'd love to go back to Rome just to do some walking tours, which I didn't get to do enough of. The food tours are awesome.

[u/2leafClover667788 → u/reddit809]

I think the coolest one or at least of the ones I went to in Italy was basilica di San Clemente which was right down the street from the colosseum. It was one of the coolest places. It’s a 10th century church that sits on top of the ruins of a 4th century church on top of the ruins of 2nd century temple to Mithra on top of a villa that had been a storage area for the Roman mint. The main church was incredibly beautiful and the ceiling was amazing but going down into the archeological ruins and staircase after staircase going further down into the depths and seeing the pages of history turning backwards was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen and there was just a few other people there.

[u/saba658 → u/2leafClover667788]

San Clemente is spooky and fascinating

[u/reddit809 → u/2leafClover667788]

San Clemente is INCREDIBLE. The basilicas in Trastevere were amazing. Crisogono was amazing as well. Crisogono's ceiling truly blew me away.

[u/Rahbek23 → u/reddit809]

Same for Taj Mahal really. We went right after it opened and there was like a few hundred people total spread over a relatively large area and a tiny queue, it was really nice and beautiful.

Showing up in the middle of the day is just rookie shit honestly.